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Bebo (pronounced "Bee-bow") is a social networking website, designed to allow friends to communicate in various ways. It has developed into an online community where users can post pictures, write blogs and send messages to one another, and is similar in format to MySpace, hi5.com, Xanga and Yahoo! 360.
The site has over 22,000,000 registered members. It is estimated that about 5 people register every second (although a much smaller number of members are regularly active on the website). Bebo is the 340th most popular English language website, according to Alexa Internet, and the second most popular in Ireland according to the Irish Independent (17th in the UK). In the US, Bebo was the fastest growing social networking site in June 2006 according to Hitwise, Inc.
Features
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 or jibes.
Profiles include; a whiteboard, in which other users can draw pictures 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 publically 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, 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 Bebo TV box, which plays video, often linked from YouTube, or uploaded direct to Bebo,
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, Katie Melua n 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. But some of these band pages and pages of celebrities are just people pretending to be the celebrity
Awards
Bebo won the People's Choice award in the Social Networking category of the 2006 Webby Awards.
See also
- List of social networking websites
- Also there url for Technical Bebo.
References
- BBC News article, March 2006
- Alexa Internet traffic ranking for Bebo.com, 15 May 2006
- Hitwise Inc. Press Release, 11 July 2006
- UCC Express, March 15, 2006