Instant messaging and group chat provider Meebo is now allowing users to communicate with each other through both MySpace and Facebook IDs as well as all the other ones previously supported, like AIM, Yahoo, Google, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, etc.
This makes Meebo basically a way to chat with friends who are online via any of the services mentioned above. If they add Twitter integration, there will be no stopping them. There is a possibility that Facebook could take itself away from Meebo though. Eric Eldon at VentureBeat explains:
Facebook and MySpace both offer their own chat services, where they turn your friends on the sites into IM contacts. While MySpace and Meebo worked together to offer this new feature, Meebo went out and figured out Facebook’s IM protocol by itself.
So maybe Facebook is going to cut off Meebo from accessing its IM service? Or maybe not.Social.IM, a startup recently acquired by iSkoot, has already integrated Facebook IM together with other IM services in a desktop app — and it’s still functional. Social.IM’s service has you login directly to Facebook, and it doesn’t store your Facebook data. Desktop IM aggregator Adium and Meebo rival eBuddy’s mobile service also includes Facebook chat integration.
But right now, it appears that Meebo has gotten a lot more useful, considering the tremendous amount of growth Facebook continues to see on a daily basis. Meebo seems to be having a pretty good year’s end. Not even a month ago Meebo partnered with Universal Music Group on an interactive project putting users in touch with musicians.
