Another new feature in the messenger client are themes. From the announcement, “With Themes you can change the look of the Messenger just the way you want it. In the mood for a pink background or rather prefer orange with funky dots? Change it with two simple clicks.”

You can try the new eBuddy web messenger client here. To login you either need an eBuddy ID or use any of the supported chat services (MSN, Yahoo IM, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Facebook, MySpace and Hyves).

I am wondering when eBuddy will integrate Twitter into their client applications. I can only imagine the strength of a client that brings together all of the chat networks, Twitter and email. Once eBuddy (and the valley version Meebo) add Twitter to their software, it should help to provide a lift to both Twitter’s usage and reach.

Today Meebo is announcing that the Facebook chat integration is back. Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg notes in an upcoming blog post, "After some hard work from the folks here at Meebo and help from a whole host of people at Facebook, we now have Facebook back in Meebo. Pus, Meebo is now the first launch partner of the ‘alpha’version of the Facebook Connect + Chat integration. That’s pretty cool."

Sternberg also noted that the login process for Facebook Chat is a bit different than the other chat networks that Meebo supports. But once the account is connected, it will work the same as the other chat networks.

Instant messaging and chat application provider Meebo is announcing the integration of Facebook and MySpace chat into the Meebo web client today. The concept is that you can now chat inside of Meebo with both the traditional instant messenger clients plus the social network chat clients as well. It’s a smart move for Meebo as the longer they can keep users inside their application, the more they can push ads via their marketing platform.

I have to admit I’ve never used MySpace chat and everytime I try the Facebook chat, no one replies when I ping them. I am still happy in my AIM/Skype world. I have wrestled with installing any chat service on my mobile as sometimes it’s nice to not be immediately accessible for a few minutes.

Meebo noted in their release that they are the first web app to support both Facebook and MySpace chat applications. Online chat aggregator eBuddy already supports MySpace on the web client and Facebook on the mobile client. So I can only assume that Meebo means first in supporting both networks simultaneously.

Meebo currently self-reports a userbase of over 40 million (not sure of active users). Check out our interview with Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg.

Editor’s note: eBuddy is a CN sponsor.

The initial launch partners include companies like Flixster, myYearbook and Sugar Publishing. Game aggregator AddictingGames is also a launch partner. Seth tells me that they can "easily" launch sites with small amounts of traffic and are working to support much larger sites as well. Meebo’s SparkAds program will deliver ads inside of the chat and the revenue will be shared with the launch partners. To signup as a partner site, go to meebo.com/communityim.

When you visit a partner site, a small toolbar will appear at the bottom of the screen. This is the chat bar and will allow you to see your buddies that are online currently. If your buddies are offline, you can leave them a message and it will be delivered when they sign on. The most interesting part is that you can "pop-out" the toolbar and so you can chat and interact with your buddies on the partner sites even when you aren’t actually on the sites themselves. The toolbar looks very much like the Facebook IM toolbar. I’ve embedded some screenshots of how the functionality will work below.

In version 2 of the Meebo Community IM platform, you will be able to exchange your social graph across multiple partner sites. If you are on site A, you will be able to see and chat with your buddies on sites B and C. The friends lists come from the friends on each of the partner sites.

What makes the Meebo Community IM exciting is that any site that has members can now offer this new social layer with very little technical work and could heavily increase the usage of the site.

Seth left me by noting that they are looking for talented engineers. If you are interested, give Seth a ring.

The partnership will being Meebo’s SparkAds advertising product to integrated Meebo Rooms which are integrated into the artist’s Web site. Revenue will be shared between Meebo and the artist.

Meebo reports 35 million people using their IM and chat apps monthly. The average Meebo.com user spends over two hours on the site per day. Check out our interview with CEO Seth Sternberg.

The company reports 100 million user minutes spent engaged with partner applications, the average person at Meebo.com spends over two hours on the site per day, and Meebo handles conversations consisting of over 5 billion messages per month.

Earlier this month Meebo launched their Meebo Marketing Platform include SparkAds. Check out our interview with Meebo founder Seth Sternberg.

The Meebo Mediabar is a rich media ad panel that can run basically anything in the space from games, applications, feeds, and digital goods. Next is SparkAds which are text ads that will drive clicks to brand sites. Link Sharing currently allows for a way to share and discover links between friends and now will be used as a viral system where advertisers seed their links and then Meebo users push them around the network. The 33Across partnership allows advertisers more in-depth analysis of the campaigns run on Meebo.

What I didn’t see in the notes was whether 33Across helps to increase conversion while the ads are running and whether immediate user feedback is reported. This is the key with any ad campaigns on conversational sites. People will react and it’s critical that the brand is monitoring public channels for the feedback so they can optimize in real-time accordingly.

The initial brands signed to the "Meebo Marketing Platform" include: Havaianas, Sony Electronics, Universal Pictures, and the band Weezer.

I plan to watch this launch closely as viral advertising will continue to slowly grow this year. If brands maximize this type of advertising, it could change online advertising as a whole. The idea of sharing an advertisement could almost be seen as an endorsement by the sending user and could push the receiving user to actually interact with the ad. Real-time monitoring and updating is the key for success with this new type of online advertising.

This April, Meebo hired a chief revenue officer who is located in NYC. Also check out our interview with Meebo founder Seth Sternberg.

Editor’s note: Meebo competitor eBuddy is a CN sponsor.  Additionally, the news above was embargoed for Monday 9am, but the embargo has been broken and so we will post now per Meebo’s direction.

