Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Bebo shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Bebo offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Bebo at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Bebo? Wrong! If the Bebo is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Bebo then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Bebo? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Bebo and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Bebo wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Bebo then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Bebo site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Bebo, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Bebo, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
{{Infobox Website| name =| logo =| screenshot = | caption =
"Blog Early Blog Often" How to make 80 million friends and influence people at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed October 12, 2007)]| language =English language
Polish language| registration =Yes| owner =Michael Birch ]
Xochi Birch| launch date =January
2005 (relaunched July 2005)] /ˈbiːboʊ/) is a Social network service, designed to allow friends to communicate in various ways. It has developed into an online community where users can post pictures, write Blogging and send messages to one another, and is similar in format to MySpace,
Xanga, and
Yahoo! 360. The site was founded in January 2005 by husband and wife team Michael and Xochi Birch. It was given a major relaunch in July of that year. Bebo can be used in most countries around the world including Ireland, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Bebo have recently launched a Polish version of the site which uses a different user database. There are also plans for French and Spanish versions among others.
Bebo is the 85th most popular English-language website (at 1 June
2007) according to Alexa Internet. According to
Hitwise, Bebo is the third most popular social networking website, but only has a 1.18% share of the market. Bebo also announced on
March 17 2007 that it was the most popular website in the Republic of Ireland, however, as of October 7
2007, Bebo dropped to second, behind
Google Top Sites Ireland at www.alexa.com (accessed
October 7, 2007). As of September 2007 Alexa ranked it as the 11th most popular site in the UK with MySpace occupying 9th place and
Facebook 3rd place. In the U.S. however, it was not in the top 100 at that point. Bebo was also listed as the number one term most representative of search trends on Google in 2006.
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 customizable profile image (often a photo of the user), and some miscellaneous information under various headings. The profiles are decorated with 'skins', default skins are available but users are able to create their own to reflect their interests.
Profiles include; a
whiteboard, in which other users can draw pictures with a variety of colors 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 publicly viewable, unless the user selects the "Private Profile" option, which limits access to the profile to friends specifically added by the user.
Profiles are also capable of including quizzes, slide-shows of images uploaded by the user, polls for their friends to vote in, photo albums, Blogging with a comments section for others' responses, a list of bands (
Bebo#Bebo Bands) of which the profile-holder is a "groupie" and a "Flash Box"; which plays video, often linked from popular Internet site
YouTube, or uploaded directly to Bebo's servers. Members can also add "widgets" which are more graphically rich components provided by an external site — typically something like a slide-show of the member's photos with some transition effect applied.
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.
Bebo Skins
A interactive feature introduced by bebo, where bebo users can upload their own graphics to create the overall look and feel of their page by creating their very own skins. Once a bebo skin is created the user may select the skin for public use, private use or for the skin to be featured in the skins section of the site. There are web sites that are dedicated to making bebo skins for public use.
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, The Kooks,
Lily Allen,
U2 and others.
The band pages 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 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.
Although the Bebo Band section is intended for use by musical groups, the facility is also used by many to form clubs or societies, or as unofficial fan pages for established bands.
Bebo Authors
On
22 February 2007, Bebo Authors 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
10 July 2007, the 'Group' module was added to pages. This enabled people to view groups which were previously joined to a school and were also only viewable 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.
Bebo Mobile
On 13 October
2007, Bebo launched a mobile service which allows users to receive text alerts and update their profile via their mobile phone. This is currently only available to
Orange UK customers. The service consists of a mobile site, text alerts for new comments and photo uploads via mms.
Intergration with other Social Networks
Bebo currently allow users to add their
AIM,Skype and MSN usernames to their profile. The Skype and MSN links offer links to quickly chat or add that user in that program. The MSN links only show up in Internet Explorer by default as it uses the 'msnim' protocol. However,it is possible to view (and use) the MSN links in another web browser such as
Firefox or Opera 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.
Criticism and Controversy
A survey of two million profiles by Bigulo.com found that one in three publicly accessible profiles belonged to children under the age of eighteen.
In March 2006 Norfolk County Council is believed by the
BBC to have become the first Local Education Authority in the United Kingdom to order all schools in its authority to block the website from school computers, due to its being used for "unsavoury activities".
In March 2007 in Derry,
Northern Ireland, Bebo was used to organise a sectarian fight under the guise of a cross community football match. Bebo has also been used to name and abuse local police officers in Tayside, Scotland.
Police in the
United Kingdom have claimed that several social networking websites are being used by young people to organise fights and even mass brawls. However, they have singled out Bebo in particular as a cause for concern. UK law enforces claim to have arrested children as young as fourteen in connection with these incidents and that the use of weapons is not uncommon.
