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Tag: Meebo

  • Google Is Shutting Down The Meebo Bar

    Google Is Shutting Down The Meebo Bar

    Late last year I wrote, “This Meebo Bar Could Be Huge For Google+“. Apparently I was wrong, because Google announced that it is shutting it down.

    To be fair, they’re shutting it down to focus on Google+ Sign-In, which was announced two months after I wrote that.

    A message from the Meebo team on the Meebo homepage says (via TNW):

    Five years ago, we launched the Meebo Bar to bring community, engagement, and revenue to publisher sites.

    As part of the Google team, this continues to be our focus, but we want to best serve mobile and desktop publishers moving forward. Therefore, we have decided to focus our resources on initiatives like the recently launched Google+ Sign-In (which includes interactive posts and over-the-air app installs) and the Google+ plug-ins.

    This means we will retire the Meebo Bar, effective June 6, 2013.

    Thank you for being a Meebo Bar publisher. We have truly appreciated the opportunity to serve you.

    While the Meebo bar showed some big potential for keeping people engaged with Google+, mainly due to the notifications box being visible on non-Google sites, it’s not entirely shocking that Google would go this route, with more of a focus on Google+ Sign-In. Is it the right move? I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t have thought shutting down Google Reader was either (another great way to keep those Google+ notifications in front of users).

    Meebo Bar

  • This Meebo Bar Could Be Huge For Google+

    As previously reported, some sites have been spotted using the new Google Plus-ified version of the Meebo bar. Google acquired Meebo earlier this year, and the bar was the only product from Meebo kept alive. It is now clear to me why this was a particularly good pick up for Google.

    Simply put, the Google+ version of the Meebo bar is a way to keep people engaged with Google+ when they’re anywhere else on the web (at least any site that actually uses the bar). Sure, the bar lets users easily share content to Google+ rivals Facebook and Twitter, but the key is in that red square – the notification box.

    I’ve been using Google+ since launch. There’s a lot to like about it, but if I said it was a network I was using to connect frequently to a majority of my personal relationships, I’d be lying both to you and to myself. One thing (perhaps the thing above all else) that does keep me coming back is that red square with the number in it. I’m not the type to let the number run up without checking in on my notifications as I see them. It helps when it’s plastered to the top of the screen across the various Google products I use day to day, like Google Search, YouTube, Google Drive, Gmail,Google Calendar, and Google Reader. It’s almost impossible to ignore.

    What the Meebo bar can do is add that “impossible to ignore” factor to sites that aren’t operated by Google. It’s a smart move by Google.

    I can’t speculate as to how many sites will actually utilize the bar, but since I covered it last time, I’ve noticed it on a few more sites. I just noticed on SFGate.com, when the whole thing dawned on me. It’s a subtle, yet obvious thing. Google can already reach so many users with these notifications on its own products, but with the Meebo bar, the only limits are those of adoption by publishers.

  • The Meebo Bar Is Now A Google+ Tool

    The Meebo Bar Is Now A Google+ Tool

    Earlier this year, Google acquired Meebo, which let users “create an interest profile to get new and timely information about the things that matter most” to them. The company’s other products shut down, but its flagship Meebo Bar stuck around. Here’s what it looked like before:

    Meebo Bar

    It looks like the bar has been Google+ified. Here’s what it looks like now:

    Meebo Google Plus

    TheNextWeb points to the bar in action on TVGuide.com (as first spotted by #googleplusupdate on Google+), where it will surface the user’s Google profile and allow for +1ing and sharing to Google+. Users can hide the bar by clicking the arrows on the right side.

    Meebo Bar with Google Plus

    When you click “what’s this?” on the left side, it takes you to a page about the Meebo bar. The Meebo support FAQ page says:

    The bar cannot access any of the private information in your browser or on your computer. We do use cookies to keep track of your browsing behavior on sites that have the bar for the purposes of serving you personalized ads.

    Any information or comments you post through any social plugins on the bar such as a Like, Tweet or Google +1, is collected and used directly by the plugin developer in accordance with their terms of use and privacy policy.

    We haven’t seen any announcements about the product from Google, but perhaps we will see one soon. As Google moves to get more brands using Google+ more, it seems likely that they’ll be pushing this to publishers more.

