Internet Relay ChatA real-time chat protocol created in 1988 by Finnish hacker Jarkko Oikarinen that exploded in popularity among hackers at the time/join #channel/msg message IRCIRC is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat and data transfer, including file sharing.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC