YM's Rivals Get Involved in Social Networking Services

AOL has always been regarded as one of the potential companies which can compete with Google and Yahoo in many aspects, the instant messaging competition being one of them. AOL's AIM always tried to challenge Yahoo Messenger but this time, it is a serious attempt. A few days ago, AOL signed a deal with Bebo, a famous social networking website, in order to promote its instant messaging client among the registered users and lure them to the application. According to the reports, AOL will place an AIM icon on users' profiles to let others know if the registered member is logged on their account and if they are available for chat.

"Bebo is dedicated to creating the best possible user experience and offering the tools that make it as simple as possible to express themselves," said Joanna Shields, President, International at Bebo. "Now, Beboers can instantly communicate with their friends via AIM without leaving the Bebo environment, which adds another dimension to the social networking experience."

This is a pretty smart move made by AOL if we think that AIM might become the main messaging application for the Bebo users. This way, the company may target lots of new users looking for communication and, since AIM is promoted straight from the parent company and provider of the social network, it is obviously the main solution for online chatting.

"As one of the largest instant messaging communities in the world, we're always looking for new ways to make it easier for users to connect and communicate with the people they care about. As one of the top global social networks, we're excited to work with Bebo to expand our reach in the fast-growing arena of social networking and to offer Beboers another way to communicate online," said Marcien Jenckes, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, Messaging & Social Media, AOL.