  • Google Trims the Fat Off of Products; Google Mini, Google Video, Symbian Get Chucked

    If Google was some digitized version of Wipeout!, inevitably some of the products won’t get to move on and compete in the next round. It’s a fact of life: there has to be losers. For at least a few of those products, the judge’s scores have been added and today Google will be sending them home with a sad collection of consolation prizes.

    Actually, they don’t even get that much; Google’s just pulling the plugs on these misfit products and sending them to the big Google server in the sky. Some of these products are just redundancies of more popular products while others simply never caught on with users.

    The first product to go meet the butcher is Google Talk Chatback. Since Google purchased Meebo, it’s turning off Chatback and encouraging people to migrate over to the Meebo bar if they want to provided some kind of embedded chat among visitors.

    Although Google didn’t specify a date, it will “soon” be retiring the Symbian Search App. There’s no replacement for this one, unless you want to be imaginative and consider google.com as an alternative.

    Later this month on July 31, Google will be closing down Google Mini. If you’re going to miss this service, Google recommends trying out Google Search Appliance, Google Site Search and Google Commerce Search for your enterprise needs.

    Google Video, which hasn’t been accepting uploads since May 2009, will finally be absorbed into YouTube. All of the hosted content on Google Video will be moved to YouTube and automatically marked as private videos on August 20. However, if you’ve still got content on Google Video, you can manually move your videos to YouTube before that date. Once your videos are moved, you’ll be able to access them via YouTube Video Manager.

    Finally, iGoogle, Google’s attempt at allowing users to create a personal homepage replete with widgets and other quick access to Google apps, will be climbing the scaffold… eventually. For some reason, Google is waiting until November 1, 2013 – that’s not even this November! – to close down iGoogle. The first part of this closure, though, is that Google will no longer accept theme submissions and new gadgets past July 31, 2012, so if you want to hurry up and develop some new product for a web service that’s admittedly on life support, you better get right to it. In the meantime, developers will still be able to update existing gadgets after this month.

    Meanwhile, the rest of Google’s quadzillion products will remain in service.

    [Via Google’s Official Blog.]

  • Meebo: Save Chat Logs before Final Curtain Call

    Meebo announced earlier this month that it would be shutting down in July due to its acquisition by Google. The Meebo team is now sending out email notifications to users who might not be in the know about the acquisition as well as reminders about how to retrive chat logs before July 11, 2012, when Meebo will be shuttering up its windows for good.

    The full email follows:

    Subject: Meebo Messenger is being retired

    You may have heard the news recently that Google has acquired Meebo.

    The Meebo Bar for site publishers will continue to be available and will see continued improvements and new features in the weeks and months ahead.

    However, as part of this transition, Meebo Messenger will be retired on July 11, 2012.

    As a past Messenger user, we wanted you to know that until July 11 you can download your archived Messenger chat logs. Log into your account on Meebo Messenger for a download link. Please act soon — after July 11, chat archives will be deleted.

    If you don’t want to retrieve your chat logs, no action needs to be taken.

    This is a one-time courtesy email to let you know about the upcoming changes and the availability of your chat logs for download; there is no need to unsubscribe.

    Thank you for being a part of the Meebo community. The team here has loved every minute of the past seven years, and we’re honored that you chose to trust Meebo as a place to have conversations with friends, family and colleagues. As we turn our attention to a new chapter, joining forces with the Google+ team, we look back with great appreciation to everyone who used and loved Meebo Messenger along the way.

    Sincerely,
    Sandy, Seth, and the Meebo Team

    Anybody Meebo users out there found any possible replacements for Meebo Messenger? Let us know about your alternatives below.

  • Meebo Shutting Down Its Products on July 11

    One week ago it was officially announced that Google had acquired social platform and messaging service Meebo. It was unclear exactly how Meebo’s products, which include the Meebo Messenger and Meebo Bar, would be integrated with Google services, or whether they would be at all. Now it’s clear that Meebo is going away for good. Most of it, anyway.

