Sunday 10 June 2012

Google plans to shut down Meebo

Just 5 days after buying social-messaging and advertising company Meebo for a rumored $100 million, Big G is beginning to shut down the company's various products.

On July 11, Meebo Messenger, Sharing on Meebo, Meebo Me, and all of Meebo's mobile apps will be shut down, according to a blog post on Meebo.com. Google is folding Meebo's staffers and technology into its fledgling Google+ social network.

It may seem a waste to buy a company for $100 million just to shut it down, but from Google's perspective it makes perfect sense. Google has been struggling to get its social media platform off the ground. At a time when people are already starting to count Google+ amongst Google's other failed projects (who even remembers Google Audio Ads, Google X or Google Lively?) and no one besides a few Google employees and clever SEO specialists seem to be using Google+, buying up the competition and shutting it down may be one of the only moves Google has left.

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