Chat Compare, The difference between “Group Chat” “Live Chat” and a “Chat Room”

After receiving multiple support emails all focusing on the same question—clarifying the differences between chat software, group chat, live chat, and chat rooms—we decided to elaborate further.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “chat” can mean “to talk with someone in a casual way” or “to talk over the Internet by sending messages back and forth in a chat room.” This definition emphasizes not only the informal nature of conversation but also the technology that enables real-time communication. Each type of chat platform—whether software-based, group-oriented, live, or room-based—has its own unique set of features and benefits. Understanding these differences helps users select the most effective tool for their communication needs.

Let’s try to understand the different options in the chat arena.

It is a matter of terminology but much more. For example, if you need a public chatroom that allows you to log in using your social media credentials, then a private room will not be suitable for your needs.

Let’s talk about chat comparison, The difference between the next 3 options
A – Group Chat
B – Live Chat
C – Chat Room

Note, that each of those can be shown in two forms, chat software, or chat service.
The main difference is that a chat software will be installed on your server using your CPU, memory and other resources from your servers. A chat service is a chat that will show on your website but will consume the vendor of the chat resources (e.g, will not affect your server performance).

So, let’s start

The Evolution of Chat in Computer Systems

Our need to communicate with other human beings had initiated a chat system to be built along with the first computer operating system, UNIX inthe 1970’s. Talk program was built into UNIX system to allow people to communicate with each other using their user name as ID. The talk program only allows one-on-one chat.

The very first multi-user and chat room is a program called Talkomatic. The program was invented for the first time in 1973 by Doug Brown and David Wolley at the University of Illinois as supporting tools for the University’s learning system.

Chatting has been so common in our daily Internet life. We are now using many different chat programs and connecting with people around the world, as a chat program chat has been advancing very much since the very first talk program in UNIX system.

1. Chat, Instant Messaging and SMS

We have been so useful with the chatting program. As a communication system has evolved so has the chat program evolved. Chat by definition, according to PC Magazine is real-time communication via keyboard between two or more users on a local network (LAN) or over the Internet.

Webopedia, the online tech dictionary also defines chat as the same definition as PC Magazine: a real-time communication between two users via computer. Once a chat has been initiated, either user can enter text by typing on the keyboard and the entered text will appear on the other user’s monitor.

Most chat system nowadays allows users to log in to the system to enter a chat room and chat with other people who have already been in the room. This allows a many-to-many chat room, as everyone in the chat room can send their message to other people.

There is a different term regarding chat, but actually, it means the same. The term Instant Messaging for most often is separated from chat, but instant messaging is actually a chat in itself. The difference between chat and instant messaging is that instant messaging is built to focus on one-on-one chat.

In a mobile application, we have now so many instant messaging applications. In cellular technology, the very first instant messaging app is SMS. This technology then evolves into more advanced technology in mobile instant messaging. As the smartphone revolutionized the computing industry in the 2010’s, SMS has been replaced by a variety of instant messaging app.

Group Chat - Chat Room

As smartphone technology now converges with Internet and web technology, the chat must be able to deal with the convergence. The challenge for today’s chat technology is to be able to run and synchronize on both PC and mobile devices. Fortunately, today’s technology enables us to build a web chat software that can be used in either mobile device such as smartphones and tablets, as well as PCs (HTML5 + Javascript).

2. The 3 types of chats

In the chat arena, we know there are three types of chat:

Private Group Chat
Live Chat
Chat Room

Private Group Chat. As the name depicted, the private chat room was meant to be a private conversation between selected people. Usually, a small team needs this chat. Such as a group of stock traders, a real estate sales associate, and small groups that need this chat room.

Private chat compare to Social chat — With RumbleTalk you have the option to shift from private to social/group chat on the fly

One common need for private group chat is the capability to share files. It is because the people in the private group chat usually are people with the same profession or the same interest. Therefore, the chat room is also functioned as a knowledge-sharing tool. With the file-sharing, capabilities, they can share any kind of file for information and knowledge-sharing needs.

One additional advantage for teams is the fact that a user can enter when he has time and scroll up to see the group chat compare history, it is a huge time saver when managing groups.

Live Chat. This is the type used for customer service. A customer can be assisted by a company representative, who usually handles more than one visitor at a time. Companies with customer-oriented products and services, especially retail or FMCG companies will surely need this chat. Live chat is useful as a supplement to the telephone contact center.

