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{{Short description|American social networking website}}
{{Cleanup|date=June 2008}}
{{About|the social networking site}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
<!-- The pronunciation guide below uses the IPA system, which is the correct form for Misplaced Pages. It should not be changed to another system without good reason-->
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{{two other uses||the contemporary Christian artist|Bebo Norman|the Hungarian sculptor|Károly Bebo}}
{{Infobox Website {{Infobox website
| name = Bebo, | name = Bebo, Inc.
| logo = ] | logo = Logo Bebo.svg
| location = ], U.S.
| screenshot =
| founder = ] <br /> ]
| caption = ''"Blog Early Blog Often"'' <ref name="bebo-bigger"> at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed ], ])</ref>
| products = {{hlist|]| software vision mixer|]}}
| url = http://www.bebo.com
| parent = The Monkey Inferno
| commercial =
| url = {{URL|https://bebo.com/}} (redirects to Poply)
| type = ]
| language = ]
| language = ]<br />]<br />]<br />]
| company_type = ]
| advertising = ]
| foundation = {{Start date and age|2005|01|df=y}}<ref name = "Michael and Xochi Birch"/>
| registration = Yes
| dissolved = May 2022
| owner = ]
| area_served = Worldwide
| author = ]<br />Xochi Birch
| website_type = ]
| launch date = January 2005<br /> ''(relaunched July 2005)''
| launch_date = July 2005
| current status = Active
| revenue = | intl = yes
}} }}
{{wikinews|Exclusive look at Bebo}}
'''Bebo''' is a popular ] ], founded in January 2005. It can be used in many countries including ], ], the ], the ], ] and ]. A ]<ref></ref> version was launched recently, which uses a different user database. There are plans for French<ref></ref> German<ref></ref> and other versions. Founded by husband and wife ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://onlinepersonalswatch.typepad.com/news/2006/03/online_personal_4.html |title=CEO Michael Birch Interview, March 2006}}</ref> and Xochi Birch, Bebo had a major relaunch in July 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bebo.com/StaticPage.jsp?StaticPageId=2517039231 |title=About Michael Birch |accessdate=2007-06-01 |work=About Bebo |publisher=Bebo}}</ref> It was bought by ] on March 13, 2008 for $850m (£417m).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7294174.stm |title=AOL acquires Bebo social network |accessdate=2008-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea66262a-f0f8-11dc-a91a-0000779fd2ac.html |title=AOL to ‘supercharge’ Bebo revenues |accessdate=2008-03-13 |work=AOL to ‘supercharge’ Bebo revenues}}</ref>.


'''Bebo''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː|b|oʊ}} {{respell|BEE|boh}}) was an American ] website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013 and relaunched in February 2021. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number of short-lived offerings, including ] and ], until its acquisition by ] in July 2019 when it was shut down. It was announced in January 2021 that it would be returning as a new social-media site the month after. By May 2022, it had once again been shut down, without having ever left beta-testing.
"Bebo" is a ] for “Blog early, blog often”<ref name="bebo-bigger"> at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed ], ])</ref>,


The site was founded by ] and ].
==Profiles==
Bebo is Similar to ], each profile must include five specific modules, a comment section where other users can leave a message, and a list of the user's friends. Users can select from many more modules to add. By default, when an account is created the profile is private, which limits access to friends specifically added. The user may select the "Public Profile" option so as the profile will still be visible to any other members of a school they may have joined. Profiles may be personalized by a design template that is the background of the user's profile, known as a skin.


==History==
Profiles may include quizzes which offer multiple choice, polls for their friends to vote in and comment on, photo albums which allows the user to upload 49 number of pictures, ] with a comments section, a list of bands of which the user is a fan, a list of groups that the user is a member of. A 'Video Box' may be added, either hot-linked from ], uploaded directly to Bebo's servers via ] or copied from a Bebo Media Content Provider's page.
===Founding and early years===
Bebo was founded by husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch in January 2005 at their home in ].<ref name = "Michael and Xochi Birch"/> The website name was bought by the founders, and the ] "Blog Early; Blog Often" was invented to answer the question of what the name meant.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Davis|first1=Evan|title=The Future of the Web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0124pxl|access-date=9 January 2015|work=The Bottom Line|agency=] 4|date=2 July 2011|format=Audio}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jun/18/digitalmedia.observerreview | title=How to make 80 million friends and influence people | work=The Observer | date=18 June 2006 | agency=The Guardian | access-date=March 2, 2015 | author=Garfield, Simon}}</ref>


