AOL (America Online) acquires Bebo! This news is all over the place, the last few days. AOL, the online section of Time Warner has acquired Bebo, a big player in the social networking arena for $850 million in cash.

AOL is an American online service provider, bulletin board system and media company operated by Time Warner, which focuses on improving online user experience. In addition to providing internet access, it also offers a wide variety of leading industry features, content and a diverse online community for beginners as well as experts.

Bebo which means “Blog early, blog often,” is an online social media network that is similar to MySpace and Facebook. It is currently ranked the third largest social networking site in the United States and the second most visited site in the UK. This site was founded in January 2005 by Michael and Xochi Birch, a husband and wife team, who still own a big part of Bebo. It is one of the most prominent sites on the net today, with 40 million members who view about 78 pages per day on an average.

Social networking sites are invaluable for online advertisers because of the huge number of members that post their personal information on the sites and can be great targets to sell products and services.
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