I love Meebo....

 ...almost as much as jellybeans which is really saying something :)

Late last year Beau sent me a heads-up about Meebo, I popped over to check it out, and while it's basic in some regards it was really quite cool. At that time they had just added Smileys (and some other features) to their web / browser based Instant Messenger so I placed it in our Web Based Instant Messenger section and let it be.... well sort of, I couldn't help but twiddle with it every now and then, it's one of those things that you can't seem to put down for long.

Meebo IM window when talking to someone on Yahoo! Messenger

There is limited features available but they cover the basics any IMer would be hankering for including Chat Logs and smileys. The screenshot to the right shows what my Meebo chat window looks like when I'm talking to a friend on Yahoo! Messenger, as you can see, the interface is really clean, tidy and friendly. You have quick access to adding a buddy, blocking a buddy, their profile, chat logs and you can easily start a group chat. The structure of the IM window is very user friendly, you can change your font and there is logical access to the available smileys, one thing that would be nice, and it's only a personal quirk of mine, is the ability to hide the font options once I have selected my look and feel, I guess it's just habit as I have Yahoo! Messenger set up the same so I am accustomed to the extras not being visible.

For a quick user guide on using Meebo check out Getting Started in their MeeboWiki, they also have a forum for support and suggestions (which is really friendly :) a blog where you can catch up on all the Meebo comings and goings including a who are they are which is well worth poking around, in fact their whole website is worth a good look over because it's inspiring, you can tell they care about their product and the service they provide. Due to the size of Meebo, the hands on contact they have with their users is direct, friendly, caring and they encourage feedback and suggestions, overall the Meebo experience is a warm fuzzy moment delivered via your browser... and it comes neatly packaged with a warm friendly smile.

Our all important smileys are readily available in the IM window and they include the bare basic "must have's" like :) ;) :D :p all of which most of us manually type out. Out of the 24 available smileys, 20 are one click, well two I guess, from within the IM menu....

Smiley Menu	Default Key combinations for smileys :) :D B) :> (pirate) ;) (lol) :P ;P :S (roll) :O :| :T :x (sad) :'D :< :\ (hmm)
additonal smileys available... :!: :arrow: (mad) :meebo:

The smileys look very similar to the ones available in Trillian, perhaps the same creator... I'm not sure, but Trillian users should feel right as home as some of the key combinations are similar in approach, that being they are in brackets ( ). For a full list and credits regarding the Meebo smileys, or as they call them emoticons, check out their Wiki document Emoticons.

In summary....
Meebo is simply fab! I can't say enough about it apart from.... if you're looking for a simple IM solution to keeping in touch your friends across the major IM networks and you're not up for, or aren't permitted to download / install the programs required, then don't hesitate to swing by Meebo, you won't be disappointed :)

Links...
Homepage: http://www.meebo.com/
Privacy Policy: http://blog.meebo.com/?page_id=38
Terms of Service: http://blog.meebo.com/?page_id=103
Blog: http://blog.meebo.com/
MeeboWiki: http://wiki.meebo.com/
Forum: http://forum.meebo.com/

If you want to know more about Meebo's latest and greatest... check out our review on MeeboMe!