| Social networking site, Bebo gains 120,000 artists in three months |
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| Tuesday, 17 October 2006 | |||||||||||||||||
  
Michael Birch, Bebo’s CEO and co-founder, commented: “Whether online or offline, music is a defining part of our users’ social networking experience, so it was important for Bebo Bands to be the most versatile and customizable service available. We’re adding about 10,000 new bands each week and getting great feedback from our mbers, so we think that we’ve hit our target.” Features Indeed, Bebo Bands offers unique features and distinct advantages for both artists and fans. Artists thselves can use Bebo Bands to share more and better organized information with their “groupies” by uploading an unlimited number of songs, arranging th into albums, and linking to individual band mbers’ personal pages. Meanwhile, Beboers can create an unlimited number of playlists of up to 20 songs each, share lists with their friends, and listen to their favorite songs from a separate browser window as they move through the site. Birch added, "On other sites, artists can only upload four songs and can't collect songs that they find. But Beboers can use their playlists to listen to any music they find on the site no matter what page they're viewing at the time. It's a better way to stay connected to your music while you're connecting with your friends." Bebo exclusives Also successful has been Bebo’s push for exclusive content, which has seen major acts like The Killers, P. Diddy, Cassie and Panic! at the Disco gain promotion on the Bebo main homepage and atop the Bebo Bands page in exchange for songs, videos, or contest prizes found nowhere else. And taking the web’s egalitarian ethos to heart, Bebo Bands offers the same exclusive content deal to independent-label or unsigned acts as the site does to some of the music world’s biggest names. One of the independent artists featured on Bebo Bands, guitarist Ricky Graham said, “I offered five new songs on Bebo Bands before my latest CD release, and it helped generate a buzz with fans that I couldn’t have gotten any other way." The Beboys Voted “Best Song” by the admittedly biased Bebo staff, The Beboys’ “Bebo Craze” is perhaps the best example of how Bebo Bands gives smaller artists the chance to reach a huge audience of Beboers. Created by four Irish university students as a tribute to their favorite social networking site, the Beboys have attracted over 400 groupies and have been viewed in excess of 8000 times (http://thebeboys.bebo.com). The Beboys’ Sean Doherty mused, “Me and my mates did this as a joke, but seeing how many people have played the song really shows how Bebo Bands can help real bands succeed. Maybe it’s time for a career change!” Notes to Editors: About Bebo Bebo is the next generation social network that enables college and school students to stay in touch with their friends, find long lost friends and meet new people. Officially launched in July 2005, in just over a year, the San Francisco based social network has more than 27 million registered mbers viewing 4 billion monthly page views. According to third party sources such as Nielsen, Hitwise and Media Metrix, Bebo is the largest social networking site in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand. Recent Comscore numbers rank Bebo as the third most popular social network in the US, based on uniques and pageviews, and show Bebo to have the highest engagent with 720 pageviews per unique in August. Bebo is also considered the most ‘sticky’ social network as shown by data released in August by Media Metrix:
Michael Birch Co-founder and CEOBebo’s co-founder and CEO Michael Birch has been the driving force and chief architect behind the development of six consumer web sites over the last decade. In 2001, he co-founded word-of-mouth marketing site BirthdayAlarm.com as a simple way to rber birthdays. The idea caught on, and today the site provides more than 45 million mbers an assortment of e-greeting cards and services. Following this, he started Ringo.com, one of the first social networking sites launched in 2003. The site was later sold to Tickle.com and is now owned by Monster.com. Birch has a BSc in Physics from Imperial College, London. Xochi Birch Co-founder and PresidentXochi Birch has co-founded several Internet community web sites over the last five years including BirthdayAlarm.com and Ringo.com, bringing a blend of technical and financial skills, as well as a strong entrepreneurial spirit to each role. Birch launched Bebo with husband Michael Birch in 2005, and is currently responsible for overseeing general operations and the day-to-day running of the company. She also oversees operations at BirthdayAlarm.com, a word-of-mouth marketing site with more than 45 million mbers. Xochi Birch has a BSc in Business Administration and Economics from St. Mary’s College, California. Jim Scheinman Vice President of Business Development and SalesJim Scheinman joined in July 2005 to help launch Bebo and is responsible for business development and advertising activities across the company. Scheinman is an attorney, entrepreneur and seasoned internet marketing executive, having worked as the head of business development for pioneering social networking site Friendster. He also served as senior vice president of business development at NBC Internet, a $2 billion public company of NBC & GE. Prior to his internet career, Scheinman practiced corporate and intellectual property law at a leading Silicon Valley law firm. He also founded a family business out of college that grew to become the largest worldwide sports card & morabilia business. Scheinman has a BSc in Neuropsychology from Duke University and earned a Juris Doctor at the California Davis School of Law. For more information on Bebo, visit its website www.bebo.com For more information
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