I’m probably not the best person to test this feature out because I barely ever participate in group chats, but seeing as Beejive is such a kickass instant messaging platform, I thought it would be worth exploring how they handled multi-user and meta chats in their latest 3.1 update. Overall, I’d say the meta-user chatting is a great addition to the app and finally makes linking a contact to a contact card, but group chats could definitely be a little more accessible.
Meta chats
One of the consequences of having friends in these modern times is the hassle of managing instant messages with the same person across different platforms. There’s little point in keeping two separate chats (one on Gtalk, one on MSN) with my friend Psycho if I can just combine everything we say to each other and file it all under his name. This is exactly what Beejive does with meta chats, and all you need to do activate it is link specific IM accounts to a contact in your addresss book. Just beware that if you’re on an Exchange contact system then you might find yourself re-linking contact cards if there’s ever a problem with your Exchange server.
The great thing about this meta implementation is that you can choose which chats you’d like to keep under one umbrella, and which you’d like to keep separate. Beejive isn’t forcing meta chats down your throat in the same way Palm forces Synergy onto its users. This is especially useful if you’d like to keep the chat histories for different accounts separate, so if you’re discussing pure business with your friend on a Gtalk account but two hours of “lolcatz” links on MSN, you can keep the garbage out of a chat history that you may well want to refer to later on. Meta chats also just make Beejive a much cleaner interface.
I’d say the only thing that might take a little getting used to is choosing which IM account to message in a meta chat. Instead of simply tapping on a name in the contact list, you’ll have to tap on the arrow on the right. You’ll then be taken to a contact screen where you can tap on the IM service you’d like to message. This can also be done from within an actual chat with a contact: just tap on the display picture on the top-right.
Group Chats
One of the interesting things about the Beejive group chats is that they also work with clients that don’t support group chats. I haven’t been able to test a group chat with other Beejive users (I don’t know any :P), but I did rally two pals using Gtalk desktop clients. If you’ve used Gtalk then you know that the native client doesn’t support group chats, but we got around this thanks to Beejive. Inviting them (via the “+” button in the Chats tab) issued a link that launched a browser-based chat. My friends were prompted to log in and then we chatted for approximately three seconds before I proclaimed “Got my info! kthxbai!” and left.
As for how group chats appear from outside, the Chat tab simply said “Psycho, et al”. I’m pretty sure I’m not friends with Et Al, so I’m guessing it’s not a bug 😉 All in all, I’d call this another solid update from Beejive!
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TAGS: IM+
