There is something about being on a computer network, invisibly connected to hundreds, thousands, or millions of people, that makes people want to chat. ICQ informs you when friends or coworkers log on to the Internet so you can initiate a real-time chat session. Unlike any other instant messaging product, you can see what other people type before they press the Enter key. You see them pausing to find the right word and backspacing to correct typos. To add further personality to your messages, you can change the foreground and background colors, and the size, type, and color of your font.
Users choose which group to belong to and specify whether they are available for random chats.
You can participate in group chats by adding the chat room of your choice to your ICQ contact list. Users can create new chat rooms, and there are a huge number of them. In addition to chat, ICQ can notify you when you receive e-mail, let you hide from people you don't want to talk to, access voice communication and group gaming software, and much more. ICQ handles communication through a server that stores the participants' registration information. Within six months of its introduction, ICQ received 850,000 registrations.