Joost Chooses meebo to Power Channel Chat

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--meebo, a website for instant messaging (IM), today announced a partnership with Joost to power Channel Chat across Joost’s global TV distribution platform. This partnership will enable Joost to combine its rich, full-length video experience with meebo’s best-of-breed group chat solution, meebo rooms.

“By offering our viewers a robust channel chat option, they can chat with people interested in the same shows and subjects – and ultimately customize and enrich their entertainment experiences.”

Joost connects content owners with a growing global audience. Viewers enjoy an immersive and highly-interactive video experience that includes more than 15,000 shows and 250 channels. Now Joost users will be able to enjoy a more robust chat experience with meebo rooms, which can scale to more than 140 million messages per day.

“Participation in community activities has emerged as one of the most significant trends in consumer behavior,” said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost. “By offering our viewers a robust channel chat option, they can chat with people interested in the same shows and subjects – and ultimately customize and enrich their entertainment experiences.”

“Even in an on-demand environment like Joost, people can experience live community around popular channels and shows,” said Seth Sternberg, CEO and co-founder, meebo. “According to a recent internal survey at meebo, 25% of meebo users IM while watching TV – there’s a lot more we can be doing to connect people who share a common passion around a specific show or genre.”

The partnership closely follows the buzz around the announcement of the launch of the meebo Platform, an iPhone-optimized edition of meebo, and the meebo Extension for Firefox - and therefore marks the company’s fourth significant innovation in less than three months. The release also coincides with an extended period of rapid usage growth for meebo. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, meebo is the fastest-growing IM destination in the US - ahead of Google Talk (GOOG).

About meebo

meebo is a website for instant messaging. Founded in September 2005, meebo continues to catch on with IMers across the globe. After announcing 500,000 user-accounts in October 2006, user registration on meebo has rocketed to 3.5 million in just twelve months with more than six million unique people logging in monthly. More than 1 million people spend more than two-and-a-half hours with us every day. meebo’s investors include Sequoia Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Visit www.meebo.com today to connect with people live on the Web.

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