Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Who Will Buy Bebo?

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

me — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:09:33 -0000

it doesnt let u on it (bebo) @ skl + there 100's of us that want it!

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

ker — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 05:05:23 -0000

hey... i cant get on to bebo in my college can you help???

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

John Wood — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:53:11 -0000

I am an online marketing consultant and apart from in the U.S the impact of these social networking sites is being way overhyped. For example in the U.k the average youngster has yet to hear of such sites and it was not until late Spring/Summer that these sites started to get press attention. Myspace is always featured in the Times (which isnâ€™t surprising as they own it), however they never seem to show any negative publicity about it. Also, Facebook in other countries is massively overhyped, we have figures and research on their users in countries such as the U.K. They have not penetrated the user base anywhere near they are claiming to have. U.k users of Facebook have stated Facebook has nothing to it and is basically MSN Messenger with Pictures and have said that the appeal/novelty of the site has worn off.
This site is an excellent informatie tool on web 2.0 based sites, but all of these minute updates widgets etc go dont have an impact in the U.k. The networking scene is not any way near mature here, just because something is most popular searched item, such as Bebo. That is because it is mainly young teenagers with spare time on their hands going in and out of the site repeadtedly. The statement about another MySpace is nonsense. If people roll out a MySpace clone yes they will fail, however if there is a community at the core, with new elements around it then there is always a possibilty for new uptake.
What people need to remember is that young people are fickle and want to attach to what it hot at the moment.
MySpace depends on lots of its members finding each other interesting. But what was once a place to hang out if you were online and aged between 15 and 25 is rapidly going mainstream and becoming a middle-aged society.
That is just, like, so uncool.
Add to this the fact that spammers and scammers are beginning to make their mark on more and more MySpace pages, and it is easy to envisage users simply abandoning the site as if it were last yearâ€™s fashion item.

Another point made incorrectly on this site, is that it is about how many members your site has. As a proffesional in databases (values), the quality of the database is also important. What type of people are you attracting etc. needs to be taken into consideration.

Remember Hoover was dominating the market, Dyson came and gave them a big hit.
Remember Sega/Nintendo having the console market wrapped up in the mid 90â€™s, Sony came and trounced them.
Yahoo, was a big name in the U.K way way before Google, however Google has become number 1.
Virgin Airlines launched after British Airways had decades of a head start and he still gave them a run for his money.
Sony now is much weaker after facing competition from the likes of Samsung/LG.
Microsoft seems to be the giant on the wane, after competition from other internet companies.
These examples ae used to show that outside of America the social networking scene has a long way to go before saturation and laterunique entrants can be seen as a cooler/fresh alternative.
For example MySpace can be seen as a large superclub which packs in people by the thousands. However people who want to be soon as cool dont go to such clubs but smaller, classier establishments (where ther is the right crowd). Also, strong regional versions have the potential to do well if they cater specifically to that countries audience which they can do better then a big corporate American giant.
I am not saying this is gospel, i just think hyped figures, PR need to be cooled down and a reality check is required. Fair enough the U.S market has been very saturated and they tend to be a few years advanced in web based matters anyway.
However in other countries how can it be said that the scene is developed when Broadband takeup only surged in the last 12/18 months!

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Colin Donald — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:19:54 -0000

Of course, if you're looking for a dark horse, there's always Big Brother formatmeister Endemol, now working with Fotothing on a UGC format for ITV...

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Pete Cashmore — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:11:48 -0000

Colin,

Yeah, I realize the lameness of calling the post "Who Will Buy Bebo" without making any suggestions. There was an unsupported BT rumor that turned out to be untrue, but basically I think we've gotten to the stage where none of the Brits will be able to afford it. If the current hype is anything to go by, Bebo is probably worth more than the MySpace acquisition price (but less than Facebook). But based on current growth rates, they may be wise to hold on a little while longer - I don't see a deal happening anytime soon.

And if it were to be a US buyer, I think they'd come from left-of-field - not the same candidates that were looking to buy YouTube, Facebook etc.

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Wolfgang — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:08:20 -0000

Hi Pete,

a quick look at the friends-list of mashable at bebo may leave the impression, that the average mashable-reader must be female and 14 to 15 years old ;-). I believe,that we will see many social networks with a stronger focus. There is a lot of space to fill between myspace/beebo and xing/linkedin.

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Colin Donald — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:05:06 -0000

"will the perceived UK-centric nature of the network mean that a British buyer steps forward?"

Hard to see any UK media company doing a deal...

* ITV - too distracted by management & share price woes and already owns Friends Reunited

* C4 - demographic could fit, but do they want to run a US operation, too?

* five - owned by RTL, which is owned by Bertelsmann - very focused on European TV

* BSkyB, owned by owned by News Corp, which has MySpace anyway

* NTL/Telewest â€“ still struggling to compete with BSkyB and Freeview, unlikely to focus on a content play

Hardly fits a Telegraph demographic, Times and Sun same as BSkyB, Independent couldn't afford it.

From memory, both the DMGT and Mirror groups have shelled out several millions each for various classified ad sites, but UGC would be a bit of a stretch and probably too expensive.

That leaves the Guardian, which might well see the opportunity, but could they compete with US bidders?

Which prospective British buyer did you have in mind, Pete?

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Pete Cashmore — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:05:06 -0000

Philip,

Well, Bebo just hired a "U.S. media contact", so they must be looking for promotion. I saw that article you referenced, too. My take is that the Brits won't hold on to the startups - they'll all realize that California is the place to be.

Re: Who Will Buy Bebo?

Philip Wilkinson — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:53:28 -0000

Interesting Pete - although you may be creating an unwanted rumour for bebo at this stage.

I've done a post on the Crowdstorm blog about the how UK based ventures are comparing with the US based ventures - which I though was relevant to this.