Ecreation, an interactive media agency, introduced http://www.chatbot4u.com. By using this new service, now anyone can create a virtual chat partner, by following a few simple steps. These so-called chatbots can be used on websites, in social media and on instant messengers. Chatbot4U offers entertainment for consumers and interesting opportunities for businesses.

Ecreation develops professional chatbot solutions since 2005. The company’s next logical step was to make this technology available to all internet users, for free. “A year ago we came up with the idea of creating Chatbot4U, as more and more consumers and small businesses started asking us if they can build a chatbot themselves,” says Sjoerd van Dijk, co-founder of Netherlands-based Ecreation. “This website is our answer. Now everyone can start creating chatbots. We like to compare our site to Youtube, only Chatbot4U is all about chatbots instead of videos.”

A newly created chatbot contains a set of default knowledge. Its creator can easily extend this knowledge, in order to make it smarter. When finished, the chatbot can be connected to popular social media such as Facebook, Windows Live (MSN) Messenger and Google Talk. One of the interesting applications of Chatbot4U is to use the chatbot as a personal virtual assistant. This means that when the owner is away or sleeping, the chatbot will remain online on his or her profile, and will respond to any instant messages received from contacts. Later on, these conversations can be viewed by the owner.

A gallery on Chatbot4U allows people to try out each other’s chatbots and give them ratings and comments. There is a wide range of chatbots already available. Some are created purely for fun; others represent a famous person, brand or business. Currently, it is possible to chat with chatbots based on known persons such as Justin Bieber, Barack Obama and Paris Hilton.

Businesses can use Chatbot4U to include a chatbot on corporate or e-commerce websites. Doing so, they can automatically respond to customer’s enquiries 24/7, which is a great way to serve answers to frequently asked questions. This can result in a better conversion rate and a cost reduction, because the company’s customer service department will predictably receive less phone calls and e-mails.

A few weeks ago, Chatbot4U was already introduced to a limited audience, which led to positive results. In less than a week more than 2,000 chatbots were created. Chat traffic between these chatbots and website visitors resulted in the exchange of 3 million messages!