For reasons that I have previously outlined in my blog, I really, really don't like live online chat - nevertheless, I'm quite fond of Allan Benamer. When I found out that Allan had created a chat room dedicated to the topic of nonprofit technology on Meebo, my kneejerk grumpiness went to war with my bias in favor of any project that Allan takes on.
So I thought I'd give it a try, and see what my fellow nonprofit techies were discussing in real time. It so happened that Allan was in the chat room, and soon he was updating me on a project of his that I think is very promising. He wanted my help, and pretty soon I was suggesting that we talk on the phone, rather than in the semi-public chat room. We proceeded to do that, and were able to do a lot of really useful brainstorming - which was probably much more efficient and enjoyable than our usual practice of exchanging email.
So that's how skeptics about instant messaging (such as yours truly) use Meebo and its counterparts: we take advantage of it to ascertain who's available to talk to us right now through other channels.
Meebo makes a simple (and free) widget available, so that anyone with a web site can embed a chat room on his/her home page. In theory, every nonprofit technology blogger can use it to create a portal to the nonprofit technology chat room that Allan created. However, I think I'll be content to watch Allan and other esteemed colleagues forge ahead as early adopters. On the other hand, I'd like to jump right into the project that Allan mentioned as soon as I logged onto Meebo. This other project doesn't revolve around instant messaging!
