Kara, a student at South Carolina State University, and Eric, a student at Illinois State University, met at a basketball game in which their teams were playing. They had a lot in common and spent the whole game talking and getting to know each other. They were both botany majors. They both had a younger brother and sister. They both loved rock music and foreign films, and they both acted in school plays. Eric had even grown up in South Carolina just like Kara, but his parents moved to Illinois when he was sixteen.

Once the game was over, Eric would be heading back to Illinois. Since their teams would not face each other again during the season, it was not likely that they would see each other soon. Kara told Eric that they could keep in touch with each other by using Windows Live Messenger. She told him that she used it all the time to talk with family and friends all over the country. Now Eric considered himself to be pretty technologically savvy, but he was not interested in using a net messenger service. He preferred e-mail and even enjoyed writing letters and sending them via regular mail. He realized that letter writing was not something that his generation indulged in, but he found it to be romantic and interesting. Besides, he wanted to hear Kara’s voice and not just see words that she typed over the Internet.

Kara told Eric that he did not know what he was missing. She said if they communicated through Windows Live Messenger, it would almost be like sitting right across from each other. She told him that Windows Live Messenger made it possible to use web cams, so they could see each other when they were talking. She also told him that Windows Live Messenger made it possible for people to communicate with their Yahoo! contacts by just adding their e-mail addresses to their Messenger contact list. This would allow them to see when they were on or off-line and share emoticons. She told him they could send and receive messages even if one of them was off-line because they would get the message the next time they logged in. Kara told Eric that they could share folders such as photos, notes from their botany classes, and lots of other things. She also told him that Windows Live Messenger would make it possible for them to call each other’s cell or landline phones inexpensively, and they could call each others PCs for free.

Eric had to admit that Windows Live Messenger had some pretty cool features. Most of all it was very convenient and would allow him and Kara to continue to get to know each other without spending a lot of money on phone calls. However, he really liked the idea of using Messenger because he really liked Kara. He told her that when he returned home he would download Windows Live Messenger, so they could “talk” anytime day or night. However, Kara had to promise that they would write at least one letter to each other per month.

Pretty soon Kara and Eric were using Windows Live Messenger to share photos of events that they were involved in, help each other with botany homework, and share their lives. Although Kara and Eric found that they were much better suited to be just friends, Eric started using the service to meet girls that he might want to date.