The website, at the height of its popularity, overtook ] to become the most widely used social-networking website in the ], eventually registering at least 10.7 million unique users.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/bebo-overtakes-myspace-in-the-uk/ | title=Bebo overtakes MySpace in the UK | publisher=ZDNet | date=14 August 2007 | author=O'Hear, Steve}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/18/technology/bebo_britain.fortune/index.htm | title=Bebo's British invasion | publisher=Fortune | work=Fortune Magazine | date=19 September 2007 | access-date=2 March 2015 | author=Hempel, Jessi}}</ref>
Members can view the recent changes friends have made to their homepage from the 'Home' menu. These changes can include uploaded photos, updated flashboxes and newly added videos and friends. A map feature enables members to see who has being viewing their profile. However, the viewer must be logged in while viewing and have their profile set to public in the map section, in order for this to be possible.
===Sale to AOL===
Bebo's popularity saw it sold to ] in March 2008 for $850 million, with the Birches' combined 70% stake yielding a profit of $595 million from the deal.<ref name="AOLSuperchargeBeboFT">{{cite news | url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea66262a-f0f8-11dc-a91a-0000779fd2ac.html | title=AOL to 'supercharge' Bebo revenues | work=Financial Times | date=13 March 2008 | agency=Financial Times | access-date=March 2, 2015 | author=Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew | location=London, UK}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7294174.stm | title=AOL acquires Bebo social network | work=BBC News | date=13 March 2008 | access-date=2 March 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315021921/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7294174.stm | archive-date=15 March 2008 | url-status=live}}</ref> The ] later described the AOL purchase of Bebo as "one of the worst deals ever made in the dotcom era",<ref name="BBC20100617">{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10341413 | title=Bebo sold by AOL after just two years | work=BBC News | date=17 June 2010 | access-date=2 March 2015}}</ref> and it cost the then-CEO of AOL, ], his job.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://allthingsd.com/20100407/bebo-not-worth-a-pail-of-spit-to-aol-this-comes-as-a-shock-to-exactly-hmm-no-one/ | title=Bebo Not Worth a Pail of Spit to AOL? This Comes as a Shock to Exactly–Hmm–No One. | publisher=All Things D | date=April 7, 2010 | access-date=March 2, 2015 | author=Swisher, Kara}}</ref>


In 2010, on April 7, AOL announced that it would either sell the website<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0407/129591-bebo/ | title=AOL planning to sell or close Bebo | publisher=RTÉ | work=RTÉ News | date=7 April 2010 | access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> or shut it down; this was mainly due to the falling numbers of unique users moving to rival site ]. AOL said that Bebo could not compete with other social-networking sites in its current state and that the company could not commit to taking on the massive task to keep Bebo in the social-network race. It was reported that AOL's finances were struggling.
===Privacy options===
Bebo offers three privacy levels: public, private and fully private. Public profiles can be seen by any user, except that profiles of users younger than 16 years are seen only by logged in users. Private profiles are seen only their friends and members of any school or college they have joined. Fully private profiles are ones that have not joined any school and so only
their direct friends can view their profile. If a user chooses the 'Public' option, they can also set age restrictions on who can contact them. Age restrictions do not apply to direct friends. Bebo also allows a user to set their photos to private, so only friends can see them and can stop others from copying them too.
Bebo is fun for all ages, and is a great place to find long lost mates, keep in contact or even meet new people.


The National Space Agency of Ukraine's RT-70 radio telescope sent 501 messages chosen by Bebo users, called A Message From Earth, toward the planet ]. Sent on 9 October 2008, it will arrive in the spring of 2028.<ref>. (2008-10-09). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012034948/http://archive.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=6864550350 |date=2013-10-12 }}. (2008-10-17). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.</ref><ref>. (2015-02-13). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.</ref>
===Bebo Music===
On ] ], "Bebo Music" was launched (originally as Bebo bands)<ref>{{cite news |first=Shawn |last=Lunn |title=Bebo strikes the right chord with the launch of Bebo Bands |url=http://www.irishdev.com/NewsArticle.aspx?id=3352 |work=IrishDev News |publisher=Irish Developer Network |date=] |accessdate=2007-06-01}}</ref>. This allows bands or solo artists to create a profile showcasing their music. The band profiles include a band member list which is similar to the friends list on a normal profile, a list of fans (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 which may 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.


