meebo

Meebo was an internet communications company founded in September 2005 by Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Elaine Wherry. Based in Mountain View, California, it began as a browser-based instant messaging client that allowed users to connect to several independent messaging networks through one web interface. Its initial appeal was convenience: users could sign in to services such as AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, MySpaceIM, and later Facebook Chat without installing each service's desktop software. The service also became useful in schools and offices where locally installed instant-messaging applications were blocked but browser access remained available. The company's early technology was built using libgaim, and its business initially operated without a clear revenue model. Meebo raised angel funding from investors including Auren Hoffman and Marc Andreessen, followed by venture investment from Sequoia Capital in 2005 and Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 2006. Rather than remaining only an aggregator of existing messaging networks, Meebo broadened its proposition toward embedded communication and social interaction. In August 2006 it launched Meebo Me, a widget that enabled website visitors to chat directly with a site's owner. In May 2007, it introduced Meebo Rooms, embeddable, media-oriented group chat spaces designed for publishers, online communities, and entertainment properties. Meebo's platform strategy placed communication tools inside other websites instead of limiting them to Meebo's own destination service. It worked with publishers and online communities, and in 2008 introduced Community IM for third-party sites. Community IM was later replaced by the Meebo Bar, a more extensive site-embedded toolbar and chat product launched in December 2009. These products supported Meebo's move into advertising and audience engagement, allowing partner websites to add chat, sharing, presence, and related social features while giving Meebo additional distribution. The company also followed the shift from desktop and browser communication toward social networks and mobile devices. It added Facebook Messenger support in 2009 and released applications for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry. A native iPhone application was released in February 2010. Meebo Rooms, however, was discontinued as a standalone service in May 2010 and removed entirely in October 2011. In February 2011, Meebo acquired advertising company Mindset Media to strengthen audience and advertising-targeting capabilities. Google announced an agreement to acquire Meebo on June 4, 2012. The transaction was intended primarily to bring Meebo's staff into Google's Google+ development organization. On July 11, 2012, Meebo discontinued all of its products except the Meebo Bar. The remaining bar continued operating until June 6, 2013, after which the Meebo service effectively ended. Meebo's legacy lies in its early web-based approach to unified messaging and its effort to turn real-time chat into an embeddable feature for publishers, communities, and social websites.

Meebo was established in September 2005 by Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Elaine Wherry in Mountain View, California. Its founding product addressed a fragmented instant-messaging market in which users often maintained accounts on several incompatible services. Meebo provided a browser-based interface for connecting to multiple networks at once, eliminating the need for separate desktop clients and making messaging available from almost any computer with web access. The original backend used libgaim 1.5.0. The service initially relied on founder funding and had no established commercial model. Meebo later received approximately $100,000 in angel investment, including backing associated with Auren Hoffman and Marc Andreessen, followed by $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital in 2005 and $9 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 2006. Its first major expansion beyond a personal messaging dashboard came in August 2006, when it launched Meebo Me. The Flash-based widget allowed a website owner to place a chat window on a personal site and communicate with visitors in real time. In May 2007, Meebo launched Rooms, a media-enabled group-chat product that could be embedded in webpages. The service was used in connection with publishers, entertainment companies, and online communities, including partnerships associated with blip.tv, Capitol Music Group, CNET Networks, and NBC Universal. Rooms could support up to 80 simultaneous participants, while hosts received moderation controls such as participant invitations and bans. Despite this development, Meebo had not yet settled on a sustainable revenue model. The company raised a further $25 million in venture financing in April 2008 from Jafco Investment, Time Warner, and KTB Investment & Securities. In December of that year, it introduced Community IM, an integration aimed at community-focused websites. Community IM was replaced in December 2009 by the Meebo Bar, which offered a broader collection of chat and social functions in a persistent embedded site component. This progression reflected Meebo's strategic shift from operating a standalone messaging destination to supplying communications infrastructure and audience tools to publishers and third-party platforms. Meebo continued adapting to changes in online communication. It added Facebook Messenger support in February 2009 and developed mobile applications for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry. Its native iPhone application was released in February 2010, during the early expansion of smartphone messaging. Meebo Rooms was discontinued in May 2010 and removed from the service in October 2011. In February 2011, Meebo acquired Mindset Media, an advertising company, in an effort to improve targeting and make its embedded products more commercially effective. On June 4, 2012, Google announced an agreement to acquire Meebo. The stated strategic purpose was to combine Meebo's employees with the Google+ development team rather than maintain Meebo as an independent communications brand. On July 11, 2012, Meebo ended all products other than the Meebo Bar. The bar remained available for roughly another year and was discontinued on June 6, 2013. Meebo therefore became a defunct brand whose operating history spans the transition from desktop instant messaging to browser-based, embedded, and mobile social communication.

1. 2013Meebo Bar discontinued

   The Meebo Bar ended operation, completing the shutdown of Meebo's products.

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2. 2012Google acquisition announced

   Google announced an agreement to acquire Meebo and integrate its staff with Google+ development.

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3. 2011Mindset Media acquired

   Meebo acquired Mindset Media to strengthen advertising targeting.

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4. 2010Meebo Rooms discontinued

   The original Rooms service was discontinued in May and later removed from the platform.

