Userplane Releases New Online Community Features for Free Webchat Tool

WebKnowHow
Monday, October 16, 2006; 09:32 AM

Userplane (www.userplane.com), a provider of live community software, today announced the latest features to its free multi-user, multi-room, audio/video chat platform. Userplane Instant Install, an unlimited use, ad-supported version of the company’s robust Flash apps communication suite, will now include Anonymous Calling and a private messaging “whisper” function.

Userplane Anonymous Calling will now be seamlessly enabled for each room in the Webchat, facilitating a unique phone number and extension to enable users in each room to conference with each other easily and instantly. With no fee or signup process, users will have immediate access to a free phone number and extension – available for myriad of live multi-party functions such as web business conferences, party lines, and online live events.

The new anonymous calling system will also be featured in the Webmessenger IM tool, a complimentary application that comes included with Webchat Instant Install. Like the calling feature for each Webchat experience, every Webmessenger IM connection will generate a private number and extension that users can call using a cell phone or land-line, and for no additional charge to the site or the user. With no time limits or restrictions, this Userplane calling feature will support a fresh user experience as well as offer a unique up-sell feature for sites and their members.

“Userplane’s Instant-Install version enables websites to deploy Flash chat rooms without a previously built database or user log-in system,” said Michael Jones, Userplane co-founder and CEO. “For much of the growing Internet, free copy-and-paste chat has become a must-have, community-supporting site feature. We see a large demand for our product from online communities, blog owners, interest-based sites, personal web pages – you name it, and we are thrilled to see this free product flourish. Our app is so easy to install and use that we’re seeing hundreds of new signups a day.”

Userplane also added a frequently-requested “whisper” feature for Webchat, allowing someone in a chat room to private message or “whisper” to selected users. As with all Instant Install Userplane Apps, Webchat is offered as a one-line script that can be pasted onto any web page in seconds.

Userplane Webchat reflects the company’s extensive experience in fostering customer interactions within the online dating and social networking communities, and incorporates feedback from corporate clients and millions of users who use the technology for everything from social networking to e-learning.

Unlike traditional Java- and HTML-based chat solutions, Userplane’s Flash-based Webchat offers cross-platform functionality, performing with ease on virtually all operating systems. While Java chat rooms frequently create customer support challenges because of platform inconsistencies, Flash comes pre-installed on Windows XP, and works seamlessly on both Macintosh and Linux platforms. Current studies show that Flash is installed on more than 98 percent of Internet browsers.