===Criterion Capital Partners ownership transfer===
===Bebo Authors===
On June 16, 2010, AOL sold Bebo to hedge-fund operators ].<ref>. Businessinsider.com (2010-06-16). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.</ref><ref>. Businesswire.com (2010-06-17). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.</ref>
On ] ], Bebo Authors, also known as Bebo Books, was launched. On this section of the site, authors can upload chapters of their books and also get them reviewed with a certain module. Currently there is no module to display books on a profile page like there is for Bands and Groups.


On February 17, 2011, Bebo launched a brand-new design. This consisted of a new, more-modern header and homepage, as well as a new profile-layout option. Users could also see who had visited their profiles (a feature which could be changed in settings). In April 2011, Bebo added a new notification system, similar to Facebook's – a feature which had been much-requested in feedback.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} It notified users of new inbox-messages, lifestream activity, and more.{{vague|date=December 2015}}
===Bebo Groups===
On ] ], the 'Group' module was added to pages. This enabled people to view groups which were previously joined to a school and were also viewable only to school members. Bebo also gave an option to convert existing Authors or Bands to Groups. This conversion takes up to 24 hours as the profile must be manually changed by a member of Bebo staff. Group pages give users an option to join things they find interesting. These groups can often be educational as well as associated with ].<ref></ref>


On January 30, 2012, access to Bebo became unavailable for 36 hours, resuming normal service during the early hours of February 1, 2012. A Bebo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the site was down due to "a technical clusterfuck".<ref name="tc">{{cite news|last=Ha|first=Anthony|title=Is Bebo Finally Dead? (Update: Not Quite)|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/01/30/is-bebo-finally-dead/|newspaper=TechCrunch|date=2012-01-30}}</ref> Adam Levin, CEO of Bebo and ], stated that they were trying to release some new features which caused the site to crash. No data was lost as a result of the outage. The crash triggered a belief that Bebo was gone for good, so that the hashtag #bebomemories trended worldwide on ].<ref>{{cite news|last=McCarra|first=Darren|title=Bebo may have just shutdown|url=http://sociable.co/social-media/bebo-may-have-just-shutdown/|newspaper=The Sociable|date=2012-01-30}}</ref>
===Bebo Mobile===
On ] ], Bebo launched a mobile service<ref></ref> which allows users to receive text alerts and update their profile via their ]. This is currently available to ] and ] customers. The service consists of a mobile site, text alerts for new comments and photo only uploads via mms.On ] ], Bebo launched a new mobile site which can be accessed by any ] users on any network and not just ] and ] customers. This can be used by pointing your browser at '''m.bebo.com'''.<ref>. New Zealand Telecom mobile phones are also able to access Bebo online.</ref>


===2013: Bankruptcy and sale===
===Integration with instant messaging===
In May 2013, the company voluntarily filed for ];<ref name=chap11>{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/10/social-network-bebo-has-filed-a-voluntary-chapter-11-bankruptcy-petition/|title=Social Network Bebo Has Filed A Voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petition|publisher=]|date=2013-05-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.burkecapital.net/BeboBiddingProcedure.pdf|title=Burke Capital Corporation|website=burkecapital.net}}</ref> however, the receiver Burke Capital Corporation has clarified that Bebo remains "healthy" and "operating" and that the company was using its Chapter 11 filing on May 9 in Los Angeles to "restructure some operational inefficiencies and other arrangements that are burdensome." Many analysts have questioned the value-proposition that Bebo could offer users and do not fault CCP.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/bebo-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html | title=Bebo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy}}</ref>
Users can add their ] (AIM), ] and ] user names to their Bebo profile. For Skype and Windows Live Messenger Bebo offers links to quickly chat or add that user in that program. The Windows Live Messenger links show up only in ] by default, as it uses the 'msnim' protocol. They can be used in another web browser such as ] or ] by masking the user agent as Internet Explorer and using a tool called the WLM Protocol Handler to handle the msnim protocol. Using the AIM links to contact someone opens up a Web AIM client. Bebo also offers a co-branded AIM downloadable client.


