We were expecting this after it was announced Google bought over Meebo, but here's final confirmation.
Of interest to librarians, Meebo Messenger, Meebo Me, Meebo Mobile Apps will be shutting down July 11th, 2012. All embeded widgets will stop working and you can download all chat logs at https://www.meebo.com/chatlog-download by July 11, 2012.
For more details see http://www.meebo.com/support/article/175/
Meebo Bar will continue but I don't think many libraries use it. Meebo Me widgets of course are used by many libraries to provide IM reference support.
Other free chat widget alternatives exist including AIM, Chatango, Plugoo , Gtalk etc.
EDIT : Others I see mentioned include Zoho Chat, ChatWing, Digsby , Spark
Depending on your needs you could get away with free accounts on Zopim, Olark etc though you probably will need to pay if you use the service heavily.
Library specific IM reference services exist of course include Libraryh3lp , OCLC's QuestionPoint and SpringShare who offer the popular LibGuides is readying LibChat.
Or perhaps in the age of Skype, Google Hangouts, SMS ref, Twitter & Social Media, IM reference is no longer so necessary?
Are you impacted by the closure of Meebo? Let us know in the comments.
Aaron Tay
Yes!
Meebo alts
"online reference works best
I'm surprised by the short
IM reference
Flip side
chat in Academic Libraries
Complain to Google
Freeloading
I like Zopim's attitude
Complaining to Google
Open letter
Mosio's Text a Librarian is adding Chat, Email and Support Tabs
Pingbox
Pingbox visibility to non-Yahoo users
SMS
It's still very relevant!
meebo download
Testing Free Alternatives to Meebo Me and Messenger
And the Winner Is???
Tentative winning combination
You missed the best one RUMBLETALK
Google is a mass murderer, along with ICanHazCheezBurger.com.
Meebo's suggestions
RumbleTalk
RumbleTalk
Lime Talk
Mosio for Libraries (aka Mosio's Text a Librarian)