meeblow
today, i am sad. i actually had “meebo’s craptastic new features!” in the title before my editorial side thought that a bit harsh.
but just a bit.
don’t get me wrong – i’ve been a big fan of meebo for a while now. i’ve even blogged about them previously. but now, like a fanboy scorned, i’m firing off a missive about how i’ve been wronged by those who provide me with a free service, and owe me nothing.
the question i’ve always asked myself was: how the hell do they stay in business?
well it appears they’ve implemented things that may help them pay the bills – but they’re sacrificing stability.
rooms
meebo rooms – chat rooms with corporate eavesdropping sponsorship, where (i’m guessing) market researchers can see what you have to say about their product or service. (oops – was that supposed to be a secret? am i not supposed to figure that out?)
ads
who wasn’t expecting this? advertisements are the last bastion for those who run a new and innovative and expensive service, but failed to be purchased by google or yahoo. go ahead, pay the bills. i’m fine with that part.
service interruptions
i don’t know if this was supposed to be a feature or not, but since they rolled all this new stuff out, i haven’t been able to stay connected for more than a few minutes.
my messages go into the ether, and people trying to message me are equally lost. “service interruption” flashes like a deranged monkey as their ajax has a spasm.
this is my only reasonable gripe — if i can’t use your service, you can’t make money off of my ad impressions and scuttlebutt.
my workaround
sadly, my workaround involves getting my wife to sign up for gmail so we can use gchat to talk to each other. i was hoping things would “get better” the day after the release, once the furor has subsided. it hasn’t yet. stay tuned.
Posted on May 16th, 2007 by mike
Filed under: web
I’m disappointed as well, who comes up with this crap???
They get 12 million in investment funds and this what they do with it…. new chat rooms!!??
Sooner or later they had to start making some money…. its a shame they have decided to do it this way.
And i still can’t log in!!! Doh!
Hey guys,
Thanks for being patient with us as we roll out some new features. The system should be running better now and we’re actively fixing bugs. I know we’re pushing a new release on Friday.
Personally, I think it’s pretty cool that companies like NBC are willing to post their content at meebo for people to riff on – and laugh about. It means they’re letting go and not trying to control the conversation and control the message. It’s also completely permission-based – you won’t see stuff from NBC if you don’t want to.
Of course, nobody is reading your private IMs or chatlogs. That stays with you. We also created the option of private rooms if you want to just watch videos and view photos with friends and family.
Lastly, we had one of our two service providers go down at the worst possible time. As you know, meebo is extremely reliable and we work hard to maintain that reputation. Thanks again for your feedback and for being patient with us – hopefully things will get smooth again fast.
Danny