On July 1, 2013, Michael and Xochi Birch, the original founders, purchased the social network back from Criterion Capital Partners (CCP) for $1 million.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amazon's Twitch acquired social networking platform Bebo for up to $25M to bolster its esports efforts|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/18/amazon-twitch-bebo-esports/|access-date=2020-08-25|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-06-18|title=Twitch Buys Bebo In eSports Push|url=https://www.pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2019/twitch-bebo-esports/|access-date=2020-08-25|website=PYMNTS.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
===Bebo Open Media Platform===
Announced on the ] ], Bebo Open Media Platform is a platform for companies to distribute content to the Bebo community. Content providers can bring their media player to Bebo, and monetize the advertising within it. Each content provider has a specialised page designed for video which showcases any ] video content at the top of the profile. Many networks are signed up for the service, including ], ], ], ] and ].


On August 6, 2013, messages were posted on Bebo.com informing users that the site would be down for maintenance from August 7, 2013. On August 7, 2013, a video featuring Michael announcing his plan for the new Bebo was placed on the front page of the site. The video informed users that the site would be taken down while the Bebo team developed the new product. Many believed that this would be normal maintenance; however, it was revealed that the site would be closed for a few months. The announcement also stated that all user-content had been deleted, but users' blog posts and images would be retrievable in downloadable format should members opt-in to receive this. However, members who submitted emails still{{when|date=May 2015}} have not retrieved profile data (pictures, blogs, etc.).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bebo.com/#faq|title=Bebo All-In-One Streaming|website=Bebo|access-date=2006-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509191241/http://www.bebo.com/#faq|archive-date=2008-05-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Open Application Platform==
On ] ], Bebo announced that it will join ], a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. It announced plans for a developers platform and said it will make a further platform announcement on November 13, 2007. This platform announcement turned out to be about the Bebo 'Open Media Platform' and not a true ]. Bebo's Developers Platform was launched in early December 2007 with just over 50 applications.


===2014–16: Return of Bebo and introduction of Bebo Blab===
==New Zealand Privacy Breach==
In April 2014, Bebo founder ] took to Bebo in a tongue-in-cheek video to promote the re-launch of Bebo with the slogan, "Probably Not for Boring People". The relaunch video emphasized Bebo's history in which it included its then-most popular feature: the whiteboard.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Cook|first1=James|title=After Selling For $850 Million, Failed Social Network Bebo Is Relaunching As Something Much Cooler|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/bebo-is-relaunching-as-a-chat-app-2014-12|access-date=9 January 2015|work=Business Insider Inc.|date=10 December 2014}}</ref>
On ] ] some users in New Zealand were temporarily given full access to other users' accounts.<ref></ref> Various users logged in under their own account were switched over to the accounts of other users at random intervals, some people gaining access to over 20 different users' accounts. People were sometimes given access to addresses and phone numbers of other members, and some took advantage of the situation by uploading pornography onto other members' accounts.<ref></ref> Bebo network engineers traced the error to a mis-configured proxy server in an ] (ISP) in New Zealand, which was later fixed. The ISP seemed to be messing with its cache, thereby causing some of its customers to receive cached cookies and details from other users, likely because the ISP used ].
Bebo relaunched on January 7, 2015; announced with the news that Bebo was now a messenger app called Bebo Blab which was available on ] and Apple App Store. The app amassed 3.9 million users in just one year. Bebo Blab shut down two years after its relaunch, as users weren't returning to the platform to watch archived streams on replay. Birch wrote:


{{Quote|Blab was great in many ways, but it wasn't going to be an everyday thing for millions. So we're kicking down the sandcastle, and rebuilding it as an 'always on' place to hang with friends.|author=Michael Birch, CEO of Bebo<ref>{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/14/blab-shuts-down-but-founders-promise-new-product-on-the-way/|title=Blab shuts down, founders promise new app on the way|first=Lora|last=Kolodny|date=14 August 2016|work=TechCrunch}}</ref>}}
the most affected profile from this was http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=1600073168

===2017–2018: Bebo streaming software===
As of April 19, 2018, the site offered multi-feature ] streaming software (similar to ] or ]). This closed down in October 2018 to focus on tournament software.

