Meebo Community IM
on Flixster

Meebo, a site that enables users to message AIM, Messenger, Gchat and MSN buddies from one window, is bringing instant messaging to a number of online communities. Partners include DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids, AddictingGames, Piczo, SparkArt, Sugar Publishing and Tagged.

Dubbed Meebo Community IM (Instant Messaging), the program creates cross-messaging functionalities on popular social networking sites. It will also expand Meebo's user base significantly: together with its newfound community partners, reach could potentially total 23.6 million US users (per comScore stats for the eight sites' reach in June 2008) and 54.8 million users worldwide (comScore, May 2008).

"Meebo brought IM to the web … and now we're bringing that same functionality to the web's largest communities," beamed CEO and co-founder Seth Sternberg.

"Users can now IM buddies inside their favorite sites and outside them at meebo.com. Partners will see increased engagement, additional monetization opportunities, and greater viral reach. The end goal is to connect the Web’s entire social graph in open, live communication."

Sites interested in joining may visit the Community IM website (a demo is also available).

Facebook launched a proprietary own instant messaging service in March, but "open" — and ad-supported — instant messaging has a growing circle of followers. AOL recently opened AIM, its popular IM service, to outside developers. It also considered launching an ad revenue-share program.

Last month Meebo debuted an ad network for the chat environment. The program stands to benefit from the success of Community IM, which Meebo grandly dubbed its "federated instant messaging" effort.