Discussion Forums and Chat Rooms

A common buzzword associated with the growth of e-Business activities is community.Many online businesses are concentrating their efforts on developing communities of customers who will interact with each other to obtain and share information and tips. The goal of these interactions is to increase customer loyalty，while decreasing the need for expensive customer support.Online companies install customer discussion forums and chat rooms on their Web sites for surfers to join and interact with like-minded people.

A discussion forum provides Web surfers with the tools they need to communicate with others about topics of common interest.Visitors to a discussion forum can choose to post questions，or they can simply browse through the questions and answers posted by other visitors.

In a chat room，customers can conduct live conversations in real time.An online business needs to ensure the integrity of the chat room，while also ensuring each customer's privacy is protected.Customers who perceive chat rooms only in frivolous terms might not be inclined to use them to find product information.As a result，the online business needs to reassure customers that the chat room is monitored，that they can use it to quickly learn about the company products，and that they can interact with other customers in a safe and informative environment.

Practical Task

Chat rooms combine interaction with up-to-the-minute immediacy to impressive effect.Although it involves quite complicated technical programming，chat software can be downloaded for free at The Free Site(Figure 3).Observe this Website.

Figure 3:The Free Site