If you’ve been unimpressed with the available chat applications for your blog, you’ll be excited to learn about TinyChat.
TinyChat recently delivered version 2 of their chat product and I’m really impressed. The application is extremely intuitive, which starts with a large text field prompting for a chat room name. Within seconds your new room is created. But not before you’re given the chance to sign in using Twitter and invite other participants. If you’re not using Twitter don’t fret; just enter your name to continue.
At this point the chat room has been created, now set a chat topic and select your privacy option. By private it really means not listed on the TinyChat website. If you need password protection, you’ll have to upgrade to the professional plan. With that plan, you’ll also own up to 5 rooms, and broadcast in HQ video.
A TinyChat session can host up to 200 concurrent chat participants, and 12 simultaneous audio, video broadcasts. The audio and video is really easy to operate. Click the big message the reads “Add live audio and video to this room” then approve the use of Tiny Chat to access your camera and microphone. In our testing, we had multiple users streaming audio and video and I found the quality was equal to what I experience from Skype.
Other TinyChat features worth noting include:
- Share files via Flyupload
- Save chat transcripts
- Ban annoying users
- Embed the chat on your website or blog
- Share the chat room via Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace (or via any network by sharing the URL).
MyTechOpinion
I’m really impressed with the user interface of TinyChat. I like that I wasn’t forced to install cumbersome software to initiate a chat session. I appreciate the “ignore” link that moderators see next to each user’s update. If an unruly visitor joins the chat, use this feature to block them from participating. It’s also comforting to know that TinyChat works on Windows, Mac and Linux; using Firefox, IE, Safari, and Chrome browsers.
Real estate agents using this tool on a regular basis for online chat or webinars sessions may want to consider subscribing to the professional plan. As mentioned you’ll gain the ability to save room names-to protect your brand or keyword.
I'm not as impressed with this service as Nik Nik is. It's still missing basic website user interface functions and constantly asking you to pay for their WAY overpriced Pro version. They want $14.95 a MONTH. I might be willing to pay $20 a YEAR for, if it worked better. But the idea is good and they are trying to integrate lots of features and social media sharing, which is cool.
Hey Jim – It's actually my article. I'm very impressed with the app. I did see a few opportunities TinyChat took to remind me about their professional version, but I don't mind since the basic version is free…I can't complain about that.
Opps! Sorry Reggie! I saw a tweet from Nik Nik about it and just assumed it was her article. My bad!
Hey, I can't argue with free either! To be honest, I haven't run this through a full evaluation so I shouldn't poo poo it too much.
However I found the interface sleek-looking, but hard to use. Why are there no back buttons? Why can't you cancel out of pop up dialogs? Some pages clicking on their logo will take you back to the home page, on others nothing! Not even a simple "log in" link on their main page! These are sort of basic interface things that tell me it needs some polishing, that's all.
And if they want to hit me up for a Pro version, they should do it after I've tried it a bit and see value, not in my face everywhere when I first sign up. You have to go all the way to the PayPal page before you can even see the $179 a year price they want to charge. (about ten times the value, IMO)
But tie-ins with Facebook and Twitter <— THAT'S cool!
Works with Linux my rear.
Look it up on Ubuntuforums and see what's really going on.