I don’t have a lot of “buddies” on IM, but I do find it to be a convenient way to converse and keep in touch with people. In fact, i prefer it to e-mail for it’s relative increase in speed. I also sort of prefer it to the phone just because I don’t really like talking on the phone, especially for long periods of time.
One thing I also like about IM is the ability to share more than just text chat. Video, voice, hyperlinks, pictures are all things easily shared via IM. You can even share with more than one person.
I read a lot about how kids have basically replaced e-mail with IM, but I don’t think that IM is just for kids. It really can be a good communication medium.
So what is the problem with IM? Too many damn clients and networks to deal with. It is frustrating to try and get family and friends to use IM, but add the frustration of getting everyone to sign up for a particular service and things get even more tricky. The solution? Meebo.
I have been using Meebo, a web based instant messaging tool, for about a year now and it is one of the applications online that I find to be indispensable. The problem with most web based IM applications is that they lack the ability to do the fancy things that the desktop applications can do, like video and audio chat. Meebo has got that problem solved with some nice integration with a number of services like Ustream and TokBox. When you are chatting with someone you can click the applications icon and see a list of available services. The Ustream option allows you to create a live show, a vidcast basically, and broadcast it out. they even include a polling feature. Recently, Meebo has added games to the mix so that you can play live games against other friends.
Another use of Meebo is with the Meebo Rooms feature. Rooms is basically a multi-media, multi-party chat room. I think you could easily turn Meebo into an excellent tool for online roleplaying games. A room could be created for everyone to join. You can send links and media to the room and they show up in a list, and things like videos will even play right in the window. You could use private chat windows, along with the previously mentioned applications, to hold private chats with other gamers and pass on secret information. Meebo has a developer center, would be cool if someone could create a dice roller application. That way a private chat window could be opened, run the dice app, and both the player and the GM know the result. Anyone using Meebo in this way?
I think that Meebo has a real winner of a service on it’s hands. I am going to try and get a few friends & family members to sign up (free) for the service and try out some of the new applications.