Embedded chat in a website provides the ability to more closely connect with your readers or customers, depending on the instance. Chat widgets provide real-time feedback and spur thought-provoking discussions - features lacking in e-mail. However the disadvantages should be acknowledged too. In some cases, widgets may slow down the page load or take away from the overall site experience rather than enhance it. However I encourage everyone to give some of the following chat widgets a try and make your own conclusions. Let's take a look at some of the top ones...
MeeboMe is the leader in the space. This spin-off of the original multiple client chat (Meebo) is a nice, simple chat widget. It features publisher status, user nickname editing, and sound control. Also be sure to check out MeeboRooms, launched earlier this year.
Plugoo is a slick little chat widget that enables you to talk with site visitors via your IM client. In other words, you can work as usual without having to keep an eye on the chat box. Then if someone initiates a chat, a message will pop up on your IM. Great concept.
Mabber is a simple, basic chat widget. No frills or gimmicks. It has an easy set-up process and intuitive interface, which makes this a good choice if you're looking to add a little something extra to your site.
Formerly InCircles, Pladeo is beautifully designed Flash chat widget. Some might call it overkill though. Site owners can choose a vertical or horizontal layout, as well as the color. Nicely designed, but it may take away from the rest of your site.
Userplane is a more sophisticated chat offering. I found the sign up process to be a bit tedious, but the end product was worth it. The company launched a revenue-sharing program in May of this year. [disclosure: Userplane is a R/WW sponsor]
Geesee is highly functional and robust, yet it's also a cumbersome service. I found the interface and color scheme to be a bit childish, although I suppose the service is tailored as a more 'fun' offering than some of the others.
Gabbly is a slick, multi-user chat widget. The service also provides RSS and audio functionality. I found it to be a pretty good overall offering, unless you're looking for something extremely basic.
Chatango is a personalized chat widget. The set-up was easy, yet it still provided a high level of customization. The interface wasn't the slickest, but it was intuitive. Overall though, I thought Chatango was mediocre.
Zoho Chat was one of my favorite services that I tested. It is extremely easy to set-up and very slick. The widget is very simple to use and professional-looking. [disclosure: Zoho is a R/WW sponsor]
ParaChat is more of an application than a widget. The embedded chat box is a "presence" and feels like it's part of the website. However the look n' feel is very web 1.0 and the ads take away from the experience. Overall, I wasn't overly impressed.
The implementation of a chat widget should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Not all websites may benefit, as some people may not have the time or resources to operate the technology. Having said that, the ability to facilitate real-time, pertinent discussions cannot be understated. Check out one or more of the above chat widgets and let us know what you think. Also if you know of other chat widgets or embedded chat programs that we missed, be sure to list them in the comments.
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Theonly problem with Userplae is their chat tool with lots of ads and popups...
Posted by: M Freitas | October 2, 2007 1:31 AMI have written about many of these widgets (its what I do) and I have used Plugoo quite a bit. I would definitely recommend it as a great way to have an instant communication with your blog visitors. I'm surprised that more blogs don't utilize this as a way to keep in contact with their readers. Find out what they think and want.
Posted by: Derek Anderson | October 2, 2007 4:25 AMAfter reading this post I am going to revisit Plugoo and re add it to my blog.
Thank you Aidan!
I also wanted to mention that the Plugoo widget seems to work on Myspace at least the widget appears on Myspace. Could you try to chat me through my profile so I can verify that it works? (I'll comment back if it does)
http://www.myspace.com/deralaand
Wow! that sounds like spam...what else can I do?
Posted by: Derek Anderson | October 2, 2007 4:50 AMhttp://www.ChatStat.com
Okay, it's not a widget but it is definitely worth mentioning.
The program allows you to add a live chat icon on your website, email signature, blog, even ebay auctions. It's an IM aggregator (AIM, Gtalk, MSN, IRC, Jabber, etc.)
For those looking for a bit more than a widget, I would definitely recommend you check out www.ChatStat.com
Kim Curtis
Posted by: Kim Curtis | October 2, 2007 6:23 AMwww.LoanChatLive.com
http://www.yaplet.com
Posted by: jtd | October 2, 2007 7:15 AManyone seen any good examples for the enterprise? I remember Rackspace has a briliant chat/sales assistant that worked really well and got me hooked (as a client)!
