Problem addressed
Chat net was launched to combat loneliness and promote social cohesion, in response to the following challenges:
- 1.5 million people in Austria live alone, and 600,000 people in Austria feel lonely on a regular basis.
- Even before Covid-19, loneliness has been classified as a disease of civilization, with 12% of Europeans having felt lonely more than half of the time. This number has doubled to over 25% during the Corona pandemic, with harmful repercussions on people's mental and physical health.
- Current multiple crises further exacerbate the situation for those affected. Many people have an increased need for exchange and long for human interactions.
Innovative solution
Chat net offers an easily accessible way to anonymously connect with others with the aim to combat loneliness. Thereby, it closes a gap in social care and unburdens existing structures.
Rather than a crisis hotline, Chat net aims at increasing social well-being by connecting people in need with chat net partners. The beauty of the solution lies in its simplicity – whenever a person feels lonely, they call chat net. Registration is not required, making the service easily accessible for all target groups. This “chat service” is unique in Austria and an example how digital innovation can alleviate social problems.
Chat net enables also a new way of volunteering for people with limited mobility or time. Thus, a new form of location-independent engagement is made possible, so that older people can volunteer from home. It also enables people with limited time, to volunteer based on their resources.
Chat net focuses on building a strong community. Webinars and networking meetings create sustainable impact and ensure the offer meets the requirements of the target group.
Key results and benefits
Since April 2020, Chat net has been used by ~8,000 volunteers and callers across Austria. So far, the project has achieved the following results:
- 32,700 conversations were enabled since April 2020, with more than 11,000 conversations in 2022.
- On average, calls last 25 minutes. This sums up to 790,000 minutes of chatting.
- 4,100 voluntary chat partners have registered for Chat net.
- More than 4,900 callers have called the Chat net number. New callers join daily - 3 per day on average in 2022.
Potential for mainstreaming
This is how Chat net works:
- Volunteers register at: www.plaudernetz.at
- Callers feeling lonely dial the Chat net number: 05-1776-100 (daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.).
- Incoming calls are routed in parallel to available chat partners. Whoever has time and is in the mood to chat will take the call.
- For every call, different people are connected with each other so that all conversations stay anonymous and are unique.
The idea was implemented using innovative cloud-based technology. Chat net is therefore easily scalable and does not require classic "call center" structures for operation.
