Bebo and Beyond..

Do you say Baybo or Beebo? Do you have a clue what I am on about? Apparently 22 million of you out there will, welcome to Bebo.com the social network growing faster than ever! What is a social network? Apparently (by Google Definitions):

The personal or professional set of relationships between individuals. Social networks represent both a collection of ties between people and the strength of those ties. Often used as a measure of social “connectedness”, recognising social networks assists in determining how information moves throughout groups, and how trust can be established and fostered.

Whats interesting, is the sheer amount of Irish users on Bebo, 500,000! Thats 1/8 of the Irish population! In a recent interview with Matt Cooper on Ireland’s Today FM, Bebo CEO Michael Birch tried to explain it himself, here are some excerpts:

Bebo is a social network, and online community. People put content on their pages, and link them to others. Worldwide we have about 22 million, in Ireland we have 500,000. Ireland has the most active members in the world. Bebo originally started as a photo sharing network. We work with WiredSafety.org, with Perry Afstab, to give advice to people to stay safe. We have not have any direct issues [related to bullying/abuse]. If you’re shy, its easier to send a message [on Bebo]. In Ireland, we are the largest website under Google and Yahoo!

I have to admit I own a Bebo page, but I am trying to cut down……Caffeine or Bebo….ugggh such a hard choice!