eMedia Daily

AOL - Bebo Deal…And we care why?

AOL announced the purchase of Bebo - the third largest social networking site. Third largest is used lightly - its a distant third to the behemoths of MySpace and Facebook. So, why would AOL, which has struggled in recent years, take the plunge to purchase them?

According to eMarketer….

However, Bebo has been quietly innovative in areas of online marketing that are just now starting to get attention. It is a pioneer of widget marketing, having partnered with prominent widget developers in December 2006, five months before Facebook opened up its platform.

Bebo also hosts KateModern, an online video hit. The site is developing other short-form online video content, along with unique ways of integrating marketers into the video storyline. It also has found novel ways to allow viewers to participate in the action both online (by interacting with the video’s characters on their profile pages) and offline (producers invited fans to watch the filming live last month).

Another thing going for Bebo: its users spend more time on the site than those at Facebook or MySpace – an average of 217 minutes apiece in January, according to comScore Media Metrix. That’s 18 minutes more on average than was spent on Facebook, and over an hour more than on MySpace.

Only time will tell how Bebo will be integrated, and what benefits it may provide to AOL.