Meebo

"Meebo is a highly-promising company with an incredible team and defendable technology," said Carter Brokaw, Chief Revenue Officer, Meebo. "From a monetization perspective, I’m looking forward to helping leverage Meebo’s core strength by bringing brands into the conversation in ways that are engaging, integrated and measurable."

There were reports yesterday that Meebo wasn’t able to sell themselves so they are now pursuing raising another round of funding.

Check out our interview with Meebo founder Seth Sternberg.

Update: Marshall at RWW has additional information on Meebo’s advertising plans.

Brightcove

Here’s how Jeremy Allaire, Brighcove founder describes the deal, "The distribution partnerships announced today will make an exciting array of high-quality, premium video content available to be viewed on Bebo channels, shared through viral widgets from RockYou and Slide on Facebook and MySpace, included in instant messaging activities on Meebo, and viewed in full-screen at Veoh’s Internet Television portal."

They also claim that these new distribution partnerships will reach over 300 million viewers. No mention of overlap between the services. At the end of the day, distribution could mean more viewers but could also work to dilute a video brand. I wrote about this topic last week.

Brightcove has signed a variety of partnerships recently including IAC, Fox and Channel 4 in the U.K.

meebo rooms API

The API takes the standard meebo rooms program to the next level with more customization and options. meebo notes regarding the releas, "The new API will automate the creation, configuration and monetization of meebo rooms for partners allowing them to integrate rooms into their user registration databases, and content management and publishing systems."

meebo Network

The new meebo Network is only available for "marquee partners" and appears to be an ad network tied into the meebo Rooms API above. meebo claims that the new ads will be: unobtrusive and user-friendly. The partners will share in the revenue generated by the ads.

We are starting to see more of the meebo business model revealed – pushing ads out to partners is a good idea assuming the partners have input on what ads are shown. Will we next see ads inside the meebo widgets that so many blogs and Web sites are using?

As for the latest metrics, meebo is self-reporting its total monthly reach at 25 million people.

Meebo is also announcing support for Facebook applications via their meebo rooms, Partner Edition. Meebo notes that the following applications have already launched meebo rooms, Partner Edition: BuddyMedia, (fluff)Friends, RockYou, Slide, The Broth and WaterCooler, Inc. RockYou, a leading applications and widgets provider, launched 12 meebo rooms today for the highly-popular Facebook application Horoscopes – a different meebo room for each sign of the Zodiac. Next year the Partner Edition will begin to offer a rev share.

The other features of the Partner Edition they sent over include:

• Brand customization and Flash skinning. Partner Edition gives brands full control of the look and feel of their meebo rooms to create a seamless user and design experience between your brand and meebo technology.
• Integration with Facebook’s existing registration system. Facebook Edition authenticates logged user sessions and lets users take their registered names and user photos into the room with them, without requiring a meebo account.
• Automated capacity spillover. Designed for highly-trafficked application and canvas pages, new rooms spawn automatically when capacity is reached.
• Advertising tracking. Partners can seamlessly embed and track advertising in a room’s media queue to monetize traffic inside meebo rooms.
• Traffic and data reporting. Facebook Edition offers enhanced traffic and data reporting capability to measure campaign effectiveness and results.

Marshall calls Meebo a closed platform but I think his use of the word "closed" is incorrect. Meebo requires approval for applications to use the platform whereas Facebook allows anyone to create applications on its platform.

Over 40 multiuser and synchronous applications are available to meebo users today. Titles from 3rd Sense, Absolutist, AddictingGames, BladeSix, Clearspring Technologies, Come2Play, Feedhaus, Gamebrew, MeBeam, MediaGreenhouse, Mochi Media, Jiggmin, Kongregate, PlayFirst, Presidio Media, Pudding Media, TalkShoe, TokBox, Ustream.tv, uWink, wellgames, and ZeroCode exemplify the kinds of multiuser and synchronous applications being built on the meebo Platform every day.

Meebo has been making some huge moves recently including gaming and Joost for chat. Check out our interview with CEO Seth Sternberg as well. Meebo can no longer just be considered a Web IM client.

Check out this list of available games: AddictingGames’ Fratboy Unicycle Relay, Animal Puzzle, Artillery, Attack, Backgammon, Battle Pool, Blackjack, Checkers, Chess, Connect4, Go, Kongregate Racing, Match4, Music Man, Picture This!, Pirate War, Platform Racing, Reversi, Sheep Me, Sploder, Sudoku Wars, Tactics 100, Texas Hold ‘em, and World Travel Puzzle.

This comes on the heels of the Meebo announcement as the selected chat partner for Joost.

Perhaps we could create a holiday web tech blogger gaming battle royal with proceeds to charity. While I might not be on top of the TechMeme leaderboard, no one can take down my combo button action!

Joost presented at the NY Video Meetup last week. I noticed a much improved user experience over the initial version I tested earlier this year. If you haven’t tried Joost recently, I would try it again. Does the combo of Joost and Meebo leapfrog Hulu? If the integration is seamless, it could be pretty sweet. The part I am unclear about is whether the Meebo Rooms for the channels will be embedded into the Joost interface or a link to the Meebo room will be provided.

"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."

Check out our interview with Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg.

Here are some details sent over earlier today:

Today, File Transfer comes to meebo! You can now seamlessly transfer files to your IM buddies, on meebo or off meebo, regardless of which IM network they’re on, no software or download required.

"We’re so happy to be debuting file transfer on meebo. This answers a huge feature request from our users," said Seth Sternberg, founder and CEO, meebo. "Please let us know what you think!"

At its core, File Transfer utilizes the Amazon (AMZN) Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), core features of Amazon Web Services. Together, they provide an affordable, scalable and fault-tolerant solution to file storage and retrieval in a web environment.