Joost taps meebo for instant messaging

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 07 November 2007 05:04

Your IT - Home IT

Joost, the global TV distribution network backed by Skype cofounder Niklas Zennström, has signed up instant messaging web site meebo to provide IM functionality for Joost users. Joost connects content owners with a global audience and claims to  offer more than 15,000 shows across 250 channels. “Participation in community activities has emerged as one of the most significant trends in consumer behaviour,” said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost. “By offering our viewers a robust channel chat option, they can chat with people interested in the same shows and subjects – and ultimately customise and enrich their entertainment experiences.”

Meebo claims that at internal survey of its users showed 25 percent of  them using  IM while watching TV. Seth Sternberg, CEO and co-founder of meebo, said: "there’s a lot more we can be doing to connect people who share a common passion around a specific show or genre.”

The partnership follows the launch of the meebo Platform - an iPhone-optimised edition of meebo    - and the meebo Extension for Firefox. It coincides also with what, according to meebo is "an extended period of rapid usage growth." The company claims to have been ranked by Nielsen/NetRatings as the fastest-growing IM destination in the US - ahead of Google Talk.

Meebo (www.meebo.com ) was founded in September 2005 and claims to have more than six million unique users each month, more than a million of whom  spend more than two-and-a-half hours per day on its site.