Review: Bebo

Site: Bebo.com

Members: 22 million, 28.5 million users, it seems mostly focused on UK and Australia people

Features:
-Standard social networking type features messaging, blogging, friends, comments, photos
-Special white board feature where you can draw a picture for a friend
-There is a special media plug in right on your page where you can choose different flash media to insert. Also there is a place to insert polls automatically right on your page.
-Skype friendly

Review:

I have had a few friends that really talked up Bebo.com but I have to say I am less than impressed with the site. From a usability standpoint the site is lacking in customization options as well has having various little annoying ticks with it. One thing that annoyed me right off of the bat when setting up the profile was when I entered my contacts from my yahoo mail account that it didn’t show me what friends of mine had a bebo account and what didn’t. In order to find that out it said I had to go to the next screen. When I clicked next it sent out a mass mailing to everyone on my list, which I didn’t want to happen. Most social networking sites will show you who is already on the site and let you choose to continue on to mail to your other friends.

From a marketing standpoint it is hard to navigate and find people that you would want to directly market your product to. There are no groups or forums on the site which really limits the interaction. Nor is there a search feature that allows you to narrow down your target market.

Bebo.com would not be a social networking site I would put a business focus on at this point. Maybe I need to spend a little more time with the site and really see what the site can do. But my initial impression is that I do not like that site as much as others that I currently use.

My bebo account: here

Technorati Tags: social networking, bebo, marketing, business