1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, via a messaging protocol a request related to an item or service, wherein the request is an informal language request; automatically converting, without user intervention, the informal language request into a formal language understood by a computing device; retrieving, from a database, stored information about the item or sendee using at least the formal language understood by the computing device; converting the stored in formation into a response to the request; and transmitting, using the messaging protocol, the response to the request.