===2019: Sale to Amazon===
In July 2019, Amazon, through their subsidiary ], acquired Bebo for US$25 million after outbidding ].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Game streaming site Twitch buys social network Bebo |date=March 26, 2020 |first=Alex |last=Hern |url=https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jun/18/game-streaming-site-twitch-buys-social-network-bebo |work=]}}</ref>

===2021–2022: Relaunch===
In early 2021, the Bebo.com webpage began to display a series of messages suggesting a new relaunch of Bebo was imminent. In an interview on February 3, founder ] described his plan to relaunch the social networking website with a focus on individual profiles, rather than the news feed that had become ubiquitous throughout the rest of social media.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55908193|title = Bebo chief reveals plan to take on Facebook and Twitter|work = BBC News|date = 3 February 2021}}</ref>

===2022: Second shutdown ===
As of May 2022, Bebo has been shut down again, never having left its private beta-testing phase, with the website now displaying a quote by founder Michael Birch, about the attempts of resurrecting Bebo. Birch states "Who knows", in response to if Bebo would ever be relaunched again.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bebo |url=https://bebo.com/ |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Bebo |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Original website features==
Users received a personal profile page where they would post ]s, photographs, music, videos, and questionnaires, which other users may answer. Additionally, users could add others as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.<ref name="Michael and Xochi Birch">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/nov/04/socialnetworking.web20 |title=Bebo, Michael and Xochi Birch |author=Burkeman, Oliver |date=2006-11-04 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2010-06-14 |location=London}}</ref>

Each Bebo user received a profile, which included two specific modules: a comment section where other users could leave a message and a list of the user's friends. Users could select from many more modules to add. By default, when an account was created, the profile was private, which limited access to friends. The user could select the "Public Profile" option so the profile would be visible to any other members. Profiles could be personalized by a design template that became the background of the user's profile, known as a skin. Profiles also included multiple-choice quizzes; polls for their friends to vote in and comment on; photo albums allowing users 96 images per album; blogs with a comments section; a list of bands of which the user was a fan; and a list of groups that the user was a member of. A "Video Box" could also be added, either hot-linked from ] or copied from a Bebo media content provider's page.

Other features included:
* '''Lifestream''' – these changes included uploaded photos, updated flashboxes, and newly added videos and friends. A friend's updates to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other services could also be viewed, if those friends had linked those accounts to their Bebo profile.
* '''Bebo Mobile''' – Bebo launched the mobile version of the site in early 2006, allowing users access to Bebo from a mobile device. In 2007 and 2010, the mobile site had been updated to match the design and features of the full site.
* '''Bebo Authors''' – on February 22, 2007, Bebo Authors, also known as Bebo Books, was launched. On this section of the site, authors uploaded chapters of their books and could also get them reviewed with a certain module.
* '''Bebo Groups''' – on July 10, 2007, the "Group" module was added to pages. This enabled people to view groups which were previously joined to a school and were also viewable only to school members. Bebo also gave an option to convert existing Authors or Bands to Groups.<ref>{{cite web|title=Group Surf|url=http://www.bebo.com/ProfileSurf.jsp?Type=GR|website=Bebo|access-date=9 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511152107/http://www.bebo.com/ProfileSurf.jsp?Type=GR|archive-date=11 May 2013}}</ref>
* '''Bebo Chat''' – a service called Bebo Chat was launched with several other updates in 2011, which allowed users to chat to other users through a ] chat plugin with Bebo branding. Users could also update their 'Saying' and show their availability status, as well as access other links to Bebo's pages and special offers. It also provided a link for users to visit Bebo's fan page on ], where they could 'Like' their page and receive updates.

===Bebo system===
Bebo runs on servers running the ] and uses the ] system. It is estimated that Bebo had somewhere between 5000 and 8000 Phantom4 servers provided by ] and has over 100&nbsp;TB of disk space across all of their servers.

===Open Media Platform===
Announced on the November 13, 2007, Bebo's Open Media Platform is a platform for companies to distribute content to the Bebo community. Content providers can bring their media player to Bebo, and monetize the advertising within it. Each content provider has a specialised page designed for video which showcases any ] video content at the top of the profile. Many networks are signed up for the service, including ], Sky, ], ] and ].

===Open application platform===
Bebo joined ], a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. It announced plans for a developers platform and said it will make a further platform announcement. Bebo's Open Application Platform was launched in early December 2007 with just over fifty applications and is now host to hundreds.

