Yes, since that post I have been experiencing more usability testing where we study “natural user behavior” with the guidance of a facilitator. Where this approach seems most effective is when we “intercept” visitors as they arrive at a site (see Ethnio.com). We can then observe them completing the very tasks they came to the site to do, rather than the more contrived tasks that WE would like them to do. The results have been extremely interesting, and I believe more valuable. I definitely recommend including natural behavior research in at least part of any usability test. You can always add some task-based testing at the end if time permits.

—Remote research enables “live remote testing”: recruit visitors to your website to participate in your study, and then begin the study right away; that means you can watch participants doing self-motivated tasks they were planning on doing anyway, rather than assigning artificial tasks they may not care about. (More on live recruiting <a href="http://boltpeters.com/services/recruiting/"here.)

—You can easily record sessions using software like Camtasia Studio, Screenflow, or iShowUHD

—Along with the user’s natural environment, you can see their computing environment as well: bookmarks, other browser tabs that they’re using in conjunction with their current task, desktop shortcuts, and so on (with the user’s consent, of course)

—The facial expression issue may be solved soon as webcams become more standard; services like iChat and Adobe Connect already have integrated webcam / screensharing. (Anyway, I don’t really believe that facial expressions matter all that much in user research: people have long since become comfortable with conveying emotion in tone of voice, and in any case, it’s the behavior you want to pay attention to, not just the facial expressions, which can be easy to misinterpret)

And as for the other considerations:
—Also remember that users may be on wifi connections, which can make the screensharing choppy. Make sure that the user is using a landline phone and a wired internet connection if possible.

—Live recruiting can make hiring “floaters” unnecessary, because you can simply recruit visitors as they come to your site.

Nate Bolt and I wrote a <a href="http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/remote-research/&quot; book on Remote Research, which will be coming out soon, and which covers all of these issues. Check it out if you’re interested!