-Off-Site Socialisation-

As you may have noticed, live chats on the site are
currently down and may continue to be for a long time yet. This means that a
lot of chatting with friends, once you have made them, and further
socialisation, is done not inly using posts but other websites and apps with
live chats. This is popular among students as they involve life chats which
makes talking a lot easier and helps people get familiar with each other, as
well as involving games like ‘would you rather’ and ‘truth or dare’ which are
always fun. Most if the time you will have to make an account on the site and
perhaps give your email, but it’s worth it for an easier way to chat and make
friends.

Here are the
most websites/apps used for off-site socialisation:

Chatzy:

Although block by many parental control
mechanisms,  chatzy is a perfectly safe
site in which, after signing up using an email address, you can create and join
live chat rooms. This is used often for hosting student occasions as well.

Link to the Great Hall Chatzy Room:  http://us23.chatzy.com/46864308390649

  (password
is knowledge)

Google
Hangouts:

A more personal way of talking with a close group of
friends, Google hangouts requires a Google account and is a quick and easy way
to live-chat within a small group or as a pair and also provides the option of
video calling. As it requires a Google account and it is not links but access
that is needed to join a group hangout, it is slightly less free than chatzy
but, as said, easy and safe to use. You can create as many chats as you like
with multiple sets of people and they are useful for quick, close-group
roleplays and games.

HiH Student
Lounge:

The Hogwarts is Here student lounge is available to al
students and, once you are registered, allows you to access a great hall live
chat with many other students and a common room chat so you can chat with
students in the same house as you. You can also post and start forum games and
roleplay there.

Link to Student Lounge: http://s15.zetaboards.com/HiH_Student_Lounge/index/

Other ways of off-site socialisation are also used,
and there are of course posts and owls on-site that you can use to chat with as
well! However, if you are looking to become closer to some people or simply
chat easier and get to know strangers better, these live chat sites do come in
handy!