Is AOL Trying to Offload Bebo Already?
By Musa Aykac
Around Early 2008 AOL, one of the largest internet companies, where about to launch a bid to buy a popular social networking site Bebo, a few weeks later we saw the deal had been finalised for a whopping $850. But now just over 10 months on and rumours are circulating that being would like to sell Bebo for a lot less then they initially purchased it due to under performance.
To be honest it does not really come at too much as a surprise as AOL have not really developed Bebo over the past year, besides that Bebo only really had a hold on the UK market without even creating a dent in the American or global sector.
Let’s have a look at a bit of history regarding Bebo, the site was initially started in January 2008 at the infancy of the social networking bubble. The site is very similar to other social networking sites around but it caught everyone’s attention because social networking was still not recognised by the press and media. Bebo was very simple to use, but to be honest I do not think they had the backing and funding to develop as quickly and prominently as MySpace and Facebook.
The two big daddy social networking sites just grew and grew. I have literally seen this myself. I was an early adopter of Facebook and got in there quite quickly, this being said I did have a Bebo, but over the past few years I have seen people migrate over to Facebook from Bebo and I do not just mean one or two people, more like a handful.
So could Bebo in fact be losing its hold on the UK market as Facebook grows even further? Maybe this is the right time for AOL to sell up as in a few years Bebo could end up being only a memory in peoples mind. We have seen this happen all too often with websites as they come and go out of trends.
AOL have also recently changed there business model to more emphasis on niche editorial sites. So maybe Bebo just does not fit into their portfolio of sites which is said to increase to 100 this year. Whatever happens Bebo needs to be sold (if the rumours are true) to a company that can develop and maintain the site and propel it to a new audience and make it compete with the big guys.
Article Source : Article King Pro - Free Reprints and Distribution
Why not buy New Cars, Buy a Mazda and Buy a Renault
