{"id":1200,"date":"2011-11-28T15:56:48","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T15:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/internet-relay-chat\/"},"modified":"2016-11-14T12:55:21","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T12:55:21","slug":"internet-relay-chat","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc","title":{"rendered":"Internet Relay Chat"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_internet_relay_chat_mean\">What Does Internet Relay Chat Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an open protocol that allows users with an IRC client to exchange text messages in real time over the Internet. Created by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988, IRC was one of the first chat systems to allow more than two participants to join in a discussion.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_internet_relay_chat\">Techopedia Explains Internet Relay Chat<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Like email, IRC was another application that added to the popularity of the Internet before the existence of the World Wide Web. Using an IRC client, users could connect to IRC servers and message in real time with people all over the world and join larger groups (channels). Although this is now commonplace, IRC was an early indication of the Internet\u2019s power to create communities where time and distance would have once made it impossible. Like many aspects of the Internet, the request for comments (RFC) system was central to creating and improving IRC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Internet Relay Chat Mean? Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an open protocol that allows users with an IRC client to exchange text messages in real time over the Internet. Created by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988, IRC was one of the first chat systems to allow more than two participants to join in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[245],"class_list":["post-1200","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-internet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Internet Relay Chat (IRC)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Internet Relay Chat and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Internet Relay Chat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Internet Relay Chat and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-14T12:55:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Internet Relay Chat\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-28T15:56:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-14T12:55:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc\"},\"wordCount\":158,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/403\/internet-relay-chat-irc\",\"name\":\"What is Internet Relay Chat (IRC)? 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