In the last decade the internet has been used for many purposes.
The underlying design of the internet has made it a great tool for sharing information and communicating ideas.
Before the internet was used for selling goods or advertising anything it was used for communication.
today's forums come from yesterdays bulletin board systems.
It was not long before these bulletin board systems for local people to communicate with each other became today's internet chat rooms.
Instant communication at long distance via text chatting became the norm when companies like AOL serviced the lion share on internet users.
This type of instant text communication evolved into instant messengers like AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Communicator.
At the same time this revolution in instant long distance communication took place website owners the world over added chat rooms to their websites.
The general idea is that people would want to come back to their website frequently to chat if they had a chat room.
In today's world chat rooms are almost a thing of the past.
Chat rooms have become live voice-chat enabled environments like SecondLife This however does not mean chat applications do not have a place on your website.
In fact quite the contrary, chat applications have gotten better over time.
As the web has evolved website owners are finally figuring out the correct place for live chat to exist on a web page.
Chat should exist right on the front page of your site, or at least on the frequently asked questions and contact pages.
Instead of chat rooms Live chat applications like ChatStat.
com run right on your computers browser and allow you to interact with your website visitors.
Programs like ChatStat can create the same instant gratification of one on one communication through your website, and with better features than any chat room.
Live chat applications for instance can interface with other instant messengers like AIM or Jabber.
Some can even translate between languages and tell you what website the person you are chatting with is looking at.
This one on one communication in real time on your website is invaluable.
You have the opportunity to invite everyone who visits your site (while you are awake) to chat.
You can anwser questions, or even direct them to the right page.
When you are not online ready to chat you can have the person leave you a message to call them back in the same place your "chat now" button would be.
Live chat can turn a simple browsing visitor into a pleased visitor or even a buyer.
Chat rooms may not have been best idea for every website (after all who is going to use a chat room on a used car website?) butinstant messaging is here to stay on cell phones, desktops and websites.