A system for providing collaborative browsing of information and interactive communications on the worldwide web. A customer may use the system for a co-browsing session with a customer assistance representative by simply providing an access number from an accessed web site to the customer service representative. The customer is transparently switched from a normal web site to a co-browsing web site merely by clicking on a button to request assistance. The co-browsing site includes software to periodically poll a server for synchronization purposes.