===Privacy and security===

====Inadvertent privacy breach by New Zealand ISP====
On May 21, 2008, some users in New Zealand were temporarily given full access to other users' accounts.<ref>. ''New Zealand Herald'' (2008-05-22). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.</ref> Bebo network engineers traced the error to a misconfigured proxy server in an ] (ISP) in New Zealand, which was later corrected. The ISP seemed to be interfering with its cache, thereby causing some of its customers to receive cached cookies and details from other users, likely because the ISP used ]es.


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|2}} {{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{wikinews|Exclusive look at Bebo}}
* (''to access via your ] or ]'')
* {{official website}}

{{Time Warner}}


{{Social network}}
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Latest revision as of 01:19, 7 September 2024

American social networking website This article is about the social networking site. For other uses, see Bebo (disambiguation).

Bebo, Inc.
Type of businessPrivate
Type of siteSocial networking service
Available inMultilingual
FoundedJanuary 2005; 19 years ago (2005-01)
DissolvedMay 2022
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Michael Birch
Xochi Birch
Products
ParentThe Monkey Inferno
URLbebo.com (redirects to Poply)
LaunchedJuly 2005

Bebo (/ˈbiːboʊ/ BEE-boh) was an American social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013 and relaunched in February 2021. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number of short-lived offerings, including instant messaging and video streaming, until its acquisition by Amazon in July 2019 when it was shut down. It was announced in January 2021 that it would be returning as a new social-media site the month after. By May 2022, it had once again been shut down, without having ever left beta-testing.

The site was founded by Michael Birch and Xochi Birch.

History

Founding and early years

Bebo was founded by husband-and-wife team Michael and Xochi Birch in January 2005 at their home in San Francisco. The website name was bought by the founders, and the backronym "Blog Early; Blog Often" was invented to answer the question of what the name meant.

The website, at the height of its popularity, overtook Myspace to become the most widely used social-networking website in the United Kingdom, eventually registering at least 10.7 million unique users.

Sale to AOL

Bebo's popularity saw it sold to AOL in March 2008 for $850 million, with the Birches' combined 70% stake yielding a profit of $595 million from the deal. The BBC later described the AOL purchase of Bebo as "one of the worst deals ever made in the dotcom era", and it cost the then-CEO of AOL, Randy Falco, his job.

In 2010, on April 7, AOL announced that it would either sell the website or shut it down; this was mainly due to the falling numbers of unique users moving to rival site Facebook. AOL said that Bebo could not compete with other social-networking sites in its current state and that the company could not commit to taking on the massive task to keep Bebo in the social-network race. It was reported that AOL's finances were struggling.

The National Space Agency of Ukraine's RT-70 radio telescope sent 501 messages chosen by Bebo users, called A Message From Earth, toward the planet Gliese 581c. Sent on 9 October 2008, it will arrive in the spring of 2028.

Criterion Capital Partners ownership transfer

On June 16, 2010, AOL sold Bebo to hedge-fund operators Criterion Capital Partners.

On February 17, 2011, Bebo launched a brand-new design. This consisted of a new, more-modern header and homepage, as well as a new profile-layout option. Users could also see who had visited their profiles (a feature which could be changed in settings). In April 2011, Bebo added a new notification system, similar to Facebook's – a feature which had been much-requested in feedback. It notified users of new inbox-messages, lifestream activity, and more.

On January 30, 2012, access to Bebo became unavailable for 36 hours, resuming normal service during the early hours of February 1, 2012. A Bebo spokesperson told TechCrunch that the site was down due to "a technical clusterfuck". Adam Levin, CEO of Bebo and Criterion Capital Partners, stated that they were trying to release some new features which caused the site to crash. No data was lost as a result of the outage. The crash triggered a belief that Bebo was gone for good, so that the hashtag #bebomemories trended worldwide on Twitter.

2013: Bankruptcy and sale

In May 2013, the company voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; however, the receiver Burke Capital Corporation has clarified that Bebo remains "healthy" and "operating" and that the company was using its Chapter 11 filing on May 9 in Los Angeles to "restructure some operational inefficiencies and other arrangements that are burdensome." Many analysts have questioned the value-proposition that Bebo could offer users and do not fault CCP.

On July 1, 2013, Michael and Xochi Birch, the original founders, purchased the social network back from Criterion Capital Partners (CCP) for $1 million.

