News Groups, Chat Rooms (The Reading Rooms)
If there is a subject you’re interested in there is probably a news group that is devoted to exploring it in detail. You can ‘post’[leave a message] or download photos, movies & articles from these groups.
Be aware that these ‘groups’ are usually unsupervised & anything goes. This is where most of the raunchy & fringe element information can be found.
This is also the “SPAM” capitol of the internet. People trying to sell you stuff disguised as information.
If you just want to smooze & can type, Chat Rooms are for you. AOL(America On Line) is a good first choice for this feature.
Another option is IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Check with your ISP for more info on this one.
Buy a CU-CME video system & you can see the person & they can see you. Limited bandwidth makes these systems marginal but they will improve over time.