The internet offers not only a vast amount of information and entertainment, but also allows for communication. Language learners around the world have the ability to hone their skills using online resources and connect with their peers in a way that was not possible prior to 1990 when the World Wide Web came to be. While technology improves in leaps and bounds, the schools that teach languages, such as Swedish schools teaching English, do their best to keep up. In online communities, language use may differ very much from the English taught in the classroom. Is the difference today so great that English language teachers need to reconsider their choice of model? Previous research suggests that online registers can coexist with standard English, and that the two can be mutually beneficial. However, there are factors to take into account in order for online communication to be an asset to an English language student.This paper is a qualitative study based on an interview with a teacher of English and a questionnaire survey with the teacher’s students. The aim is to identify different types of online communication, state their potential for students’ acquisition of English and then see how that potential corresponds with the teacher’s own experiences of how her students’ language development is affected. The study shows that some forms of online communication predominate and that not paying attention to all the forms available can affect a student’s school results in a negative way. The study also shows, in agreement with previous research, that the potential of online communication to influence the use of English is not to be ignored in view of the increasing rate at which people spend their time on the Internet.