10/05/98 SOFTWARE FOR SURFING WITH YOUR PALS

SOFTWARE FOR SURFING WITH YOUR PALS

RESEARCHERS AT CARNEGIE MELLON recently found that using the Internet can amplify loneliness and depression. But startup HipBone Software has an antidote: social surfing. The Palo Alto (Calif.) company offers free software that lets people surf the Web in groups--say, to plan a trip or buy gifts. ''People prefer shopping together,'' says Dan Rolla, HipBone's vice-president for business development. Online merchants are keen on the idea, too, just as mall owners love visits from tour buses. ''Instead of two eyeballs visiting a site, it's four or six,'' Rolla says.
The group-surf software, called Co-Navigator, is available from HipBone's Web site, www.hipbone.com. A group ''host'' signs up first and fills out a short form. Then, as many as nine people can join in. Everyone can steer--which can make navigation a bit chaotic. But most users choose to talk while they're surfing, either by phone or by using a Net chat room or instant messaging. It's not just for goofing off. A business manager, for example, can take an entire team on a tour of competitors' Web sites.
HipBone will sell ads on the site, and it hopes to license Co-Navigator to other Web sites. But first, the goal is to sign up users. So now's your chance to be joined at the hip with other surfers.
By Andy Reinhardt
EDITED BY AMY CORTESE