Instant messaging is one of the most convenient, quick, and easy ways of communicating with friends, loved ones, and practically anyone else on the Internet.  Not only does instant messaging allow you to send messages, but it also allows you to send files, such as pictures, videos, documents, songs, or applications.  One of the biggest problems with instant messaging, however, is that there are so many different networks and softwares out there.  From AOL and Windows Live Messenger to AIM and Yahoo! Messenger, there is a wide variety of messengers to choose from.  In many cases, you cannot communicate with those under a different network, which means that you have to download, install, and make accounts for various networks and instant messengers if you want to keep in touch with contacts using these other networks.  One program that seeks to integrate these various networks and instant messaging softwares into a single, seamless application is Meebo.  Meebo's motto is "instant messaging everywhere", and this handy piece of software truly gives you the power to get and send instant messages from anywhere, to anywhere.  Read on to learn more about Meebo and its many great features.

What exactly is Meebo?

Meebo is basically a technology and service that allows you to communicate with practically every popular instant messaging networks out there.  Some of the instant messaging networks that Meebo allows you to use include Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL, and ICQ.  Aside from giving you the flexibility to communicate between these instant messaging networks, Meebo also allows you to communicate with others through popular chatting and social networking sites, such as Facebook Chat, MySpace IM, and Google Talk.  Originally founded in 2005, Meebo has grown in both popularity and functionality, offering a wide range of softwares and platforms to its users.

How can you start using Meebo?

There are a number of ways that you can make use of Meebo services.  The simplest and perhaps the easiest way to start using Meebo is to browse over to Meebo.com, where you can make use of the web-based application to chat with your friends straight from your browser.  If you use Firefox, you can install the Meebo Firefox extension, which places Meebo right in your sidebar.  Meebo has a great feature called "Meebo rooms", which allows you to group chat and share media.  You can even put a Meebo room on your website to use as a way of communicating with your patrons.  Another feature, called "Meebo me", allows you to do one-on-one chatting with your website visitors.  The Meebo bar is a cool feature you can install on your website to allow you to quickly and conveniently drag and drop share files, customize buttons, and use Meebo IM.  You can also install the Meebo notifier that creates a system tray icon to notify you of incoming messages and other information related to your instant messaging accounts.  Finally, Meebo is available for your iPhone, making it the perfect application for keeping in touch through the Internet on your mobile.