What most people experience as "social media" today is microblogging, not chat rooms.

Chat rooms are available to varying degrees on the major social media web sites.

But microblogging is where the action is on those sites.

For all practical purposes, the kind of non-real-time chatting that was common on the early Internet is not even possible on today's Internet.

[See] [Online chat rooms (or website) that is only meant for chatting, and not social media sharing] "Think of the online chatrooms, like Omegle, or Emeraldchat, and how they're flooded with guys saying "m" and not making conversation. ... Having these things removed will be pleasant for people that just want to talk to others, or just rant."

"Have you ever tried IRC. Just pick a server https://www.irchelp.org/networks/popular.html Check out some channels you'd like and start chatting the day away. I haven't been on in like a decade there's still action going on and while spam and pornography etc are also common nowadays probably, it highly depends on the channel you're on, and they're pretty well moderated usually. Not to mention you can just make your own channel and moderate it however you like. I feel like it definitely has less people looking to show you their dicks than something like Omegle."

"Why is this chat room so dead?"

"Jesus I am confused. I only ever use reddit to figure something out like installing car sound systems or credit advice or why my dog licks his ass so much. But I now am at a newfound conundrum as I realized I have no one to vent to about my life situation. I'd rather not chat with some dude because they tend to get all off topic and suggest dumb alternatives driven by their "ego". And I don't want to talk to some dimwit bimbo with the ulterior motive of snagging a desperate sugar daddy to send her money or just piss her boyfriend off."

"Same here. Just looking to make new friends after going through some shit. Keep my mind busy."

"This isn't a new idea, it's a long aching revival of something that was the norm on early internet, a human need, and one that's definitely needed in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. A place that people can find one another..."

"Really miss like Yahoo chat and the likes. Weird that it fizzled out and just became circle jerks."

"I tried the options that were suggested in the comments section but still they didnt got me excited and there is still lots of rubbish and poor conversation skills."

"Yo, with proper capital, a new app could easily be developed for this. People would eat it up. How has someone not yet managed to sell this to investors? I'm utterly baffled. I could sell this idea as if it were a unending, heat-producing unit with only Eskimos as my targeted customer sphere. Design/Produce it or hire me. What the absolute f...?"

The reason for this is that there's no money in it. Today's social networking web sites are operated for profit, and their revenue comes primarily from advertising.

[But also see] [People keep telling me that IRC is obsolete in modern day, Why do people still use IRC?] "Many of the people who insist on sticking with IRC have been using it since the 90s and are likely too old to have adopted the media-rich online presence most people under 40 currently have. However, I wouldn't go so far as to call it obsolete, not yet. There haven't been any suitable alternatives, although Matrix and especially Discord come close. Discord has the kind of features a modern chat protocol should have, only problem is it is entirely owned by Discord. You can't own a Discord server, but you can own an IRC server. IMO, the ideal chat platform would take the features of Discord, and combine it with the independence and freedom of IRC. Matrix meets that standard, but as of this writing, it is mostly only used for bridging to Discord and/or IRC."