Moreover, a company with an Internet-related product will need this live chat more than phone support. Since most customers are connected to the Internet, live chat is the most appropriate customer contact for such a company.

Chat Room. This is the most common chat type and resembles a public space where people can talk to anonymous chatters. The public room can be placed on any website in any area of the site as long as the chat room is a public chat room.

When we enter the public chat room, we can see how many people have already been in the room and we can join the conversation with those people. In these chat rooms, usually, a conversation can be so hectic. However, we can also switch to private chat mode by inviting someone to a private room and chat privately. A good chat room will have this mode switching.

3. Chat Compare – Table of Comparison Between the Three

Features	Private Group Chat	Live Chat	Chat Room
Public	No	Yes	Yes
Switch to other types	Yes	No	Yes
Moderated	Yes	No	Somewhat
File sharing	Yes	No	Somewhat
Image insertion	Yes	Somewhat	Yes
Video Call	Yes	No	Yes
Audio Call	Yes	Somewhat	Yes
Emoticon	Yes	Somewhat	Yes

4. Why Is It So Confusing?
The complexity of human communication makes our communication methods different from one another. This also applies to Internet communication, which is the reason for so many different chats compared to available. All of them have a specific purpose and cater to specific chatting needs.

We can select the most suitable chat for our conversation needs. Visit RumbleTalk to learn more.

Posted on December 3, 2017March 5, 2025 by Editor

Introducing RumbleTalk InText Keywords

We are happy to announce a newly added feature: InText keywords!

As you know, RumbleTalk already provides a simple solution for websites that want to host a social group chat or a dedicated private group chat. Sleek, simple, and powerful, the chat just got stronger with the new keywords function!

Using InTEXT keywords, users can now dynamically improve their chats and direct it to where they want them to go. The system scans messages for certain phrases and hyperlinks them to anywhere on the web. It’s a great way to point to partner or affiliate content with minimal effort.

What Is InText Keywords?

InTEXT technology finds and identifies specific words, phrases, or sentences and highlights them during chats. Keywords are first selected by the host. Then, a list in the back end keeps track of whatever keywords the host wants to use. That list can be individually created for each chat or ported across from one to the other for ease of use.

The identified words, phrases, and keywords are also assigned a link. This can be anything that’s chosen by the host or an admin. Then as the chat continues, the link assigned to each keyword is inserted into the text automatically.

The list does not have to be defined before the chat starts either. Instead, an admin can, while the chat is running, define InText keywords in the options so that the link system evolves with whatever direction the chat takes. It’s a great way of placing affiliate links or partnered links. It also works for informational links that answer questions the users may have.

Either way, it’s fast, dynamic and visible. In the past, links had to be posted into the chat, which clogged up the screen and could even harm the flow of the conversation.

Now with keywords, embedded links are placed automatically, with the keyword as the anchor text. The host can also delete keywords that are no longer needed or replace them with a different link or phrase. The system adjusts dynamically so that optimal coverage is ensured.

How It Works

The system remains inactive until a keyword and a corresponding link are identified and entered into the back-end. When this happens, the InText keywords function scans the text for instances of that word, highlights any it finds, and turns it into an anchor text for the link in the back-end.

InText keywords in a chat room

Administrators and hosts are not limited by what they can use as a keyword or link. They can use any of the following as keywords:

Phrases
Individual words
Full sentences

As you can see, anything can be used as a keyword and will then link to anywhere on the web that you wish. The number of available keywords is limited, but hosts can always purchase more to make sure they are all set for the chat session.

With a quick buy option, the flow of the conversation and placement of the links is never interrupted. Admins and hosts can save or add keywords and later delete them if they are no longer necessary.

Using InText Keywords in Your Chat

All-in-all, InText keywords are a great way to effortlessly point traffic in the right direction without interfering with, or disturbing, the users in the chat.

All links automatically open in a new tab so the user does not accidentally close or leave the chat, and can instead view the content in their own time.

The placed links are highlighted and therefore very visible without being annoying or interrupting to users who only want to use the chat features, but have no interest in links.

The keywords feature finds and hyperlinks the defined phrases in all messages, not just those of the admins. This means that the host does not need to be more active in the conversation in order to achieve the desired effect.

InText Keywords will even work in private chats—their privacy is not compromised as the system only places words but does not export any information.

So go ahead and give InText keywords a try today.
More details and how to use them can be found here.

