Meebo– IM On the Go

How many of you use some form of Instant Messaging?

I think that I’ve been using instant messaging since 1998 or earlier.  Back then you had two choices, AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ.  Today, there are many different types from all different providers as well as the crossovers that let you maintain your buddy lists across all of the different brands.

The problem is, you have to download a client (either an all-in-one or each of them depending on the features you want) and install it, and it comes up when you start windows, etc.  And then there’s the updates that you have to install, and rebooting your PC.

Meebo changes all of that.

Meebo’s Signature Feature

I first found meebo as the flash object (like the one on my right sidebar) on someone else’s blog, and I knew I had to try it out.  Basically, you can create a meebo widget that you can place on any site that you own and people can chat with you while they visit your site.  You can also see how many people are on your site at any given time.  This feature, though only a two-way conversation, makes it easy to contact the blog or site author and talk about anything!

Meebo’s Site

To use meebo on the site owners end, you have to enter their site, but it was when I went there that I started to fully appreciate what meebo had to offer.  You see, not only do you get to see your widgets, you can login and and store all of your IM services in one location.  The best part is that they do all the upgrades for you– no more client on your PC except for your web browser!

Special Features

Meebo comes with a few added features like meebo Rooms– which is a room established around your site that people can come and chat and the room stays up and running.  It also follows you to whatever computer you choose to fire up– so that you can see the last few statements you’ve made with someone wherever you are.  And if you get the right greasemonkey script, you can login automatically– just like windows signon.

Drawbacks

• I haven’t had that many people actually communicate with me.  Though this is both a blessing and a curse, I don’t know how beneficial this feature really is.
• If people are talking with you through your webpage, if they navigate off of it they will lose connection.  On a blog, this could happen with just clicking to comment.
• If you reload your meebo page, you get a warning that you are closing your session.

So, what are you waiting for?  If you have IM, you should try out meebo.