An announcement today on the Meebo blog tells us that Google has acquired Meebo. Meebo was founded in 2005 by Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Elaine Wherry, and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. As noted on the PC Mag article, Google Buys Social Sharing Company Meebo:
A Google spokesman said in a statement that the company is always looking for better ways to help users share content and connect across the web, as in daily life. “With the Meebo team’s expertise in social publisher tools, we believe they will be a great fit with the Google+ team,” the company said. “We look forward to closing the transaction and working with the Meebo team to create more ways for users to engage online.”
Meebo started off life as an IM chat program that featured interoperability with a host of other instant messaging programs. I remember using it years ago in place of the Yahoo chat program which used to cause my computer to crash. In December of 2008, Meebo introduced the Meebo Bar, which enabled webmasters to set up chat on their website for people to use to interact with each other. The Meebo Bar also provided social sharing tools and advertising, including games from advertisers.
At the time of the agreement to acquire Meebo announced earlier today, Meebo had 11 pending patents assigned to them at the USPTO and one granted patent. It appears that the Meebo product team will be joining Google to work on Google Plus, while many of the sales and marketing team might be looking for new jobs.
It’s hard to say how much of the Meebo technology will come over to Google, but they may give us some background on the kinds of technologies that the Meebo engineering team was working on.
Here are the patent filings assigned to Meebo:
Method and system for event polling Invented by Elaine Wherry and Sandy Jen Assigned to Meebo United States Patent 7,961,701 Granted June 14, 2011 Filed: March 26, 2007
Abstract
A method and system for event polling have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a session request from a client device. A session key is provided to the client device in response to the session request. A session timer is set for a predetermined period.
An event revision number is received from the server device. The client is provided with an updated event revision number if the event revision number matches an expected revision number. An event from an instant messaging server is placed in a queue until the event revision number matches the expected revision number, the event including one or more of instant messages, buddy events, typing, and application events.
Method and System for Embedded Personalized Communication Invented by Elaine Wherry, Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Jian Shen US Patent Application 20080010344 Published January 10, 2008 Filed: July 9, 2007
Abstract
A method and system for embedded personalized communication have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises providing software code to be embedded in a webpage. The webpage is loaded including the software code. A configuration file is fetched from a configuration server in response to the software code. A first instant messaging user interface is rendered on the webpage. A request is sent to a web-based instant messaging server, the request initiating an instant messaging session with a second instant messaging user interface.
Techniques for Customized Delivery of Advertisements Invented by Martin Green, Andreas Binnewies, Kevin Ferguson, and Michael Pat Becker Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20100306039 Published December 2, 2010 Filed: May 28, 2010
Abstract
Techniques for customizing the delivery of advertisements to a client. In one embodiment, the customization comprises dynamically determining a length of time for an advertisement, where the length of time represents the minimum amount of time for which the advertisement is to be output (e.g., displayed) by a client. The length of time may be dynamically determined on a per-advertisement based upon multiple criteria.
Techniques for Displaying an Advertisement Across Multiple Pages Invented by Andreas Binnewies, Vijay Raghunathan, and Christopher T. Szeto Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20100306066 Published December 2, 2010 Filed: May 28, 2010
Abstract
Techniques for persisting an advertisement across multiple web pages served from page-view based websites. The advertisement is persisted across multiple pages served from page-view based websites without creating new advertisement impressions. This reduces the number of advertisement impressions and also extends the amount of time that a particular advertisement can be shown to a user even as the user navigates across multiple web pages.
Provisioning Instant Communications for a Community of Users Invented by Martin Hunt, Chris Szeto, James Rodgers, Vijay Raghunathan Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20100107088 Published April 29, 2010 Filed: October 27, 2009
Abstract
Techniques that enable instant communications services to be provisioned for an online community of users such that the members of the community can interact with each other using instant communications including using instant messaging (IM). In one embodiment, an instant communications facilitator operating from a first domain may provision instant communication services for members of an online community maintained in different domains from the first domain.
Techniques for Sharing Content on a Web Page Invented by Martin Hunt and Chris Szeto Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20100070899 Published March 18, 2010 Filed: September 11, 2009
Abstract
Techniques that enable content from a web page to be shared directly with one or more targets, which may be an application, a buddy from a buddy list (e.g., in a chat application), and the like. An embodiment of the present invention can identify contents on a web page that are to be made sharable and make the identified contents sharable. The content that is made sharable can then be shared with a share target using, for example, drag and drop operations. For example, a user may select sharable content on a web page, drag the content to a target, and drop it directly on the target thereby sharing the content with the target.
System and Method for Web Advertisement Invented by Vijay Raghunathan and Jian Shen Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20090307082 Published December 10, 2009 Filed: June 8, 2009
Abstract
A method and system for web advertisements are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving chat room information, wherein the chat room information describes a current state of a chat room. The chat room information is provided to an advertisement server, and the advertisement server selects an advertisement based upon the chat room information. The advertisement is received and provided to an advertisement module, and the advertisement module provides the advertisement to the chat room.
Method and System for Sharing Advertisements in a Chat Environment Invented by Andreas Binnewies Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20090307089 Published December 10, 2009 Filed: June 8, 2009
Abstract
A method and system for sharing advertisements in a chat environment are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises receiving a first request for an advertisement from a first client, providing the first advertisement to the first client, the first client submitting a second request to transmit a reference to the first advertisement to a second client. A third request is received for the first advertisement from the second client and the first advertisement is provided to the second client.
System and Method for Sharing Content in an Instant Messaging Application Invented by Christopher Szeto Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20090307325 Published December 10, 2009 Filed: June 8, 2009
Abstract
A method and system for sharing content in an instant messaging application are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises logging content accessed by a first client, and a list of accessible content is updated and provided to the first client. A request is received from the first client to share first content of the list of accessible content with a second client, and a message is delivered to the second client, the message containing a link to the first content.
Method and System for Embedded Personalized Communication Invented by Elaine Wherry, Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Jian Shen Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20080010344 Published January 10, 2008 Filed: July 9, 2007
Abstract
A method and system for embedded personalized communication have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises providing software code to be embedded in a webpage. The webpage is loaded including the software code. A configuration file is fetched from a configuration server in response to the software code. A first instant messaging user interface is rendered on the webpage. A request is sent to a web-based instant messaging server, the request initiating an instant messaging session with a second instant messaging user interface.
Method and System for Determining and Sharing a User’s Web Presence Invented by Elaine Wherry, Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Jian Shen Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20080126484 Published May 29, 2008 Filed: July 2, 2007
Abstract
A method and system for determining and sharing a user’s web presence have been disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises providing web presence information associated with a first user from a first computer having a first software module. The web presence information is received at a second computer. The web presence information is used to dynamically inform a second user communicating with the second computer of a website that the first user is viewing.
Method and System for Embedded Group Communication Invented by Elaine Wherry, Sandy Jen, Seth Sternberg, and Jian Shen Assigned to Meebo US Patent Application 20080034040 Published February 7, 2008 Filed: August 6, 2007
Abstract
A method and system for embedded group communications are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method comprises providing software code to be embedded in a website. The website is loaded including the embedded software code. A configuration file is fetched from a configuration server in response to loading the embedded software code. The embedded software code renders a group chat room.