On August 6, 2013, messages were posted on Bebo.com informing users that the site would be down for maintenance from August 7, 2013. On August 7, 2013, a video featuring Michael announcing his plan for the new Bebo was placed on the front page of the site. The video informed users that the site would be taken down while the Bebo team developed the new product. Many believed that this would be normal maintenance; however, it was revealed that the site would be closed for a few months. The announcement also stated that all user-content had been deleted, but users' blog posts and images would be retrievable in downloadable format should members opt-in to receive this. However, members who submitted emails still have not retrieved profile data (pictures, blogs, etc.).

2014–16: Return of Bebo and introduction of Bebo Blab

In April 2014, Bebo founder Michael Birch took to Bebo in a tongue-in-cheek video to promote the re-launch of Bebo with the slogan, "Probably Not for Boring People". The relaunch video emphasized Bebo's history in which it included its then-most popular feature: the whiteboard.

Bebo relaunched on January 7, 2015; announced with the news that Bebo was now a messenger app called Bebo Blab which was available on Google Play and Apple App Store. The app amassed 3.9 million users in just one year. Bebo Blab shut down two years after its relaunch, as users weren't returning to the platform to watch archived streams on replay. Birch wrote:

Blab was great in many ways, but it wasn't going to be an everyday thing for millions. So we're kicking down the sandcastle, and rebuilding it as an 'always on' place to hang with friends.

— Michael Birch, CEO of Bebo

2017–2018: Bebo streaming software

As of April 19, 2018, the site offered multi-feature Twitch streaming software (similar to Open Broadcaster Software or XSplit). This closed down in October 2018 to focus on tournament software.

2019: Sale to Amazon

In July 2019, Amazon, through their subsidiary Twitch Interactive, acquired Bebo for US$25 million after outbidding Discord.

2021–2022: Relaunch

In early 2021, the Bebo.com webpage began to display a series of messages suggesting a new relaunch of Bebo was imminent. In an interview on February 3, founder Michael Birch described his plan to relaunch the social networking website with a focus on individual profiles, rather than the news feed that had become ubiquitous throughout the rest of social media.

2022: Second shutdown

As of May 2022, Bebo has been shut down again, never having left its private beta-testing phase, with the website now displaying a quote by founder Michael Birch, about the attempts of resurrecting Bebo. Birch states "Who knows", in response to if Bebo would ever be relaunched again.

Original website features

Users received a personal profile page where they would post blogs, photographs, music, videos, and questionnaires, which other users may answer. Additionally, users could add others as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

Each Bebo user received a profile, which included two specific modules: a comment section where other users could leave a message and a list of the user's friends. Users could select from many more modules to add. By default, when an account was created, the profile was private, which limited access to friends. The user could select the "Public Profile" option so the profile would be visible to any other members. Profiles could be personalized by a design template that became the background of the user's profile, known as a skin. Profiles also included multiple-choice quizzes; polls for their friends to vote in and comment on; photo albums allowing users 96 images per album; blogs with a comments section; a list of bands of which the user was a fan; and a list of groups that the user was a member of. A "Video Box" could also be added, either hot-linked from YouTube or copied from a Bebo media content provider's page.

Other features included:

  • Lifestream – these changes included uploaded photos, updated flashboxes, and newly added videos and friends. A friend's updates to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other services could also be viewed, if those friends had linked those accounts to their Bebo profile.
  • Bebo Mobile – Bebo launched the mobile version of the site in early 2006, allowing users access to Bebo from a mobile device. In 2007 and 2010, the mobile site had been updated to match the design and features of the full site.
  • Bebo Authors – on February 22, 2007, Bebo Authors, also known as Bebo Books, was launched. On this section of the site, authors uploaded chapters of their books and could also get them reviewed with a certain module.
  • Bebo Groups – on July 10, 2007, the "Group" module was added to pages. This enabled people to view groups which were previously joined to a school and were also viewable only to school members. Bebo also gave an option to convert existing Authors or Bands to Groups.
  • Bebo Chat – a service called Bebo Chat was launched with several other updates in 2011, which allowed users to chat to other users through a Meebo chat plugin with Bebo branding. Users could also update their 'Saying' and show their availability status, as well as access other links to Bebo's pages and special offers. It also provided a link for users to visit Bebo's fan page on Facebook, where they could 'Like' their page and receive updates.

Bebo system

Bebo runs on servers running the Resin Server and uses the Oracle Database system. It is estimated that Bebo had somewhere between 5000 and 8000 Phantom4 servers provided by Rackable Systems and has over 100 TB of disk space across all of their servers.

