Managing all of your social media applications can be a bit tiresome. Open windows for MSN, Skype, Facebook, ICQ, AIM, and YahooTalk can make you sweat, not to mention the never ending stream of alerts firing from your speakers! The anxiety you feel is exactly why Meebo was invented. Meebo allows users to instant message each other across a huge range of IM programs from a single online web application. Meebo responds to a growing trend in conglomerating social media applications.
Meebo is a great application because it is used through a website and requires no downloads. It is also dead easy to use. The program allows users to sign in to their various IM accounts through the Meebo website and choose what friends they want to talk to from a master list. Using the list, one can edit friend status and organize their contacts on behalf of their instant messengers. The program even allows users to embed Youtube videos in chat instead of just links.
Signing up for Meebo is also very easy. For Google Talk and MSN, I just entered the account name and password, then it was off to the races. To add Facebook, Meebo opened a sign in and permission window provided by Facebook and after a few clicks I was chatting. Meebo even lets users do general status updates across all of the user’s messaging programs which can be a huge time saver. Meebo lovers can integrate a tool into their Windows Quicklaunch Bar that gives them previews of incoming messages. The application can also be used from the bottom of a browser with the "Meebo Bar"/"MeeboMe" feature.
Me checking out MeeboMeebo also includes the features of typical online chat by hosting chat rooms where people can get together with folks who aren’t on their list. Topics range from politics to music and even adult themes - probably a bunch of mature people discussing adult issues right? I guess you could say Meebo is a program that has something for everyone – everyone that uses instant messaging.
Meebo claims to be one of the world’s fastest growing social media companies and according to their website, they traffic over 6 billion messages and 75 million links for 100 million people per month. Programs that yolk social networking and IM programs together are becoming more valuable to social media users for time saving reasons. Meebo seeks to be a one stop shop for these services. With solid venture capital invested in the organization by companies like Time Warner and Sequoia Capital, it will be interesting to see what other applications Meebo absorbs in the future.
To give you a sense of where they stand here is their list of awards from CrunchBase
> Time’s Top 50 Coolest Websites for 2006
> PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2006
> PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2007
> Top 100 Webware sites for 2007
> PC World’s The 100 Best Products of 2008
Here is a chart I whipped up to help you decide how you feel about Meebo!
Pros:
> easy to use
> range of applications
> seamless integration of apps
> no downloads
> chat room feature (PR/Marketing opportunity)
> ability to edit IM settings
> embedded videos
Cons:
> no good for those who use only one IM program
> limited PR applications (mostly for talking to friends)
Wylie out...
For another review check out Sayurie's blog.
Posts
