Before the Christmas break we were lucky enough to interview Daniel Offer, the co- inventor of Chit Chat. Chit Chat is a desktop based interface that utilises Facebook’s API allowing users to chat with one another without actually visiting Facebook. Think of it as MSN for Facebook chat with a few juicy features thrown in. This new utility could be the answer to people finding friends now lacking on MSN messenger, sneaky workers that want to stay connected whilst ‘on-the-clock’ or people who want to update their status direct from the utility.
How Did You Come Up With The Idea?
Chit Chat started life as a bullet point on a scrap piece of paper on a raining Sunday evening on a list of potential project ideas. Simply put, I wanted a new project – a new venture, something to build and expand. I love managing projects, creating new things and after some deliberation with my business partner Henrik Larsson we agreed that we’d start up Chit Chat.
Henrik and I had previously worked together on a MSN Emoticon project for MSN Messenger namely “Emoinstaller” unlike most emoticon sites we had a cool piece of software that would install our emoticons directly into MSN Messenger and as such, were familiar with technical projects as well as the instant messaging community.
One thing that was a real selling point for us starting up “Chit Chat” was that my contact list on MSN Messenger was starting to look empty, in fact, I wasn’t adding people on MSN Messenger anymore – I was instead solely adding them on Facebook. As such, when the Facebook chat functionality was launched – it made more sense to login to Facebook to talk rather than on MSN.
How Many People Use Chit Chat Each Day?
We obtain around 12,000 new downloads of Chit Chat for Facebook each day, and several million checks for a new version each month. We don’t record usage stats at this point in time.
What Does Chit Chat Bring That Facebook Chat Doesn’t?
Let me give you with a short list, if a few nifty sales points:
1. Convenience – You can use Chit Chat for Facebook on your desktop and keep being signed in passively whilst using your browser and computer for other purposes.
2. Chat History – We remember what you wrote, so you don’t have to
3. Status Alerts – We let you know when people sign in/sign out and when a message is received so you don’t have to keep checking your Facebook browser tab. We’re not even mentioning the fact that you can change your status from your desktop or use musical statuses.
4. Colourful Messages – You can customize the way in which your messages are sent and received – make them whatever colour or font you want
5. Tabbed Interface – Really easy to manage whom you’ve sent messages to, or whom you’ve received messages from
What Are You Future Plans?
Watch this space. There is a new website design going live soon, we’ve got some really cool new products being developed and of course – we’re continuing to work on Chit Chat for Facebook.
So some very interesting stuff, using Chit Chat seems to be the way forward if you use Facebook Chat and have used other services in the past. Have you used Chit Chat? Do you think this/Facebook could kill MSN messenger?
Get it at the Chit Chat Website
