| Bebo Mail evolves with lists, media features to meet user needs |
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| Tuesday, 21 November 2006 | |||||||||||||||||
  
A tale of two inboxesIn its most significant structural change, the ‘new’ Bebo Mail deposits incoming messages into one of two inboxes – Personal, for one-to-one messages, or Lists, for messages among groups of two or more users. Birch added: “The lists feature serves two somewhat contradictory purposes. On the one hand, users were telling us that they wanted the ability to quickly and easily email a group of friends. But on the other hand, they were also asking for a way to prevent a friend from sending them unwanted mail without blocking all emails from that user. With lists, they can do both.” To create a new list, users simply enter a list name and select subscribers from their existing friends. When they compose a message, any of the lists that they’ve created – as well as any friends’ lists to which they’re subscribed – can be selected as the message’s recipient. Upon receiving a message sent to a list, a user can reply individually to the sender or any other recipient, or to the list itself. In the user’s Lists inbox, messages with the same list and subject are grouped together as a thread. A Beboer can unsubscribe from any list while still allowing one-to-one messages (delivered to the Personal inbox) from the friend that created the list. Mail goes multimediaIn addition to the lists feature, the Bebo Mail update also lets users embed media in their mail by clicking the “Send-It” link that appears alongside every video, photo, photo album and White Board drawing found on Bebo, as well as in every band page and publicly viewable member profile. Further enhancing Bebo Mail’s visual media integration, Beboers can select a ‘skin’ for their mail messages. Each skin consists of header and background graphics, and a basic stylesheet specifying text and background color, vertical alignment of the background image, and top and bottom margins. Users can select any one of their favorites before sending a new message and – with popular skins ranging from “Pink Hearts” to “Zombie Attack!” – there’s sure to be a skin for every mood. *: The first click is the “Send-It” link from the band page; second click selects a list of friends; third click sends the message. 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 28 million registered members viewing 5 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 engagement 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:
Bebo continues to grow rapidly in its other core markets and is currently the second and third most popular site in Australia and Canada respectively. It has also secured the coveted ‘People’s Voice’ Award at the 10th Annual Webby Awards for ‘Best Social Networking Web Site of 2006’. Michael BirchCo-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 remember birthdays. The idea caught on, and today the site provides more than 45 million members 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 BirchCo-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 members. Xochi Birch has a BSc in Business Administration and Economics from St. Mary’s College, California. Jim ScheinmanVice 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 & memorabilia 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 |
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