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5. 2009Meebo Bar replaces Community IM

   The company replaced Community IM with the broader Meebo Bar embedded-site product.

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6. 2008Community IM introduced

   Meebo launched an integration widget for community-oriented third-party websites.

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7. 2007Meebo Rooms launches

   Meebo added embeddable, media-enabled group chat rooms for publishers and online communities.

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8. 2006Meebo Me launches

   The company introduced an embeddable chat widget for direct conversations between website owners and visitors.

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9. 2005Meebo is founded

   Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Elaine Wherry founded Meebo in Mountain View, California, as a web-based multi-network instant-messaging company.

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10. 2005Sequoia investment

    Meebo received a reported $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital.

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A web-first communications platform that unified multiple instant-messaging networks and enabled publishers and communities to embed real-time chat directly into their websites.

• Meebo MessengerInstant messaging client2005

  Meebo's original browser-based client unified several independent instant-messaging and social-network protocols in one interface. It supported simultaneous sign-in, invisible presence, a consolidated contact list, conversation logging, contact invitations, file transfers, and later videoconferencing. Users could save credentials and reconnect multiple services through a single Meebo account. The service also incorporated multi-user chat, games, music-status sharing, and social-network messaging functions.

• Meebo MeWebsite chat widget2006

  Meebo Me was a Flash-based widget launched in 2006 for personal and other websites. It allowed visitors to initiate real-time conversations with the site owner, while automatically adding those visitors to the owner's Meebo Messenger contact list. The product represented Meebo's early move from a standalone messaging client toward embedded communication tools distributed through third-party sites.

• Meebo RoomsGroup chat service2007

  Meebo Rooms was an advertising-supported multi-user chat service designed for embedding in media, publisher, and community websites. Rooms could host as many as 80 simultaneous participants and provided hosts with moderation controls, including invitations and bans. Meebo promoted the format through partnerships and integrations with entertainment, technology, and social-web properties.

• Meebo BarEmbedded web engagement platform2009

  The Meebo Bar was a persistent, embeddable website component that replaced Community IM in 2009. It supplied advanced chat and social functionality to third-party sites and became Meebo's final operating product after the company discontinued its other services in 2012. The bar remained active until June 2013.

• Meebo mobile applicationsMobile messaging applications2010

  Meebo released mobile applications for Android, iOS, and BlackBerry as smartphone operating systems became central to online communication. The company released a fully native iPhone application in February 2010, extending its multi-network messaging proposition beyond desktop browsers.

• 2012Google acquisition and product wind-downM&A

  Google agreed to acquire Meebo primarily to add its staff and technology experience to the Google+ development effort.

  What changed. After the agreement, Meebo discontinued all products except the Meebo Bar and assigned its staff to Google+ development.

  Aftermath. The Meebo Bar ended in June 2013, and the independent Meebo brand became defunct.

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• 2011Acquisition of Mindset MediaM&A

  Meebo needed stronger advertising capabilities to support its third-party distribution and embedded communication products.

  What changed. Meebo acquired advertising company Mindset Media to improve ad targeting.

  Aftermath. The acquisition aligned Meebo's communications technology with an advertising-supported business model.

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• 2010Discontinuation of Meebo RoomsOther

  Meebo's product portfolio was being refocused while the company expanded its mobile and embedded-web offerings.

  What changed. The company discontinued the original Meebo Rooms service in May 2010 and removed the feature in October 2011.

  Aftermath. Meebo concentrated more heavily on messaging access, mobile applications, advertising, and embedded site tools.

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• 2009Shift toward embedded communicationStrategy

  Meebo sought to expand beyond its standalone multi-network messenger and distribute communication tools through publishers, communities, and other third-party websites.

  What changed. It replaced Community IM with the broader Meebo Bar, an embedded site product combining chat and social-engagement functionality.

  Aftermath. The Meebo Bar became the company's principal remaining product and was the only Meebo service retained after the Google acquisition announcement.

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• 2013Meebo Bar service ends

  The Meebo Bar, the last remaining Meebo product, ceased operating.

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• 2012Google agrees to acquire Meebo

  Google announced an agreement to acquire Meebo and planned to integrate its staff with the Google+ development organization.

  M&ALeadership change
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• 2012Meebo discontinues most products

  Following the Google acquisition agreement, Meebo discontinued its products apart from the Meebo Bar.

  Product generation
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• 2011Meebo acquires Mindset Media

  Meebo acquired the advertising company Mindset Media to improve its advertising-targeting capabilities.

  M&A
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• 2009Meebo adds Facebook Messenger support

  Meebo expanded its unified messaging client by adding Facebook's messaging service to its supported networks.

  Product launch
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• 2009Meebo launches the Meebo Bar

  The Meebo Bar replaced Community IM as the company's principal embedded communication and social-engagement product for third-party websites.

  Product launch
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• 2007Meebo introduces embeddable Rooms

  The company launched media-enabled, multi-user chat rooms that publishers and online communities could embed in their pages.

  Product launch
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• 2006Meebo launches Meebo Me website chat widget

  Meebo introduced a Flash-based widget that let visitors chat in real time with the owner of a participating website.

  Product launch
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1. Meebo