How Does MSN Messenger Work?

MSN Messenger is used for people to converse with each online. Many people use it to chat with friends or family, whilst others may use it for business purposes, such as a company getting in touch with clients. To use MSN Messenger, you must have a hotmail account. Once you have done this you can go to MSN's website and click on 'MSN Messenger', then click on 'get it free'.

After you have done this you will be able to install MSN Messnger on you PC. If you have a Mac computer, then you can get a version of MSN that is suitable for it. Every now and then, you may have to upgrade MSN. This is usually so that the latest features can be used.

You can choose to set up a personal account, or a corporate account. A personal account is used for chatting with friends and family. A corporate account is used for business purposes.

Once you have chosen the account you wish to set up you can start adding people to you contact list. You must exchange email addresses with the person you wish to add to your list in order for you to use MSN with them. Also, the person that you add must have a hotmail account like yourself. When someone is added to your list, you can communicate with them by typing messages and sending them, and they will see your messages instantly. When they type out a message to you, you will be informed, as your message will appear at the bottom of your MSN window stating your contact's user name, and that they are typing a message. You can save your conversations that you have with your contacts.

The answer above doesn't answer the question. I believe the question was aimed at how the program itself works, not how to install and set up etc.

This is how MSN messenger works:

FTP, or file transfer protocol, is built into MSN MESSENGER in such a way that you can instantly send a file to an online friend. There are other windows based FTP programs available on the web, for example, Cute FTP. Cute FTP makes it simple to transfer files from one computer to another. Having a good FTP program is a necessity for those who wish to display their own web pages. Individual web pages are generally created on your own personal computer. The, when they're ready, the files are transferred to another computer which acts as your web server. This is the computer to which others will connect to view your page. If you're interested in creating your own web page, you may want to check into one of the many places that offer free web space for personal pages, such as GeoCities or Tripod.
Messaging and Paging -
There are also other programs on the web that offer messaging and paging capabilities, although they don't have as much functionality as MSN Messenger. For example, the free version of AOL Instant Messenger that's available to everyone, even those who are not AOL subscribers, allows instant messages that are made to resemble chatting. It's not actual live chatting, because you take turns sending the messages, but the screen is set up so that you can follow the ongoing conversation. This software can be downloaded from AOL's web site. Yahoo! Pager offers a similar system, as does Info seeks.
So, if you can see when your friends are online, that means they can see you too? That doesn't leave much room for privacy. You can always simply turn off the paging program. But with MSN Messenger you don't have to. MSN Messenger has thought of everything. There are many settings available for your status, or the way you appear on your friends' contact lists. You can set your status as busy and unavailable, or you can even set is as invisible. That way you can see everyone else, but they can't see you. You can even choose a different status setting for each of the different people on your contact list, remaining invisible to some, while available to others.
When I think of Internet communication, other forms of interaction come to mind, as well.