R.I.P. Bebo

Yesterday saw the demise of Bebo. The once popular social network has been in decline ever since its original founder Michael Birch sold the company to AOL in 2008. The domain bebo.com has been unreachable since yesterday and Twitter users have been trending the hash-tag #bebomemories which for the owners for said website would ironically just be adding salt to the wound! After all everyone with sense knows thats Twitter > Bebo.

I remember giving out my daily love, changing my skin more often than my underwear, rearranging my top 16 friends after every disagreement I had, “owning” people’s pictures, speaking liik3 thii5, or using α ƒσηт ℓιкє тнιѕ, giving “luv for luv” and also being able to give unlimited love on Valentine’s Day… those were the good days! Anyway all these Bebo memories got me thinking about social networking and how popular sites vanish and also how they’re scarily actually taking over our lives…

When was the last time you wrote a facebook status? For me it was yesterday. When was the last time you tweeted? For me it was about 5 minutes ago. When was the last time you uploaded a photo? When was the last time you ‘checked in’ or were checked in by someone else? When was the last time you liked something on someone else’s page? Or maybe you're a secret user, who never updates their own page but knows everything that's going on (I know several secret users!) so for you guys; when was the last time you logged in just to have a nose around at others? See, it’s absolutely ridiculous. We use social networking websites all the freaking time, that it’s now become acceptable and the absolute norm. Take for example, the fact that I found out one of my closest friends from school was engaged last week, via Facebook. The little love heart icon popped up on my homepage announcing her engagement. Whatever happened to texting or calling someone? When confronting her on this sore topic (ahem, Drib!) she replied “it was easier to let everyone know that way” which is absolutely completely true. If you ever want everyone to know something about you, put it as your Facebook status. Word travels super fast online! But on a serious note, before Facebook how did we let everyone know these kinds of events had occurred?...

..Oh, I know, on MySpace! I had a MySpace page. I used to love it. I always had the cutest of designs, with a quirky looking profile picture and some utterly pathetic written “about me” section, all about my undying love for lip-gloss, heat magazine and gossip. (I guess something’s never change, no matter what social network you use!) And before that, what about MSN? I used to spend hours upon hours on there. I’d go home from school and log straight on to chat to all of the friends I had just spent the whole day with, because obviously SO much had happened in the 20 minutes it had taken to get home…?!

Isn’t it weird how times change and what was once something I used daily, I now don’t use at all, or even remember the password to log back in (I just tried and failed!) It’s strange how all of these social networking sites become the in-thing and then a couple of years later no one uses them. Let’s be honest, whilst we were all tapping away on msn “lol-ing” and “brb-ing” who’d have thought that no one would use it now? When we gave away love on Bebo and had to rota it out day-by-day so that each friend got a heart, who’d have thought that that trend would soon pass? The same goes for Facebook, how long is it until it’s replaced?

Well, recently I’ve noticed there has been a lot of ‘Facebookers’ migrating over to Twitter. I’ve been a user of Twitter since 2009 and would personally always choose it over Facebook, because for me it’s much more interesting. I’d much rather have conversations with people who have the same interests as me (my followers and who I’m following on Twitter) compared to people I’m only friends with on Facebook because I’m too polite to delete them. Twitter is normally where I find out about breaking news; whether it is regarding celebrities or global issues. Whereas Facebook is where I find out who is next out of my friends to fall pregnant. To me, there’s no contest (this may be partly down to the fact I want to be a journalist, or maybe it’s because I’m not very child-friendly, I’m unsure.) Either way, I feel at home at Twitter, it’s there that I feel most content, and I subsequently don’t feel the need to join any other networking websites. Yet….!

Of course if tomorrow there was a new website craze to sweep the nation, I too (shamefully) would follow, like a little lost sheep. What can I say? I’m a sucker for social networking sites. I wish I had the will-power to not succumb to these time-wasting websites, but alas, I’m not strong enough. I have several friends who don’t have Facebook accounts (or any other social networking sites for that matter) and to begin with I thought they were absolutely barmy. What on earth do they do with their time? How do they know what’s going on in the world? But now I think they’re admirable. Fair play to them, I say. Whilst we’re all busy thinking up our next witty status, moaning about how it’s raining and uploading pictures of rainbows they’re out there living their lives. They don’t need a certain amount of likes a day to feel popular; they don’t judge recently taken drunken photos because they can’t see them. What a peculiar concept!

Another recent change I’ve noticed in social networking is that it used to be a young person’s game, but not any longer... Oh no, this has also changed! My Dad has a facebook account. I made the fundamental error of accepting him as a friend, cue the onslaught of “likes” and embarrassing comments on every status I write, as well as him probably reading this post *Hi Dad!* And if that wasn’t bad enough, my Mum (who was a computer-phobe not so long ago) goes on his account and has a nose around too. It’s just crazy! I’m now waiting for the day I get a friend request from my Grandma. She’s just got herself a laptop and she’s mastered emailing and Google, so I guess it’s only a matter of time…!

Anyway back to the reason I started writing this blog and sadly, Bebo is no longer with us, resulting in us being unable to rank our top 16 friends, give love or be someone’s “other half”. It looks like we’ll have to stick to liking things and retweeting instead! Unless of course, the unthinkable happens and Facebook and Twitter close down as well, in which case let’s all pray that the next big social networking site to catch on is a good one, or else we’ll have to join those who don’t have social networking accounts out in the real world. Good heavens, imagine that...