Meez - Avatars for MySpace, Xanga and IM

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We haven’t heard much from Meez since March, when they launched their beta. But today they released “Cauz gear”, a new range of virtual clothing and accessories for your avatar that promotes good causes. The initiative comes from Cauz, a collaboration between 7 youth-oriented non-profits, and the virtual gear includes t-shirts, hoodies and backgrounds. They’ve also been pursuing cross-promotion with recently-launched Singshot, allowing you to use your Meez avatar as your profile pic.

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It looks like Meez have got the MySpace bug, too - in July they launched Meez Profiles, a public profile at a clean URL (eg. meez.com/mashable) that displays your avatar, the clothes you’re wearing and a rating box where other users can rate your Meez character. What’s more, there’s a “Media Box” where you can post YouTube videos, MySpace slideshows, Frappr maps and other Flash widgets.

I like the way they’re increasingly trying to fit in with the existing social networking ecosystem, but it’s worth noting that rival IMVU is doing better on all fronts - traffic, blogosphere mentions etc. IMVU is tying the avatar to a 3D IM client, and it seems to be paying off for them. But it’s early days for both these companies, and if Meez can integrate heavily with social networks, they might have a chance.

Meez User?

Mashable's Meez profile is at meez.com/mashable - feel free to check it out.

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