Google to begin shutting down Meebo services July 11

Just five days after buying social-messaging and advertising company Meebo for a rumored $100 million, Google is beginning to shut down the company’s various products.

On July 11, Meebo Messenger, Sharing on Meebo, Meebo Me, and all of Meebo’s mobile apps will be shut down, according to a blog post on Meebo.com. Google is folding Meebo’s staffers and technology into its fledgling Google+ social network.

Anyone who used Meebo Messenger, mobile apps, or Sharing on Meebo has a month to download their chat logs and sharing history. After the July 11 deadline that information will no longer be accessible, and you won’t be able to relive any of the riveting chat conversations from your past.

The lone Meebo product to survive will be the Meebo Bar, a social sharing toolbar that also (sometimes clumsily) delivers ads to users. An announcement on Meebo’s site promises, “The Meebo Bar will continue to be available to site publishers and will see continued improvements and new features in the weeks and months ahead.”

Meebo began seven years ago as a web-based instant messaging service, like AIM and MSN Messenger. In 2009 the company shifted its focus to the more lucrative business of content sharing and serving ads with tools like the Meebo Bar.

Check out VentureBeat’s Matt Marshall’s explanation of why Google purchasing Meebo was a smart move.

via Engadget

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