bebo

The site was founded in January 2005 by Michael Birch and his wife, Xochi Birch. It was given a major relaunch in July of that year.^[1]

[edit] Popularity Statistics

Bebo is the 174th most popular English language website, based on a three month average to February 2007, according to Alexa Internet.^[2] In the US, Bebo was the fastest growing social networking site in June 2006 according to Hitwise, Inc.^[3] Bebo as a keyword was also listed as the number one term most representative of search trends on Google in 2006.^[4]

[edit] Features

[edit] Profile Components

Once a user has registered an account, they edit and maintain their own profile page using online forms. The top of a user's profile contains information about the user, which would typically include their name, a picture, a paragraph about them, and some miscellaneous information under various headings. Although default headings are provided, many users create their own to reflect their own interests, or to include quips, quotes, jokes or gibes.

Profiles include; a whiteboard, in which other users can draw pictures with a variety of colors using a system called ffArt, a comment section where other users can leave a message, and a list of the user's friends. These are all publicly viewable, unless the user selects the "Private Profile" option, which limits access to the profile to friends specifically added by the user.

Profiles usually also include quizzes, slide-shows of pictures, polls, photo albums, blogs with a comments section for others' responses, a list of bands (see below) of which the profile-holder is a groupie, and a Flash Box, which plays video, often linked from YouTube, or uploaded directly to Bebo's servers.

[edit] Bands

On 11 July 2006, Bebo Bands was launched. On this section of the site, bands or solo artists are able to create a profile showcasing their music. Along with undiscovered talents, it has a section called "New Music Only on Bebo" linking to established artist pages including Paris Hilton, Matt Willis, Orson, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, The Kooks, Lily Allen and more.

The band pages include; a band member list which is similar to the friends list on a normal profile, a list of groupies (fans who have added the band, as though it were a friend), an area for tour dates, a blog, and a list of songs which have been uploaded for playing through Bebo's media player, or to be added to other user's playlists. These songs can be grouped by the band into albums, along with cover-art. All band members can edit the content of the band profile.

Although the Bebo Band section is intended for use by musical groups, the facility is also used by many to form clubs or societies, or as non-official fan pages for established bands.

[edit] Controversy

Concern has been raised about potential risks to children from pedophiles accessing personal information contained in profiles. In Ireland, for example, the Sunday Tribune experiment whereby a reporter posing as a 13 year old girl set up an account, and proceeded to gather personal information and photos of other teenage girls.^{[citation needed]} A survey of 2 million profiles by Bigulo.com found that 1 in 3 publicly accessible profiles belonged to children under the age of 18.^[5]

In March 2006 Norfolk County Council is believed to have become the first LEA in the United Kingdom to order all schools in its authority to block the website from school computers due to it being used for "unsavoury activities". ^[6]

Bebo has also been used to arrange meetings for public under-aged drinking^[7] and also to host happy slapping or physical assault videos.^[8]