This is interesting.
Firefly allows visitors to a web site to point and chat. Basically a Flash overlay movie with transparent background allows contemporaneous web site visitors to point at content on the site and instant chat with each other. Chat messages are currently anonymous but I expect that will change. Messages are also transient so unless you’re there to see them posted you won’t see them although a chat history is recorded.
Dave was one of the first users to demo in public but they’re now taking beta signups so you could add the app to your site too. What will you use it for?
Critics will ask ‘what’s the point?’. Sure, being able to comment on a web site so that subsequent visitors can share comments is not new, but there’s something kinda cool about being able to do this in real time. Of course if you have a high traffic site like Dave’s you’ll get several people online at once, but for my site and I suspect many others you may be chatting alone for a while 🙂
Very nifty, thanks for pointing to it. It strikes me that peer support around using websites is one potential use (“hey, can someone tell me where the ‘checkout’ button is?”) as is instant peer interaction around OER sites.