MySpace completely blows away Bebo on Google Trends for the world.
Then look at Ireland and the trend is completely reversed.
Anybody know why bebo specifically has taken off in Ireland?
Bebo vs MySpace – The World and Ireland
Joe Drumgoole
Copacetic 
I’ve been trying to figure this out too. What was it that made bebo tip here ad not myspace? Myspace is trundling in ireland, bands use it etc. but somehow bebo got into the colleges/schools and exploded. Who were the instegators? All it would take is a small group to start it in any given social circle, and then given it’s viral + compulsive nature, away it goes. But the specifics of it’s spread would be fascinating. Imagine you had access to the IPs used in google trends – so you could see the spread by college/school.
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Good question!
My theory is that social networking systems, like Bebo, Myspace, linkedin, Friendster, Tribe.net, Orkut, Facebook etc. have all developed their own emergent specialisations. These are entirely driven by their users — although the sites can attempt to push or pull in certain directions (such as Friendster banning “non-person” accounts), fundamentally the users will drive it. All of those sites have massively different user populations; Tribe has the Burning Man crowd, Friendster the daters, Orkut the brazilians etc.
Next, I think kids of school age form a set of small set of cliques. They don’t want to appear cool to friends thousands of miles away, on the internet; they want to appear cool to their peer group in their local school. So all it takes is a group of influential “tastemakers” — the alpha males and females in a year — to go onto Bebo, and it becomes *the* site for a certain school; and given enough of that, it’ll spread to other schools, and soon Bebo becomes *the* SNS for the irish school system.
In other words, Irish kids couldn’t really care less what US kids think of them; they want to be cool locally.
Also I think MySpace has a similar problem to Orkut — it’s already “owned” by a population somewhere else, who are talking about stuff that makes little sense to Irish teenagers. As a result, it’s not being used as a social system here; instead, it’s just used by musicians who want a cheap place to host a few tracks without having to set up their own website.
(Part of the latter is driven by clueless press coverage of the Arctic Monkeys — they have latched onto their success, put the cart before the horse, and decided that they were “made” by MySpace, rather than by the attention of their fans. duh!)
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Its the personalistaion…. getting to choose your school on bebo is something doesn’t exist on myspace, so automatically you’re connected to all your current or old classmates.
they’ve got a big irish flag on the homepage so you feel as if its your own, or there for your country anyway…. whereas myspace is just damn ugly when you hit the main page.
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As Ken said, it’s the school thing.
Anyone can join bebo and find people who they know from school or college quite easily. With myspace you need to know peoples usernames before it starts up. That kind of initial link kicks it all off big time.
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i like myspace better, its eaiser to get around,
but bebo is ok too
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the irish are basically out of touch with the world, and are too stupid to understand basic html.
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im addicted to da both of dem but myspace is soo much more cool wen u get used to it and its more personalised! bebos gud doh….
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Bebo throws Myspace in the bin it’s like human against ant. Altho Myspace is by microsoft somehow Bebo is sooo much more popular. Bebo is more fun, easier to use, more people use it and especially friends. None of my friends use Myspace… I use to use Myspace and Piczo but now full on Bebo!
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I think bebo is better because you don’t have to worry about people all in you business. On myspace people are all over and you can’t really find your friends well. I personally feel safe on bebo because you can report abuse or block a person if you don’t feel safe!
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bebo is cool and yoz mas dont know bout it so u could be on with her there and her dont bother bout myspace jas
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actually i wouldnt let my daughter have a myspace account because its like being in a popularity contest where the winner is the one who wastes the most time. bebo was people she knew anyway from school and seemed much safer and only those you accept can write crap about you
plus i love it because of the whiteboard drawing area
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bebo is the truth bebo is better than myspace any day why yall acting like yall dont no this myspace is way too diffictul but bebo is simple i love bebo
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Forget Myspace and Bebo….
Visit Orkut with an invite………
Orkut has the simplest of interfaces ..and its very easy to find ur school…ur mates…..
you can create any community like u want….and even have ur street
community within 2 mins with all ur area friends joining….in
It has now surpassed Myspace in terms of User base…world wide….
So join in before u become a late comer…
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bebo is easier than mispace and it is easy to interact with people you already know and mispace is very difficult which all gives me a headace becasue the words move instead of the streen..but i like bebo more
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bebo is way better then myspace its easier and funner and u can block pepol if u dont feel safe around them.
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bebo is the truth bebo is better than myspace any day why yall acting like yall dont no this myspace is way too diffictul but bebo is simple i love bebo
your spelling of difficult makes it obviosu that myspace isnt hard, your just retarded.
bebo is way better then myspace its easier and funner and u can block pepol if u dont feel safe around them.
you can do that on myspace too.
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bebo is much better its so much funnier than mysapce
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