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| <!-- Do not insert personal Bebo Profiles, per "Blogs, social networking sites (such as MySpace) and forums should generally not be linked to unless mandated by the article itself. The link to Bebo.com is encyclopedically appropriate. Also never insert external links within the article but reference those sites.--> | |||
| <!-- 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--> | |||
| {{two other uses||the contemporary Christian artist|Bebo Norman|the Hungarian sculptor|Károly Bebo}} | |||
| {{Infobox Website | |||
| | name = Bebo, Inc. | |||
| | logo = ] | |||
| | screenshot = | |||
| | caption = ''"Blog Early Blog Often"'' <ref name="bebo-bigger"> at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed ], ])</ref> | |||
| | url = http://www.bebo.com | |||
| | commercial = | |||
| | type = ] | |||
| | language = ]<br />]<br />]<br />] | |||
| | advertising = ] | |||
| | registration = Yes | |||
| | owner = ] | |||
| | author = ]<br />Xochi Birch | |||
| | launch date = January 2005<br /> ''(relaunched July 2005)'' | |||
| | current status = Active | |||
| | revenue = | |||
| }} | |||
| {{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" is a ] for “Blog early, blog often”<ref name="bebo-bigger"> at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed ], ])</ref>, | |||
| ==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. | |||
| 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. | |||
| 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. | |||
| ===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. | |||
| ===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. | |||
| ===Bebo Authors=== | |||
| 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. | |||
| ===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> | |||
| ===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> | |||
| ===Integration with instant messaging=== | |||
| 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. | |||
| ===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 ]. | |||
| ==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. | |||
| ==New Zealand Privacy Breach== | |||
| 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 ]. | |||
| ==References== | |||
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