Bebo gears up for new activity

Criterion have been making their first changes at Bebo, as they try to turn around the fortune of the social networking site they bought recently from AOL.
They will be investing in new staff and focussing on the niche tween market.


http://paidcontent.org/article/419-new-bebo-ceo-well-staff-up-innovate-then-maybe-sell/

Bebo moves on

AOL has sold Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners for a rumoured $10m or less. Criterion have described the site as "attractive media platform".

Read more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jun/17/aol-confirms-bebo-sale
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cf6e4258-7a08-11df-9871-00144feabdc0.html

Bebo about to go

AOL has come to the inevitable conclusion that it will have to sell or shut down Bebo. Bebo has been performing poorly of recent, with it's users in the US down from 5.8 million last year to 5.1 million this year. (This is compared to Facebook's 210 million)
They paid $850 million for it a couple of years ago, a figure that it is unlikely to sell for now.

Read more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8606379.stm

Bebo makes cuts in the UK

Bebo have announced cuts in the UK of 100 jobs. They are also ditching their web TV division, which was working on KateModern and Sofia's Diary. They seemed to fall behind Facebook, and irreversibly so. Their service and support for businesses hasn't matched that of other companies and I wonder how much longer they can continue without finding a niche.

It makes the purchase of Bebo for $850m like another poor business move from AOL.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/12/bebo-cuts-jobs-web-tv

Social Media Trends

The news is that whilst Facebook is expanding, Bebo and MySpace are contracting. Facebook is continuing it's world takeover, with more and more members each day. Also on the rise are LinkedIn and Twitter, although I believe Twitter will be a passing fad for the masses I'm sure, remaining popular only for the insecure celebrities and the geeks.

MySpace is a great place for bands to host a few songs, tour dates, and advertise themselves, but as a personal profile social networking site I never though it had any longevity. And Facebook sealed their downfall in this area I think. I would love to see MySpace evolve into an online directory for bands, artists, creatives etc.

Bebo I feel has just not provided a high enough quality of service. The site has always been behind in changes to the way it works and the support is reportedly not to a high level. I think it might just be a case of the better person winning when you compare Bebo and Facebook.

Interestingly FriendsReunited is mentioned. They made the massive mistake of making you pay, which Tagged doesn't seem to have learned from. They "entice" you to buy VIP memberships to give you extra functionality on the site. A mistake I think.

Read more with the full stats:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/11/myspace-bebo-social-networking