Talk to Me: Meebo

I guess you could say that the Internet is all about communication. For the most part, one way communication seems to be the norm. There are many two way, real time tools out there. Many of them I like. But Meebo has caught my eye.

The main goal of Meebo is consolidate your IM accounts into one place. Sounds good - even though I really don't have any IM accounts. Well, other than Google Talk. I think the main reason for that is the fact that there are so many out there. Meebo kind of solves that dilemma. Use them all at once.

The thing that really caught my attention is the new little widget that is appearing at the side of this page - MeeboMe. I've always looked for a good program that allows you to chat with your web site visitors in real time, as they visit the page, no matter what they may or may not have installed. With tools like Skype, you can put a piece of code on your site that will let visitors see when you are on Skype, and then they can open Skype and talk to you. Which isn't that great on work computers that block Skype.

Now, I love Skype. But MeeboMe solves the "work computer" problem some of us face. MeeboMe allows any visitor to your site to start a chat with you through the site itself, not another program. And, as a Meebo user, you can see visitors on your site and send them messages. Of course, you may not know who it is - but still sounds fun. Visitors do have the option of putting in a name for you to see. Kind of slick.

I think that this would be great for professors and teachers to use, also. I think I saw a function in there that allows you to start a group chat. Great tool for office hours. And, you can have multiple widgets on multiple sites, allowing for professional chats and personal chats.