Internet Relay Chat (aka IRC) is an older form of communication on the internet. It’s an online discussion system where you join “channels,” which are basically chat rooms. I frequent several technical channels but recently have been spending some time in one centered around SEO. The topics of discussion are pretty mixedβ ranging from beginner SEO questions to advanced PPC and SEO tool development stuff. The channel also has an “SEO bot” that allows you to query things like backlinks and pagerank directly in the channel itself.
The channel is #SEO on Efnet. The easiest way to get connected it to download an IRC client (a lot of people use mIRC, xchat, or Trillian), connect to an Efnet server, then type: /join #SEO
irchelp.org is a good place to get started on how to use IRC.
If you’re in need of some SEO chat goodness, feel free to stop by. My name is Matt and I’m usually in the channel using the nickname “Oatmeal.”