To be clear, bitlbee sits in between chat services (like AIM, ICQ, qq, various xmpp-based ones like gchat / facebook chat) and your irc client. MSN/AIM/qq/XM

To be clear, bitlbee sits in between chat services (like AIM, ICQ, qq, various xmpp-based ones like gchat / facebook chat) and your irc client. MSN/AIM/qq/XMPP/etc <-> bitlbee <-> your irc client so you tell your irc client to connect (typically) to localhost where bitlbee is running, and bitlbee acts as a bridge between your irc client and various chat services all at the same time. It's the bee's knees.