Firef.ly has launched a new service that allows a website to have an overlaid chat feature.  At first when checking this out I was pretty impressed by the program but soon a couple of key issues came to light.

First of all, it allows users to type a message on any part of the site.  Interesting idea but in the end it’s the biggest downfall.  It makes it nearly impossible to follow a conversation since a reply to your questions could come from above, below, or on any side of where you typed.  In terms of usability, I suppose it’s nice to be able to type wherever your cursor happens to be but if you’re trying to follow along in a conversation it makes it tough, especially when other people are talking and you have to try to figure out which window is adressing you.

Second downfall is that with all the cursors on the screen and text boxes popping up randomly, It makes it very difficult to interact, or even want to interact with the website… which is the whole reason the website is there in the first place.

A nice feature is that it will sync with a twitter account however, do you really want your chat transcript broadcast over twitter?

When trying to talk with other users on the demo, many mentioned the same thing.  Perhaps if they could someone limit it to a certain area of the screen it woudl help.  I can’t see any business adapting this.  It could be a nice feature on a personal blog or myspace/facebook page.

In the end, it’s an interesting idea but needs some major refining before any business should consider implementing it.