A web chat is a system that allows users to communicate in real-time using easily accessible web interfaces. It is a type of Internet

online chat Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time transmission of text messages from sender to receiver. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly. Ther ...

distinguished by its simplicity and accessibility to users who do not wish to take the time to install and learn to use specialized chat software. This trait allows users instantaneous access and only a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...

is required to chat. Users will always get the latest version of a chat service because no software installation or update are required.

Web chat software

The following are standalone chat servers: *

IBM Sametime HCL Sametime Premium (formerly IBM Sametime and IBM Lotus Sametime) is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence i ...

The following are web front ends (requires e.g. IRC chat server): * CGI:IRC (Perl, Ajax) *

Mibbit Mibbit is a web-based client for web browsers that supports Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Yahoo! Messenger, and Twitter. It is developed by Jimmy Moore and is designed around the Ajax model with a user interface written in JavaScript. It is the I ...

(Java, Ajax) * PJIRC (Java) *

qwebirc QuakeNet is an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, and was one of the largest IRC networks. The network was founded in 1997 by Garfield (Henrik Rasmussen, Denmark) and Oli (Oli Gustafsson, Sweden) as a new home for their respective countries' Quak ...

(Python, Ajax)

Live support software

Web chat software is sometimes used in a business context as live support software, also called live support, live help or live chat. In this case, the web chat software is integrated with a website to allow for a customer to chat with the business representative or the website owner. Live support on a web chat channel can be provided by both human agents as well as virtual agents and

chatbots A chatbot or chatterbot is a software application used to conduct an on-line chat conversation via text or text-to-speech, in lieu of providing direct contact with a live human agent. Designed to convincingly simulate the way a human would behav ...

. In many cases, both humans and live chat tools work in tandem to improve the digital customer experience. The following are web-based live support applications, which enable website visitors to chat with the sales or support people of the website in real-time. Webmasters only need to paste a piece of code onto the web pages to get them working. * Comm100 Live Chat * eGain *

LiveChat LiveChat is an online customer service software with online chat, help desk, help desk software, and web analytics capabilities. It was first launched in 2002 and is currently developed and offered in a SaaS (software as a service) business mode ...

LivePerson LivePerson is a global technology company that develops conversational commerce and AI software. Headquartered in New York City, LivePerson is best known as the developer of the Conversational Cloud, a software platform that allows consumers to ...

Podium A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...

* Velaro

Web-based chat services

There's plenty of web chat services and

chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

that allow communication – often directly addressed, but anonymous, between users in a multi-user environment. These services are used for one-to-one and one-to-many communication. Websites with browser-based chat services include: * Greek-Chat.gr * Chat-Avenue * Chat Television (No longer available) *

Convore Grove.io was originally Convore, a real-time chat web application created by co-founders Eric Florenzano, Leah Culver, and Eric Maguire. ''PC World'' said "It works as a news aggregate as well as a question/answer forum for its myriad of topics" ...

(No longer available) *

Cryptocat Cryptocat is a discontinued open-source desktop application intended to allow encrypted online chatting available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It uses end-to-end encryption to secure all communications to other Cryptocat users. Users are giv ...

(Discontinued) *

eBuddy eBuddy is a privately held Dutch software company that offers instant messaging services. As of 2011, eBuddy reported 100 million downloads. The company's flagship service is XMS, a proprietary cross-platform instant messaging service. After so ...

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

FilmOn FilmOn is an Internet-based television provider owned by FilmOn.TV Networks Inc. FilmOn.TV Networks is owned by Alki David, who founded the company in 2006. Programming FilmOn is a subscription-based Internet-based television service allowin ...

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...

Google+ Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus; sometimes called G+) was a social network owned and operated by Google. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, linking other Google p ...

(No longer available) * Hall.com *

MeBeam MeBeam was a video chat website, that allowed any user to create videoconference rooms for up to 16 people. MeBeam did not require registration, login or downloading of software. Overview The site was launched by Ashod Apakian in November 200 ...

Meebo Meebo (often stylized as meebo) was an instant messaging and social networking service provider. It was founded in September 2005 by Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Elaine Wherry, and was based in Mountain View, California. Initially the company o ...

(No longer available) *

Movim Movim (My Open Virtual Identity Manager) is a distributed social network built on top of XMPP, a popular open standards communication protocol. Movim is a free and open source software licensed under the AGPL-3.0-or-later license. It can be acc ...

Omegle Omegle is a free online chat website that allows users to socialize with others without the need to register. The service randomly pairs users in one-on-one chat sessions where they chat anonymously using the names "You" and "Stranger" or "Stra ...

Talkomatic Talkomatic was an online chat system that facilitates real-time text communication among a small group of people. Each participant in Talkomatic has their own section of the screen, broadcasting messages letter-by-letter as they are typed. This int ...

* Tegsoft * Tokbox (No longer available) *

Tinychat Tinychat is an online chat website that allows users to communicate via instant messaging, voice chat, and video chat. It offers instant opportunities for people to meet and the ability for users to create their own virtual chat room on any topi ...

* Trillian * Userplane (No longer available) *

Woo Media Woo Media was an online chat and video social network which offered a variety of interactive sites that provided live social entertainment through a computer or mobile device. The company raised $17 million in venture capital from several investo ...

(No longer available) *

Zumbl Zumbl was an online chat service where users could converse with strangers anonymously. Users could "tag" each other on the basis of their conversations, which were indicative of their personality and were reflected in their avatars. Zumbl built us ...

(No longer available)

References

External links

* {{Computer-mediated communication Internet culture Online chat Chat Web 1.0

Web chat software

Live support software

Web-based chat services

See also

References

External links