GTalk chatback and better alternatives
Google recently launched its 'ChatBack' service, which is essentially a blog-chat service for people who are not really connected. That is to say, you can chat with people who are not already on your GTalk friend list. That would really be helpful for blog owners and visitors as well. For once, the interaction between the writer and visitor of blogs won't remain limited to comments, which is inconvenient at times. Say, you leave a comment on some blog. But the blog owner doesn't notice it until couple of days. Then he replies to it. But by this time, U've lost interest in the topic. So, that's quite wasted. But by using instant chat, there will be a live conversation.
When I started blogging, I was looking for something like this. I started with a shortcut of GTalk. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but you can start chatting with your GTalk friend instantly, by clicking a shortcut on your desktop? To create this shortcut -
When I started blogging, I was looking for something like this. I started with a shortcut of GTalk. I don't know how many of you are aware of this, but you can start chatting with your GTalk friend instantly, by clicking a shortcut on your desktop? To create this shortcut -
- Right click on your desktop and select New > Shortcut
- Type the following text in the window that appears -
gtalk:chat?jid=username@gmail.com
Ofcourse, replace username with the username of your friend for whome you want to create the shortcut.- On the next window, give this shortcut a name and click Finish.
- Now, click this new shortcut on your desktop and that friend's chat window will appear. Voila.
For this trick to work, you must already be logged into GTalk. Else, GTalk will ask you to login.
I tried to use this trick to place a badge-link of 'Chat with me' on my blog. But this quite didn't work out. Try clicking this Chat with Me link. If you're not already on my friendlist, you won't be able to ping me with this. So, it was of no use for me on my blog. :(

Then I came across this wonderful application named Plugoo. This is a chat service that connects directly to your desktop messenger client. Once configured, You can receive chat msg on your desktop. Now no need to wait on a web browser. Anyone can ping you even if they are not on your friendlist. So, this is perfect for me. Any blog visitor can have a live conversation with me if I'm logged into GTalk, which I am daylong. They won't even see my gtalk id. Now, that's privacy and convenience combined. Sleek. :)


This ChatBack even has an advantage over the Plugoo widget. Visitors from my blog can still ping me via Plugoo even if my status is 'Busy'. But using GTalk 'chatback' - that's impossible. Visitors can ping me only when my status is 'Available'. That's something relieving and assuring.
But still I'm sticking to Plugoo mostly. Wanna know why? Check the one blog - Leonardo - where I'm using this 'ChatBack'. Yes, it is not quite customizeable. You get the pick your nickname and status msg option, but beyond that, it is still very basic. Colors and graphics can't be changed. Mostly, it doesn't go with my blog-template. Waiting for the time when we'll get more high-end full-fledged customization options.