Web-based IM service Meebo is a text-book case of how to build a brand (and traffic) with widgets on other sites. As we’ve noted in the past, the bulk of Meebo’s traffic comes from Meebo Rooms and other widgets embedded on other sites, including Facebook. Some new comScore Widget Metrix numbers pan this theory out.
In October 2007, the most recent period available, comScore measured 6.3 million people in the U.S. who actively engaged with a Meebo widget, compared to 1.2 million who visited Meebo.com. Worldwide, Meebo widgets engaged 19.8 million people, compared to 4.3 million for the site. So in the U.S., Meebo is getting 84 percent of its traffic through its widgets, and 82 percent worldwide. Yet the site still gets higher levels of active engagement than the widgets. All told, Meebo transfers 150 million IMs a day, and only about 20 million of those are generated in Meebo Rooms.
Here is a chart that shows total growth of both site and widget visitors combined (based on internal company data):
This doesn’t mean jack if they can’t monetize. Show me the money
#1 is right. Branding is great - but show me a text book case on how to make money.
Signing in to Meebo immediately signs you out of your local desktop IM
session. To get your IM’s, you have to visit a separate, “Meebo URL”…
This is a serious bug that will guarantee they never get a huge user base, regardless of their claims. besides.. it only works about 1/2 the time!
Your Audio Content, Live Streams, and more…
To every phone: via Shout-Outs, or On-Demand
http://www.PhonePortals.com - from Adondo® Corporation
Just wonder how they can survive? I can’t see how they make money?
Show me the money!
Show who what money? Seriously people. Jerry McGuire?
Congrats to the team at Meebo! Great progress.
Who cares if they make money or not? If someone likes their infrastructure and traffic enough to buy them, they will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Seriously. I love their service, but how are they going to make money?
I guess it’s one of those services I use enough to pay for.
Probably they are waiting for potential buyer.
Yes Show me the Money
meebo is a nice option
I think FB should buy it.
Guys, calm down with the revenue. Who needs revenue or business model when you have VCs pumping millions into your bank account? Web 2.0 is all about the users base. Revenue comes much easier when you have millions of user’s trust. This is why Facebook is valuated at 15B. It has a country of loyal customers who come back to use the site everyday. The VCs that backed these sites are smart enough to monetize from the users base when the time is right.
Google didn’t have a solid business model when they started. Mozilla still doesn’t really have a clear business model. All they had was an exceptional product and a massive user base and look at them now.
@tri, you’re right…Facebook, show me the money!
Tri … Google did have a solid business model once they got going. They supplied search results for other companies such as Yahoo.
Mozilla has a solid business model based on search results through their Google relationship.
Waiting around for someone to buy you isn’t a revenue model. Yahoo, Google, Microsoft could easily make a combined IM site such as Meebo. The barrier of entry for them is very low.
I’d like to take the time to refer to Guy Kawasaki, “If you make meaning, you’ll probably make money. But if you set out to make money, you will probably not make meaning, and you won’t make money.”
http://www.cantheworldhearme.c.....e-meaning/
Yeah, when I saw the headline “paying off” I thought is was going to say in money, not traffic. No surprise that widget strategies “generate traffic” and “interaction” simply becuase they are on more sites. But let us know when the strategy really pays off.
I have yet to experience Meebo & using widgets, since I use my own software to syndicate feeds and php as well.
http://www.Drewryonline.net
for sure, a widget strategy is a way to grow now when people tend to visit less sites than it used to be
I can tell you first hand, meebo is a tremendous company with a great team. We at Ustream.TV are lucky enough to be located right down the street from them so we have worked with meebo on numerous occasions.
Seth is leading a great company and they will continue to excel.
Great job meebo!
Brad Hunstable
Founder, Ustream.TV
Growing a company via widget development… I will give that a try once I got me some spare time… I do see it as a great way towards improving not only the customer experience but as Meebo has discovered, traffic increased use on their system.
Jon
http://buzvia.com - Share Influence
Guys, they serve ads in the widgets, as we’ve noted in the past. Follow the links.
Well they could make money quite easily if they started implementing a widget ad service. If meebo implemented Clearspring’s advertising http://www.clearspring.com/ I am sure they would start seeing some profit.
how to build a brand (and traffic) with widgets on other sites?
The Internet is an ad-supported world and that’s how Meebo is expected to make money. Partners are offered options of sharing ad revenue or supplying their own ads and taking any money from that. Interesting comments..