See also
References
External links
- Bebo Homepage
- Bebo Global-Polish Homepage
{{Infobox Website| name =| logo =| screenshot = | caption =
"Blog Early Blog Often" How to make 80 million friends and influence people at http://observer.guardian.co.uk (accessed
October 12, 2007)]| language =English language
Polish language| registration =Yes| owner =
Michael Birch ]
Xochi Birch| launch date =January
2005 (relaunched July 2005)] /ˈbiːboʊ/) is a
Social network service, designed to allow friends to communicate in various ways. It has developed into an online community where users can post pictures, write Blogging and send messages to one another, and is similar in format to MySpace,
Xanga, and
Yahoo! 360. The site was founded in January 2005 by husband and wife team Michael and Xochi Birch. It was given a major relaunch in July of that year. Bebo can be used in most countries around the world including Ireland, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Bebo have recently launched a Polish version of the site which uses a different user database. There are also plans for French and Spanish versions among others.
Bebo is the 85th most popular English-language website (at
1 June 2007) according to Alexa Internet. According to
Hitwise, Bebo is the third most popular social networking website, but only has a 1.18% share of the market. Bebo also announced on March 17 2007 that it was the most popular website in the
Republic of Ireland, however, as of October 7
2007, Bebo dropped to second, behind
Google Top Sites Ireland at www.alexa.com (accessed
October 7,
2007). As of September 2007 Alexa ranked it as the 11th most popular site in the UK with
MySpace occupying 9th place and
Facebook 3rd place. In the U.S. however, it was not in the top 100 at that point. Bebo was also listed as the number one term most representative of search trends on Google in 2006.
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 customizable profile image (often a photo of the user), and some miscellaneous information under various headings. The profiles are decorated with 'skins', default skins are available but users are able to create their own to reflect their interests.
Profiles include; a
whiteboard, in which other users can draw pictures with a variety of colors 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 publicly viewable, unless the user selects the "Private Profile" option, which limits access to the profile to friends specifically added by the user.
Profiles are also capable of including quizzes, slide-shows of images uploaded by the user, polls for their friends to vote in, photo albums,
Blogging with a comments section for others' responses, a list of bands (
Bebo#Bebo Bands) of which the profile-holder is a "groupie" and a "Flash Box"; which plays video, often linked from popular Internet site
YouTube, or uploaded directly to Bebo's servers. Members can also add "widgets" which are more graphically rich components provided by an external site — typically something like a slide-show of the member's photos with some transition effect applied.
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.
Bebo Skins
A interactive feature introduced by bebo, where bebo users can upload their own graphics to create the overall look and feel of their page by creating their very own skins. Once a bebo skin is created the user may select the skin for public use, private use or for the skin to be featured in the skins section of the site. There are web sites that are dedicated to making bebo skins for public use.
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,
The Kooks,
Lily Allen, U2 and others.
The band pages 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 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.
Although the Bebo Band section is intended for use by musical groups, the facility is also used by many to form clubs or societies, or as unofficial fan pages for established bands.
Bebo Authors
On
22 February 2007, Bebo Authors 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
10 July 2007, the 'Group' module was added to pages. This enabled people to view groups which were previously joined to a school and were also only viewable 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.
Bebo Mobile
On 13 October 2007, Bebo launched a mobile service which allows users to receive text alerts and update their profile via their mobile phone. This is currently only available to
Orange UK customers. The service consists of a mobile site, text alerts for new comments and photo uploads via mms.
Intergration with other Social Networks
Bebo currently allow users to add their AIM,
Skype and
MSN usernames to their profile. The Skype and MSN links offer links to quickly chat or add that user in that program. The MSN links only show up in Internet Explorer by default as it uses the 'msnim' protocol. However,it is possible to view (and use) the MSN links in another web browser such as Firefox or Opera 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.
Criticism and Controversy
A survey of two million profiles by Bigulo.com found that one in three publicly accessible profiles belonged to children under the age of eighteen.
In March 2006 Norfolk County Council is believed by the
BBC to have become the first Local Education Authority in the United Kingdom to order all schools in its authority to block the website from school computers, due to its being used for "unsavoury activities".
In March 2007 in Derry,
Northern Ireland, Bebo was used to organise a sectarian fight under the guise of a cross community football match. Bebo has also been used to name and abuse local police officers in
Tayside, Scotland.
Police in the United Kingdom have claimed that several social networking websites are being used by young people to organise fights and even mass brawls. However, they have singled out Bebo in particular as a cause for concern. UK law enforces claim to have arrested children as young as fourteen in connection with these incidents and that the use of weapons is not uncommon.
See also
- List of social networking websites
References
External links
- Bebo Homepage
- Bebo Global-Polish Homepage
