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Fastest-Growing IM Destinations Offer Online Chat Access or Multi-Media »
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Fastest-Growing IM Destinations Offer Online Chat Access or Multi-Media
The fastest growing instant-messaging destination in the last 10 months was Meebo.com, a site where visitors can log in to several different instant messaging services without downloading an internet application, Nielsen/NetRatings reports.
Meebo’s unique audience increased 354%, from 434,000 in August 2006, when it first climbed above reporting-cutoff figures, to 2.0 million in June 2007.
Google Talk also saw triple-digit growth in the same time period, increasing 149%, from 904,000 to 2.3 million unique visitors. Both Meebo and Google Talk make it possible to chat anytime and anywhere users are online, a feature that seems to resonate.
Others that made the list of fastest-growing IM destinations offer additional multi-media chat functionalities to drive usage:
- IMVU, which grew 154% from August to June, allows users to create their own interactive avatars to communicate with their friends.
- Paltalk focuses on live video chat, while Skype’s main attraction is voice over IP.
Among those fastest-growing destinations, Skype is the leader in absolute numbers, with a unique audience of more than 2.6 million.
“Now that instant messaging has become an established form of communication, providers are seeking to distinguish themselves with expanded access and additional functionalities. These recent trends in traffic indicate that users are excited about seeing where the technology is going next,” said Jason Lee, media analyst, Nielsen/NetRatings.