Posted by: Derek | October 2, 2007 12:16 PMYou can easily embed Pibb into any website (http://janrain.com/blog/2007/08/08/how-to-embed-pibb/) there is even a WordPress plugin. Also it is OpenID enabled, has an IRC relay, RSS feeds, downloadable channel archives, and much more. Kind of disappointed it didn't make this list...
Posted by: Kevin Fox | October 2, 2007 12:17 PMWe would be interested in a chat widget that allows visitors to a (project-team restricted) site to chat to each other, as part of our web application. I haven't found that feature in meebo and some of the others mentioned here.
Has someone used that feature in any of these kind of chat widgets?
Thanks
Posted by: Frans Vanhaelewijck | October 2, 2007 1:40 PMSome others are PlanetMinibox, Cbox, tagboard, ZonkBoard, nat1ion, Zpeech, Yaplet and livechat2im
I've linked to all of them here:
http://libraryclips.blogsome.com/2007/07/23/chinswing-audio-chat-rooms-and-more/
I'm using Plugoo so I'm notified by a Gtalk popup box when someone is chatting to me from my blog...I also have a Gtalk link for all those Gtalkers.
Then I use Cbox, so visitors can chat with me and amongst themselves, or leave a message.
Then I've got contactify for email
Also Jaxtr if people want to leave me a voicemail
Actually I posted on ways for your visitors to communicate with blog owners:
Posted by: John Tropea | October 2, 2007 9:53 PMhttp://libraryclips.blogsome.com/2007/01/16/the-various-ways-visitors-can-communicate-with-blog-owners
I've been using Meebo for a long time and they're first on my list. Great other options though. I'd not heard of a few and they seem to be pretty good. If meebo ever dies, I'll know where to go. :)
Posted by: Website Design | October 4, 2007 10:08 AMMeebo is very good but it has great options and other options.
Posted by: Simon | October 21, 2007 11:37 PMwww.shoutmix.com is another one. saw it used on FOX websites.
Posted by: Tan | October 25, 2007 10:38 AMI'd challenge these chat creators to make their chat tools login/password-less.. Like my site http://www.chann3lz.com/ anyone can share videos, and you don't need a login and password to use the site. Same goes for feedjit, I added their weidget to my site without a login/password.. I was hoping to find a chat widget with the same sort of freedom and accessibility and have not found one.. All are shooting for some kind of pie in the sky money making scheme.. I've been through the dot-coms, its a pipe dream.. I'm only interested in sharing taste.. Great thing about feedjit is you can see what other people are looking at on the site.. It wasn't until today that I noticed people use the "from youtube" channel, a channel I thought was dead.. I had thought about removing it, until I saw people evidently use it.. I don't know if I have user retention (if people hang around after, seems like people have really short attention spans on my site, my site probably sucks, but I like it and enjoy seeing the videos people contribute)..
If you don't like a video, feel free to trash it. Everyone has equal ability to trash videos, as well as add, and its easy to add as well as find videos. I use it a lot myself to find music videos of musicians I like.
I was looking to add a chat widget, once I figure out how to ajax-ify the site, because it's certain the page refreshes would kill the chat session. What I do is set page refreshes to the length of time of the video, so it refreshes to the next video when the current one is over.. IT's stupid, I know, but it has the affect of making youtube videos play in succession, forever.. Like TV..
It may be even easier to do this with javascript, but I'm a post HTML 3 dunce. I program most of my stuff in server-side PHP, once I get ajax going I'll kick ass there. Just too much projects to have done..
Viral web technologies, I believe, are ones that require little or no configuration.
On my site I use bookmarklets to transfer videos from youtube.. I also use bookmarklets to link song names in discographies. I have just tons of methods of finding music videos on youtube.. Tons.. I even wrote code that translates rhapsody playlist files into search links, the playlist files should still work with rhapsody.
I'm a total music freak.. And love everything..
Posted by: Kiernan | October 25, 2007 9:57 PMWell except for hair metal and rap.. But if you have some videos you like, add them please..
Note: I don't use chann3lz's main page to search for videos..
I use this page:
http://www.chann3lz.com/update_channel.php
This uses Youtube API's to narrow searches with addition and subtraction, and you can see other unique words (tags) that are used look for the content. You can add, subtract, or use a tag alone, to dive down into the search.
You can select a category.. There is a way to watch videos of a search in succession, but I haven't had time to make it nice and easy..
But no login or password necessary.. None..
Posted by: Kiernan | October 25, 2007 10:02 PM