I’ve been using Meebo for about 6 months religiously. I had tried it out a couple years ago, and I wasn’t entirely impressed. It was slow, there were some issues with bugs, and it just wasn’t the same experience as a desktop instant messaging app.
Now, I definitely feel like it is btter than any IM app. It consolidates all of your accounts into a single place, and that is your browser. It allows you login into Google Talk, MSN Messenger, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, Flixster, and Yahoo Messenger. No need to launch, or login to, multiple apps. Additionally, you don’t have to worry about proxys or network restrictions if your inside a strict firewall, or you can’t install applications on your machine. Give Meebo a try if you haven’t, I’d bet you’re going to like it.
So why does any of this mean that Meebo is the future of IMing? Because of the addition of Meebo Me and Meebo Mobile, and the Meebo Platform. Meebo Me is a new service Meebo is providing that allows websites to put Facebook-like chat windows on their site. Meebo Mobile gives you the abilty to utilize your Meebo account from your iPhone or Android based phone. No Blackberry app though. Finally, the Meebo Platform allows developers do quickly create enhancements and add-ons for Meebo, further pushing the uses of IM.
In general, I’m impressed the Meebo crew and their constant effort to improve the experience and add value to IMing. Check out their blog to see how passonate these folks are about what their doing.