Posted on November 20, 2017September 30, 2024 by Editor

Login as Admin – Hidden Feature for Guest Login and Facebook and Twitter Login

There is a hidden feature that allows users to login as an admin even if there’s no RumbleTalk login. How do you do it? This is only valid when the guest option is active. We call it the guest login.

Let’s start from the beginning and consider all options, and then we can proceed with the hidden feature.

What are my login options?

RumbleTalk has various options to login. These are the main login options + API login, which is not covered in here.

1 – Login as Guest (Guest login),
2 – Login as a Facebook user,
3 – Login as a Twitter user,
4 – Login as RumbleTalk (registered users and admins, password-protected login), and
5 – Register first and then login.

* API login – use automatic login option.

A chat room owner is able to choose his own login types. Login types are set in the chat room settings page by the chat owner. Now, for example, the chat owner can choose to allow only Twitter and Rumbletalk login.

First Step: Create an Administrator Setting

Now, before continuing, it is important to understand that every chat owner needs an administrator to control the conversation, delete messages, clear all chat content, or send warnings to users. An admin can also disconnect or ban an IP if a user is not complying to the chat room’s rules.

In order to login as admin, one needs to create a login username and password in the admin panel. There are four types of users. They are the following:

1 – User (Rooms) – login as a trusted user in a specific chat room.
2 – User (Global) – login to any chat room.
3 – Chat room admin (Rooms Admin) – admin of a specific chat room.
4 – Group admin (Global Admin) – If you create more than one chat, this administrator will have access to all chat rooms.

Users per room feature

From the first step, we gave the different kinds of users you can have in a chat room. Before, all users had global access to ever chat room. This is not good if you’re trying to keep the chat small and manageable.

These are the three options to create users per room.

Users registering in a specific room will be associated with that chat room only.
Users that participate in a paid access chat will be associated with that room only.
Chat owners can also add admins per chat room from the admin panel.

If you have different chat rooms in your admin panel, you can now assign users and admins to a specific chat room only.

As a result, you will easily be able to tell who goes in and out of your chat rooms; you can determine who’s active or not. This lets you have more control of your users and your chat rooms (user base authentication).

If somebody is not following the rules and leaving predatory comments, you’ll be able to pinpoint who that user is. You can either disconnect that user or ban him permanently. This means that this user will not be able to login to other chats (as opposed to the previous version, he could). This is why it’s important to have the users per room feature. Use it accordingly and you’ll have a predator-safe chat room.

The Normal way to Login as Admin

The normal way to login is usually by the RumbleTalk username (case sensitive) and password. This is what the chat owner registers in the chat database and gives the login credentials of the admin.

The Hidden Chat Room Feature – Admin as Guest Login

Now, have you ever wondered what will happen if you enabled only the GUEST login and you wish to login as an administrator?

To login as an administrator, you need to click the “Guest” icon. Just proceed with the admin’s username (case sensitive), and this will tell you that username is reserved. To log-in, you need to type the password of the administrator.

If the provided password is correct, you will now be logged in as the administrator.

*Note, you can use this trick to define reserved users names.

What if you only have a Facebook or Twitter login option?

Like the previous section on guest login, you may define a user in the admin panel with the exact name of your Facebook name (case sensitive, for example, Siena Romes).

When you will try to login using Facebook in the chatroom, a password field will be required (just like the one above). This will result in logging as an administrator with your Facebook image.

This goes the same for the Twitter login option.

Why do we need a hidden login feature?

Because of technology, we’re now on the internet 24/7. We don’t personally know each one on the internet. A member of your chat may not be using his/her real name. With the hidden login feature, even if you only allow one login, you can limit your users and still keep the current admins. This goes for the guest login and Facebook and Twitter login options.

The hidden login feature allows you to try all types of login options so you can determine what’s best for your chat rooms. This is especially great when you have duplicate or many chat rooms. You can’t really manage each chat room. That’s why you appoint administrators. The admins serve as your eyes and ears. Even when you’re not around, you can trust them to keep every chat room in order.

With these options, you can make any chat room safe. This heightens the safety and security measures within your group chat. You won’t have any problem in keeping your members in a space that’s safe for everyone.

With that said, here are some other features you can check out to keep your chat room safe: Limit Users in Your Chat Room, Block Words and Profanity, and Duplicating Your Chat Room (for keeping a manageable number of users).

You can like and follow our social media pages (Facebook and Twitter) so you can be updated on our new features. We also answer questions there so don’t hesitate to leave us a message!

Posted on November 14, 2017October 13, 2021 by Editor