Bebo is one of the most popular social networking sites used
throughout many countries, more relevantly the United Kingdom. It is a free network that was first launched
in 2005, allowing users to create personal profiles, write blog posts, and
upload photos.
The start of Bebo was something relatively different from
what it is now. It began as Facebook’s
rival and put up strong competition at that, having 40 million users and saw
over 1 billion page views each week.
However, AOL bought the site from Birch and his wife and failed
miserably in making more of it. From
then on, Bebo’s success and popularity rapidly plummeted.
Birch eventually bought back the company, but had shut it
down almost immediately after, with plans to launch it again in a completely
new form; one that was only available via mobile device. And so he did…
Upon its description, Bebo seems just as common as any
other social network, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. However, in 2013, its original creators
Michael and Xochi Birch have transformed it in a completely new and improved
way, using a unique and fun instant messaging feature.
How does it work?
Bebo is structured to make Beboing fun and easy to
communicate with active friends. After
making your own account, you are to make your own avatar, called a “Beboji,”
resembling you and your personal features.
This individualizes your account and profile. Much like many common social media site, you
can update your status, using photos, videos, text, and most importantly,
hashtags.
You may be wondering why hashtags are so important. Well, not only do they decorate your status, but
also trigger your avatar, giving it a new pose with each status update. For example, “Girls night!! #Dance” would
update your Beboji to a picture of it dancing.
This stimulating feature is meant to resemble your daily life, according
to what you post on your Bebo account.
Hashtags are also incorporated into the newly added
instant messaging feature. When trying
to connect with your fellow Bebo friends, your Bebojis can interact with each
other, using the hashtags.
- · #Slap would trigger one Beboji slapping the other
- · #Hug would make the Bebojis hug
There are also additional ways you can utilize the hashtag
in a messaging thread:
- · To share your location use #location
- · To share music use #music
Bebo is exceptionally common within the U.K.
Although Bebo is the 2nd most popular social
network in the United Kingdom next to Facebook, the new an improved Bebo has
held 117 million registered users globally.
Only about 12 million of those users remain active today, especially
Facebook and Twitter.
Nonetheless, Bebo’s ratings don’t hold a candle to
Facebook’s, launched in 2004.
- · Over 500 million registered users
- · People spend 700 billion minutes on site per month
Bebo’s popularity will never compare to those of other social
media sites
Twitter, launched 2006:
- · Over 316 million registered users worldwide
- · 100 million active users
The history of Bebo in a nutshell…
Bebo, a social networking site that was on the rise to be
one of the most popular sites out there.
Its launch in the early ages of social networking began as a means of a
way to connect, reconnect, and explore new relationships online. It was particularly popular within the United
Kingdom and Ireland. It was also known
within other regions of the world, but not so much.
Bebo was said to be Facebook’s number one competitor in
2005, as they were both created among the same general formats. They both offered profile pages, comment
sections, and blogging platforms, as well as the ability to post photos and
other types of media. 400 million users
had joined Bebo within its first few years, but the company was sold to AOL in
2008.
AOL failed to make something more of Bebo, and it became the
trash of social networking. By 2010, the
company had stopped operating it, although the site remained on the web.
Its original founders purchased Bebo again in 2013, and
they renovated the site, making it an app restricted to mobile users. The site has never been extremely popular
since then, but the creators have made a valiant effort to do so.Two of the largest social networks today, Twitter and Facebook, have skyrocketed globally and are two of the largest money-making companies to date. Bebo was on it’s way to be one of the most popular sites until some poor decisions were made.
This article was very well formatted and intriguing to read. Your chosen graphics used contiguity well and were sized properly, other than your first bar graph, which I think should be one size larger. This way the reader is able to see the labels on each axis and what each bar represents. You also did a good job with the inverted pyramid structure—you started with the big news and worked your way down to less important information. Your paragraphs are a good length and easy to follow. The shifts are well done.
ReplyDeleteI think you could pretty easily make your subheads more efficient. Instead of saying “How does it work?” you should use the sub-head as a way to tell the reader more important information easily and quickly. So, use a statement instead of a question that forces the reader to read more.
In order to enhance the article, you could include some outside sources that you link to throughout the text since I did not notice that you had linked to any yet.
You could use this article
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/12/18/bebo-reincarnated-crazy-unique-messaging-app/
in order for the reader to further understand how to use Bebo and what it is. It just goes into even more depth than you did, and it may be of interest to some of the readers.
You could also use
http://www.business2community.com/social-data/commentary-understanding-the-variety-of-social-data-01350187#aLtueJelUJt7m1kY.97
to compare other social media sites. Since you say Bebo is on the decline, it would be helpful to show readers what they should actually be using. If you are saying Bebo is not good enough, readers are left asking, “Then what can I use?”