PeopleLink Launches Real-Time Chat Device

PeopleLink, Inc. launched today its real-time text-based communications service for the Internet.

PeopleLink's stated purpose is to "keeps friends, family and colleagues in touch" by means of a free electronic chat application--a personal chat room that links you, like a telephone, to anyone on your list of contacts, and enables you to have a private conversation that can be asynchronous and yet continuous.

Bill Gross, chairman of Idealab, the online venture incubation firm that launched PeopleLink, likes it because it "eliminates the clamor of chat rooms and the delay of e-mail." Similar to America Online's Buddy List, it targets e-mail users who want a simple, safe, real-time connection to the people with whom they regularly communicate.

MIT Professor and PeopleLink adviser Sherry Turkle notes, "PeopleLink makes the Internet a more natural medium for personal communications: It gives people the choice and the privacy to which they are so accustomed in their offline interactions, and it protects them from the harassment that they sometimes experience in chat."

PeopleLink is free to users and easy to set up. The application works independently of any browser and has an "auto-wake-up" feature that senses when the user connects to the Internet. Once "awake," PeopleLink prompts the user whenever anyone from his/her preselected list of friends and associates is online. The user can then click on the name of one or more people he/she wishes to talk to, initiating a real-time online conversation with them via an "interactive messaging" window.

While other instant messaging products have emerged this year, PeopleLink differentiates itself through its Partnership Business Model (i.e., advertising supported and partnership based), and by the fact that it is a service, rather than a tool company.

"We offer our Partners a selective, secure way for their communities to connect and communicate, one that complements chat and bulletin board facilities they may already offer," said Steve Glenn, founder, president and CEO of PeopleLink.

"Since we are a service company and do not sell tools, Partners can offer PeopleLink to their users with no out-of-pocket costs and share in the revenue from advertisers like AT&T. Future PeopleLink extensions will offer Partners even greater integration with site-based software such as chat, ad serving, and profiling applications."

The software is compatible with Windows 3.+, Windows 95, and Macintosh operating systems and will work behind many browser-enabled firewalls.

I had the pleasure of interviewing PeopleLink VP Marketing Chuck Hoover entirely by means of PeopleLink and found it to be a remarkably easy and precise way to communicate.

GW: Can you tell me anything about the advertisers and partners you've lined up?

CH: We will be launching with AT&T as our premier advertiser, and we are currently talking to a number of other National accounts. We are targeting major ISPs and Web sites to be partners with PeopleLink (we have a number of contracts out for signature) and will be announcing those shortly.

GW: What will your ad rates be?

CH: They will be sold on a CPM [i.e., cost per thousand viewers] basis with the rates varying based on how many impressions the advertiser buys and how much targeting they want to do. The range is roughly $30 on the high end with a minimum of $15.

GW: Are the ads linked to Web pages?

CH: Yes, they are hyperlinked to whatever URL the advertiser wants. PeopleLink opens your default browser to go to the ad that's been clicked on. The advantage is that a user can continue his/her conversation while looking at the advertiser's Web site.

GW: How do you measure ad viewership?

CH: We have some interesting advantages here over Web sites. Since this is a client server application, we know who is online and what ads have been delivered to them. This offers some great targeting and efficiency benefits from an advertiser perspective (meaning we can deliver to only the people they want and only as many times as they want).

Technically, we count an impression when the banner file has been fully loaded. The length of time it is displayed is configurable by us, which is around one minute. Also, the ads are only displayed on the messaging window, so that means the ads are displayed at a time when it is most likely that a viewer will see them. I think this makes for more valuable impressions as compared to applications that display ads all the time, even when it is likely the user is gone.

GW: I can see that this will be a great tool for me as a journalist. Faster then e-mail, but still asynchronous, i.e., I can go to the fridge during the interview.

CH: Sure. That is actually one of the examples we give of how PeopleLink could be used. A reporter can use it to quickly confirm some facts--it's quicker than e-mail, less intrusive than the phone.

In the space of a few hours using it, I became a PeopleLink addict. When people came into my office I preferred to secretly continue my electronic conversation and only half-listened to what my visitors were saying. This immediate seduction into compulsive use tells me that PeopleLink will become the next great communications tool and the next great covert office distraction.

Like computer solitaire, or online stock quotes, it's easy to hide the PeopleLink window behind a spreadsheet or letter and continue that conversation when your boss walks away. Far better than the phone, no one will ever notice that you're flirting with your lover or making plans to go to a ball game after work.