Open Media Platform

Announced on the November 13, 2007, Bebo's Open Media Platform is a platform for companies to distribute content to the Bebo community. Content providers can bring their media player to Bebo, and monetize the advertising within it. Each content provider has a specialised page designed for video which showcases any Adobe Flash video content at the top of the profile. Many networks are signed up for the service, including CBS, Sky, Ustream.tv, BBC and Last.fm.

Open application platform

Bebo joined OpenSocial, a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. It announced plans for a developers platform and said it will make a further platform announcement. Bebo's Open Application Platform was launched in early December 2007 with just over fifty applications and is now host to hundreds.

Privacy and security

Inadvertent privacy breach by New Zealand ISP

On May 21, 2008, some users in New Zealand were temporarily given full access to other users' accounts. Bebo network engineers traced the error to a misconfigured proxy server in an Internet service provider (ISP) in New Zealand, which was later corrected. The ISP seemed to be interfering with its cache, thereby causing some of its customers to receive cached cookies and details from other users, likely because the ISP used dynamic IP addresses.

References

  1. ^ Burkeman, Oliver (November 4, 2006). "Bebo, Michael and Xochi Birch". The Guardian. London. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
  2. Davis, Evan (July 2, 2011). "The Future of the Web" (Audio). The Bottom Line. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  3. Garfield, Simon (June 18, 2006). "How to make 80 million friends and influence people". The Observer. The Guardian. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  4. O'Hear, Steve (August 14, 2007). "Bebo overtakes MySpace in the UK". ZDNet.
  5. Hempel, Jessi (September 19, 2007). "Bebo's British invasion". Fortune Magazine. Fortune. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  6. Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew (March 13, 2008). "AOL to 'supercharge' Bebo revenues". Financial Times. London, UK. Financial Times. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  7. "AOL acquires Bebo social network". BBC News. March 13, 2008. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  8. "Bebo sold by AOL after just two years". BBC News. June 17, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  9. Swisher, Kara (April 7, 2010). "Bebo Not Worth a Pail of Spit to AOL? This Comes as a Shock to Exactly–Hmm–No One". All Things D. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  10. "AOL planning to sell or close Bebo". RTÉ News. RTÉ. April 7, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  11. Bebo users release interstellar spamgasm at Gliese 581. (2008-10-09). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.
  12. Thank you to all the Bebo users who took part in A Message From Earth Archived 2013-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. (2008-10-17). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.
  13. ATTENTION SETI scientists! It's TOO LATE: ALIENS will ATTACK in 2049. (2015-02-13). Retrieved on 2015-02-14.
  14. AOL To Sell Bebo to Criterion Capital Partners. Businessinsider.com (2010-06-16). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.
  15. Criterion Capital Partners Acquires Bebo from AOL. Businesswire.com (2010-06-17). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.
  16. Ha, Anthony (January 30, 2012). "Is Bebo Finally Dead? (Update: Not Quite)". TechCrunch.
  17. McCarra, Darren (January 30, 2012). "Bebo may have just shutdown". The Sociable.
  18. "Social Network Bebo Has Filed A Voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petition". TechCrunch. May 9, 2013.
  19. "Burke Capital Corporation" (PDF). burkecapital.net.
  20. "Bebo files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy".
  21. "Amazon's Twitch acquired social networking platform Bebo for up to $25M to bolster its esports efforts". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  22. "Twitch Buys Bebo In eSports Push". PYMNTS.com. June 18, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  23. "Bebo All-In-One Streaming". Bebo. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
  24. Cook, James (December 10, 2014). "After Selling For $850 Million, Failed Social Network Bebo Is Relaunching As Something Much Cooler". Business Insider Inc. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  25. Kolodny, Lora (August 14, 2016). "Blab shuts down, founders promise new app on the way". TechCrunch.
  26. Hern, Alex (March 26, 2020). "Game streaming site Twitch buys social network Bebo". The Guardian.
  27. "Bebo chief reveals plan to take on Facebook and Twitter". BBC News. February 3, 2021.
  28. "Bebo". Bebo. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  29. "Group Surf". Bebo. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  30. Glitch opens Bebo users' private details to others. New Zealand Herald (2008-05-22). Retrieved on 2013-01-03.

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