You can select to appear offline to specific Friend Lists within Chat. Simply select the "Go Offline" toggle next to the top of each Friend List you would like to appear offline to. You will no longer appear as available to chat to people on these lists.

You can block a friend from chatting with you by putting them on a Friend List, and then choosing to go offline to that Friend List.

If you would prefer that this friend no longer be able to contact you on Facebook, you can also block them by typing their name in the Block List search field at the bottom of the Privacy Settings page.

Only your confirmed friends can contact you through Facebook Chat.

You can view recent conversation history by opening a chat window with your friend. You cannot view older conversations at this time or conversations with friends who are not currently online.

To clear your chat history just click the "Clear Chat History" link at the top of your Chat window. While message history is saved from page to page, and even between login sessions, please note that it is not logged permanently.

You can see which friends are online by clicking the Chat menu at the bottom right of any Facebook page. A green dot will appear next to a friend who is online and available to chat, and a moon will appear next to a friend who is currently idle. On profiles and anywhere else on the site, clicking on a chat icon will start a conversation with that person.

To send a Chat message, simply type your message and then press "Enter" or "Return" on your computer keyboard.

Please note you can only message with your confirmed friends using Facebook Chat.

Your message will appear in a new chat conversation at the bottom of your friend’s browser. Your friend can chat back by typing in the conversation window.

If you are experiencing problems with Facebook Chat, you may need to upgrade your browser.

If you’re using Internet Explorer 6.0, you can still use chat by popping out the chat window. Just click the Chat button near the top right of any page on Facebook to start chatting.

A green dot will appear next to a friend who is online and available to chat, and a moon will appear next to a friend who is currently idle. Friends are considered idle when they have not taken any action on the site in the last 10 minutes. On profiles and anywhere else on the site, clicking on a chat icon will start a conversation with that person.

To add emoticons, type the following characters into your message:
:)
:(
:/
>:(
:'(
:-*
<3


Because we are continuing to add more emoticons to Facebook, please also feel free to test out your own combinations.

You can open a dedicated Facebook Chat window by opening the chat menu in the bottom right of your browser and clicking "Pop Out Chat" link. Your conversations will return to the main window when you close the dedicated chat window.

Sure. Click the Chat icon in the bottom-far right and then click "Settings." Check the box next to "Keep Online Friends Open" to keep this section available at all times. Un-checking the box will return chat to auto-hiding this section.

You can turn off specific types of pop-up notifications if you don't want to receive them. When a notification appears, click the "X" to close it. You will be asked if you want to permanently turn off future notifications of that same type. For example, if you choose to permanently delete a notification about posted links, you won't receive any future notifications about posted links from your friends.

At this time you can only chat with people on a one-to-one basis. Group chat is unavailable.

We currently do not support the use of Facebook Chat with third party applications.

When people take actions on Facebook related to you, like commenting on a photo of you or posting on your Wall, a red notification will appear on the Facebook Chat icon (even if you're offline). Clicking the notification dialog will allow you to see stories related to these actions and you can quickly view the content by clicking the links in the stories.

To let your confirmed Facebook friends know that you are available to chat, click the Chat icon in the bottom right corner of your browser window when signed into Facebook and choose the "Go Online" option from the window that appears. You can click the "Go Offline" link at any time to stop receiving messages through Facebook Chat.

Unfortunately you cannot remove Facebook Chat at this time. To appear offline to everyone:

1. Click on "Chat" in the bottom toolbar.
2. Choose "Options."
3. Select "Go offline" at the top of the list.

To go offline for a Friend List, click the white circle to change the status bar from green to grey. Going offline for a particular Friend List will not remove that Friend List from appearing in your Chat window.

In order to select which Friend Lists appear in Chat:

1. Click on "Chat" in the bottom tool-bar.
2. Select "Friend Lists."
3. Click the name of the list you would like to show or remove.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 as needed for each list.

If you don't want to use Friend Lists in Chat:

1. Click on "Chat" in the bottom tool-bar
2. Click on "Friend Lists"
3. Uncheck each Friend List; your friends will then be listed alphabetically

To create a Friend List in Chat:

1. Click on "Chat" in the bottom tool-bar.
2. Click on "Friend Lists."
3. Beneath "Create a new list" at the bottom of the tab, enter the name of the list you wish to create and hit "enter."
4. Once your new List is visible in your Chat window, drag the names of people you want to include into the list.
5. Alternately, move the mouse near the name of your Friend List, and click "edit" to add multiple friends to the list at the same time.

To remove someone from a Friend List in Chat:

1. Click on "Chat" in the bottom tool-bar
2. Move your mouse to the Friend List you would like to edit
3. Click "edit"
4. In the window that comes up on the screen, click "Selected" to see who is currently on that Friend List
5. Click on the person you wish to remove in order to take them off the List

Find questions and answers from other users here.