Bebo to add IM powered by Microsoft
ENT News | at | by Mike
Social-networking site Bebo Inc. said Tuesday it will launch a Microsoft-powered instant-messaging program this fall.
The deal signals early, if niche, support for a Microsoft plan to build a business around letting other sites incorporate its Windows Live Web services.
The Bebo-branded IM will have limited compatibility with Microsoft's own services, consistent with a tendency for social-networking sites to build "walled" communities with restrictions on who can contact whom and how elsewhere online. IM services also have tended to operate independently, although those walls have started to come down.