INSTANT MESSAGING METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM BASED ON EMAIL SYSTEM

An instant messaging method, apparatus and system based on an email system. Establishing a discussion group in response to a discussion initiating request sent by a client according to an email page, and taking an email subject, email contacts, and an email body of the email page as a discussion subject, members, and a discussion information flow of the discussion group; receiving the discussion subject, the members, and the discussion information flow that are added, deleted or changed on an editing page and sent by the client, and updating same to the editing page of a local database; and generating, in response to a confirmation request sent by the client, a discussion page and a discussion group link associated with each other, and sending the discussion group link to clients of all the members of the discussion group, so that the client enters the discussion group through the link.