The company reached out to publishers of the product, which allowed users to check their Google+ notifications, share content from the bar and more, via email earlier today. Further information accessible on the Meebo website states that the dashboard for the product will be available until June 6th, more than enough time for publishers to download analytics and other data. Also as of today, users can no longer create, customize or install the Meebo Bar on their website.
"Five years ago, we launched the Meebo Bar to bring community, engagement, and revenue to publisher sites...
As part of the Google team, this continues to be our focus, but we want to best serve mobile and desktop publishers moving forward. Therefore, we have decided to focus our resources on initiatives like the recently launched Google+Sign-In and the Google+ plug-ins."
The move is really no surprise, considering the rocky history in its 5 year lifespan. Google acquired the company in June 2012, essentially shutting down all of its products (including its IM product, what the company was mostly known for) and leaving the bar running, until its short disappearance. It did return however in December of last year with heavy Google+ integration. The integration included new default themes, fitting the simple, minimalist look of Google+, a notification box, and a +1 button.
 |
| Meebo Bar with Google+ Integration |
I don't think many will be sad to see the product retire, as it was mostly seen as a nuisance since it followed website visitors down the page as the scrolled. As the Meebo Bar team are now working on the Google+ Sign-In API and Google+ plugins, we'll have to wait and see what develops from the extra help further down the line.