    Meebo has announced, through a support article on its website, that many of its products will be shutting down on July 11. The most noteworthy shutdown will be Meebo’s founding application, the Meebo Messenger. Users can download their chat logs from the Meebo website until July 11, at which point the service will be no more. Sharing on Meebo will also be closing, and users can also download their share history in the month before shutdown. Meebo Me widgets will stop working after the shutdown date, meaning website owners will have to remove embedded widgets from their sites. All of Meebo’s mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Blackberry will cease functioning on July 11 as well.

    The Meebo Bar is the only service that will continue on, it seems. In its announcement, the company stated that site publishers will still be able to use the Bar and that new features for the product will roll out “in the weeks and months ahead.”

    Meebo still has fans who have used its Messenger service for years. These users will have to switch to Google Chat or another instant messaging service, though many of them used Meebo for its many privacy and security features. The loss of Meebo is just beginning to be felt across the internet, including Twitter:

  • Google Acquires Meebo, Following Rumors

    Google Acquires Meebo, Following Rumors

    The rumors have been going around for a month or so, but not it’s official. Google is buying Meebo. Meebo just posted the following message to its blog:

    We are happy to announce that Meebo has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google!

    For more than seven years we’ve been helping publishers find deeper relationships with their users and to make their sites more social and engaging. Together with Google, we’re super jazzed to roll up our sleeves and get cracking on even bigger and better ways to help users and website owners alike.

    We’ve had a blast building Meebo so far and we’re really excited to start the next leg of our journey.

    Thank you all for coming along for the ride!
    Meebo Team

    Meebo
    @meebo     Exciting news from Meebo! http://t.co/7w5swMaU
    51 seconds ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    Meebo is known for the Meebo messenger and the Meebo bar. The company considers the latter its flagship product, saying that it “provides publishers and advertisers a surprisingly simple way to leverage this massive audience by organically weaving content engagement and brand experiences into the consumer’s web experience.”

    Meebo Bar

    Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, though the rumors pegged the potential deal around $100 million.

  • Google May Be Close to Meebo Acquisition [RUMOR]

    According to the reliable sources of All Things D, Google is involved in talks to acquire Meebo, the social platform that integrates cross-service chats as well as a social overlay for many websites. All Things D reports that the price tag on the sale would be about $100 million.

    Given that Meebo has plug-ins for several different browsers, the pick-up would definitely increase the amount of information Google would be able to collect about people’s browsing habits. Last September, Meebo announced that it had broadened its exposure to nearly half of all internet users in the United States at 92 million people. The persistent social bar that websites can use to interact with visitors is currently used by more than 8,000 sites.

    It’ll be curious to see how the aftermath would work out if Google does in fact acquire Meebo and whether all of the websites that currently use the platform would continue to do so; alternately, more company sites may use it more since Google is a more household name than Meebo.

    Given that Google ran afoul of of the government earlier this year when it was found to be side-stepping a security feature in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari, and that Meebo is currently available as an extension to both of the browsers (as well as for Firefox and Chrome), this may present Google with a tricksy way to continue to track users if they have the browser extension installed.

    However, some of the services, like Meebo’s messenger client, seem like it would be redundant in Google’s inventory of services unless it has some broad Google+ integration the way it has done with Picasa.

    Watch this space to find out if the acquisition rumors pan out.

  • Entertainment Weekly and TVGuide Go with the Meebo Bar

    Meebo announced today that it has added EW.com and TVGuide.com to its list of publishers implementing the Meebo Bar. The Meebo bar is designed to let readers easily connect with the people they’re friends with on social networks. 

    Meebo Bar Goes to Some Big Name Sites"Social connections are an increasingly important traffic source; it’s crucial for websites to take advantage of that," says Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg. "The Meebo Bar makes it easy for publishers to add social functionality to their sites, and provide a persistent, open experience on multiple networks that makes sharing and chat simple, fun and engaging for users."

    "The introduction of the Meebo Bar has added value for both our audience and advertisers," says Tom Kirwan, EW’s National Director of Digital Sales. "The functionality increases users’ engagement and interactivity with our content, while simultaneously allowing advertisers a unique opportunity to be front and center."

    In the fall, Meebo plans to introduce new advertising and branding products, including an interactive ad placement with customized skins and sponsored buttons.

    Meebo claims to reach a quarter of the U.S. Internet population with 52 million unique monthly visitors and 110 million worldwide. Monthly visitors have increased nearly 300% over the last 10 months, the company says.