Meez

{{Short description|Former social media network}}

{{More citations needed|date=January 2010}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Meez

| logo = Meez better logo.png

| caption = Your 3D ID

| commercial = No

| type = Avatar

| registration = Required

| headquarters = San Francisco, California{{cite web | title=Meez Launches Virtual World - Meez Nation | website=Thefreelibrary.com | date=2008-07-01 | url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/MEEZ+LAUNCHES+VIRTUAL+WORLD+-+MEEZ+NATION.-a0180669542 }}

| owner = Donnerwood Media

| key_people = Sean Ryan (founder)

| launch_date = March 28, 2006

| dissolved = December 2017

| current_status = Defunct

| url = [https://web.archive.org/web/20151107032511/http://www.meez.com/ www.meez.com]

}}

Meez was a free-to-play virtual world{{Cite journal|last=Roquilly|first=Christophe|date=2011|title=Control Over Virtual Worlds by Game Companies: Issues and Recommendations|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23042802|journal=MIS Quarterly|volume=35|issue=3|pages=653–671|doi=10.2307/23042802|jstor=23042802|issn=0276-7783}} that launched on March 28, 2006. Meez was developed by Donnerwood Media (a company based in San Francisco, California, that were also the license-holders for Tringo) as an "online entertainment" social networking service. It was founded by Sean Ryan,{{cite web | title=Express Yourself – For A Fee | website=Forbes | author=Rachel Rosmarin | date=2006-03-28 | url=http://www.forbes.com/digitalentertainment/2006/03/27/aol-yahoo-chat-cx_rr_0328meez.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130123191845/http://www.forbes.com/digitalentertainment/2006/03/27/aol-yahoo-chat-cx_rr_0328meez.html | archive-date=2013-01-23 | url-status=dead }} the former vice president of the music service RealNetworks. Meez's CEO, John Cahill, was a former Yahoo executive.

Meez's main draw was the Meez Nation, where users could visit several regions, known as "Hoods", to chat with other users in chat rooms.{{cite web|title=Meez: Virtual World|url=http://www.meez.com/virtual-world.dm|access-date=2012-07-19| website=www.meez.com |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717045136/http://www.meez.com/virtual-world.dm|archive-date=2012-07-17}} Meez had over three million unique users, who would spend 60 hours a month on the site. There were 13 million registered Meez users by the time the site had become discontinued, 90% of whom were in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.socialtimes.com/2009/10/meez-becomes-profitable-with-3-million-monthly-users/ |title=Meez Becomes Profitable With 3 Million Monthly Users |publisher=Socialtimes.com | author=Nick O'Neill |date=2009-10-20 |access-date=2012-07-04}} Meez advertisers included Nike, Rocawear, Domo, Coast, the NBA and the NHL.{{cite web | title=Meez teen virtual playground integrated into MySpace | author=Dean Takahashi | website=VentureBeat | date=2009-10-20 | url=https://venturebeat.com/2009/10/20/meez-teen-virtual-playground-integrated-into-myspace/ }} MIS Quarterly estimated that its users were primarily children and teenagers.

In 2007, Meez was named one of the Internet's five worst websites by TIME.{{Cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1638344_1638341_1638338,00.html|title=5 Worst Websites |magazine=Time|date=2007-07-09}}