2 Ways To Chat With Friends On Different Or No IM Networks

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2 Ways To Chat With Friends On Different Or No IM Networks

October 29, 2009 by jessica cam w.

Unless noted otherwise, all images in this post are embedded through Drop.io

You probably have one friend who still does not have Facebook or another who barely knows what GTalk is. In the case that you need to contact that person, sometimes talking in person, on the phone, or e-mailing back and forth may not accommodate to different schedules perfectly or offer the most effective workflow. That's where the usability of instant messaging (IM) comes in handy. Instead of pleading them to sign up for an account in an IM network your friend or collaborator may never use again, you can use other methods of chatting with them in real-time. Here are two ways to chat with your collaborators and/or friends who are on different IM networks, or none at all:

Create a temporary web page at Drop.io, where you can also share and/or upload pictures, songs, videos, documents, and links in a few clicks.

Create a blank, deletable spreadsheet in Google Docs, where you'll get a simpler chat box and can share web links.

Chatting it up at Drop.io (Bonus: Share/upload files & links easily!)

1. In your web browser URL/address bar, go to http://www.drop.io. You'll see a box on the left of the web page.

2. Name your site: Drop.io will have a name for your site or "drop" already, but feel free to rename it so you can remember the link to your drop.

Each drop has a storage space limit of 100 MB so you can also upload files and links at this step, or choose to upload and share files later. Notice here I uploaded a file named "resume.doc" for demonstration purposes. You can additionally set up a password to make your drop private (whomever has the link to your drop needs to type in the password to access it; Drop.io does not have a search bar in its site to allow searching through drops and files.) You can also choose to establish an expiration date for your drop (options include 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 1 year from either the day you create your drop or from the last time the drop has been accessed.) You can also enable your guests to have the authorizations to add more files, delete and/or download the contents of your drop. Thus, your drop could easily replace your thumb drive (as long as the computer you're using has Internet access.)

3. Now, just e-mail your friend with the link of your drop in chat view, which looks like this: "http://drop.io/NAMEOFYOURDROP/chat" where you'll replace NAMEOFYOURDROP with the name that you chose for your drop. You'll get this (click to enlarge on another window):

The users in this chat will be able to edit their usernames and if you chose to enable guests to add files, they can upload files in the chat box or email them to NAMEOFYOURDROP@drop.io. Handy, right?

Chatting it up in Google (sort of, in GDocs) where you can share web links

1. I assume most people will have a Google Account, and thus, access to Google Docs, where you can create, upload and/or share documents, spreadsheets, presentations and forms. Once you're signed in to the Google Docs main site, create a new spreadsheet (highlighted in the screenshot below):

2. Now you'll see another browser window or tab open up with your new, unnamed spreadsheet, which you will now have to, er, name by going to File>Rename.