Bebo IM has gone, I repeat the IM has gone! Yeah, well according to an article from Mashable.com no one cared at all that Bebo’s instant messaging had indeed gone, the instant messaging service which was introduced to Bebo users back in August 2008, yes August of this year! And yet after just under a month the Bebo community has turned against the IM client, forcing it to be removed.
Well, I have to say it’s very much power to the people, personally I cannot stand having IM linked in with my social networking, the other two main competitors in the social networking market Facebook and Myspace both have their own IM clients which are simply lame.
Of course what all social network IM clients have lacked in my opinion is substance, not enough features to stand out above the rest, they are very simple IM clients which I believe are capable of so much more, they give people nothing more then the ability to instantly message someone on their friends list which isn’t all that new!
The way I see this movement of social network IM’s is that these companies simply want you to stay on your profile as long as possible, talking to friends whilst also talking about photos, games and applications all whilst being nestled in the hub page of the social network! It’s a cunning trap to keep you coming back there, especially if the user is unaware of other IM solutions such as Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AIM and they believe that Facebook IM or Myspace IM is the only way to communicate to people.
In the positive light it can be seen that conversation is being moved to the Web rather then being in the desktop, but I believe what is going to be necessary is for a “Multi user IM client” to be designed for the Web in order for users to collect their Facebook and Myspace IM’s into a website, which could be dynamically developed into an embedable widget to create new communities based around the profile of the user thus bringing traffic back to Facebook and Myspace and creating a wider user base!
I can’t get an accurate gauge on how people use the IM’s but it has continuously frustrated me seeing social networks trying to become social hubs for conversation, this conversation in my opinion should only go as far as commenting and writing on people’s Facebook walls!
What do you reckon?
Josh Chandler is a online technology journalist, based out of the UK. He writes blog posts over at joshchandlerblog.com where he discusses and evaluates social media trends and new forms of interactive media. He also interviews web startups, talking further about their business model, the idea and how well the market is performing.
Email Josh at:
josh@joshchandlerblog.com 
