Well, it is good initiative to make an interaction with site visitors in real time. I have implemented this live conference on my site http://www.rupizmedia.com and it  proved  successful.

Something that is related to this subject is the Virtual Assistants we produce.  With these the user has the experience of working with a real person and therefore often talks about the product and how they are using the site in a way that isn't captured in traditional search engine and menu browsing.  The user often talks to the Avatar as if it was a real assistant and the benefits include a lots of user insight that otherwise would be very difficult to capture. Our clients also find this useful to help with back filling content on their site and also tuning their search terms.

Nick

On 14:54:42 7 April 2008 MattRhodes wrote:

I'm facilitating a session at a conference next month on allowing customers to participate online - combining their input with expert input on websites and in content.

At FreshNetworks this is very much what we do in our branded online communities - getting customers, stakeholders and experts together to help innovate and grow advocacy.

However, it would be great to hear of any examples of where this has worked (or not worked) for you.