• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 15, 2020

GoDaddy is exploring the possibility of either building out its own video chat feature or building an API that plugs into its website building platforms, so numerous partners could plug directly into its technology. If realized, the move would help small and medium-sized companies reach customers through its platform as the business landscape evolves.

The company confirmed this week that it is in the “very early stages of development, and quite a ways off from being a reality,” if it does pursue this at all. The development team is in the nascent stages of exploring what the feature could look like.

Video chat tools have become key in social distancing -- not only for friends and family to communicate during stay-at-home, but for marketers and developers trying to remain productive at home.

On Monday, Larry Ellison, Oracle founder, said in a video on YouTube that chat tools such as Zoom have become an essential service, allowing the economy to function during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video chat is a major feature that works with other tools within the platform. If the company sought out other companies to integrate with rather than building it internally, there would normally be a period of about a month in which to vet partners, negotiate terms and analyze technical implementation while building models and the experience and then, a 10% rollout to beta customers to ensure everything works, followed by a slow ramp-up. All this would take at least take six months during normal times.

The feature would compete with tools from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Zoom and others that already have video tools, or allow some of them to plug directly into its platform.