In my NewsTalk 106 interview today, I referenced psychology student Gareth Stack’s excellent article on Bebo for tuppenceworth.ie, where he compared the browsing and location of friends on the site to slot machine gambling. I thought it was a great quote, so had to mention it.
To refer to a comment from Mark Tighe about the search facility introduced in Bebo, I’ve used it and it is pretty poor… If Gareth’s comparison of Bebo search with “variable ratio conditioning schedule” is a deliberate ploy on behalf of the Bebo creators to inhibit searches and make you spend more time browsing for those elusive friends, it’s a darn effective one. Searches only seem to work on names, and even then there is very little relevant information about the person in the search summary apart from clicking on their links and finding out more. Compare this to sites like Orkut or MySpace and the search facility on Bebo looks positively stone age. How can I find all my ex-classmates from a particular set of years in NUI Galway without trawling through 50+ pages of profile summaries on Bebo? Not very easily, but it makes me spend more time on the site, reading more targetted advertising, and yes, there is a certain sense of achievement when you do eventually beat the system/slot machine and find that person/win that jackpot!
(Sorry I couldn’t recall your name in time for the radio reference Gareth, but I’d highly recommend that you all read the aforementioned article if you have any interest in Bebo or OSN [online social networking] sites in general. Instant success as Simon McGarr said; the article was written just one day ago, and so it found its way into the mainstream media very quickly!)
BTW, in case you’re curious, here’s what you see in NUI Galway when you try to access Bebo and its subsites 
(unless you use a proxy of course).
ERROR
The requested URL could not be retrieved
While trying to retrieve the URL: http://flickr4.bebo.com/
The following error was encountered:
- Access Denied.
Central access control has blocked this site which is of no academic value following complaints from a large number of students.
Generated Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:03:35 GMT by cache.nuigalway.ie (squid/2.5.STABLE6)
Ha! Thanks for the mention John, ‘Of no academic value’, I like that. It reminds me of that great Bill Hick’s quote where he lampoons the US supreme court’s definition of pornography. ‘Of no artistic value, and causes sexual thoughts… Sounds like every add on TV.’
Very decent of you to provide such a glowing footnote. Thanks for that.
It is frustrating when trying to access bebo when you have a number of mails coming in, is their a back door link in to beat the surf control? Not so much for me as im not a student but just in the job trying to get on, on thew lunch break. Any ideas?
get me on2 bebo plz
Hey you can try the proxy websites: http://www.proxy.com or http://www.3proxy.org you’ll get a long list of alternative sites to use or you’ll just have to enter the URL. however, some schools have blocked these now such as mine. if anyone knows how else to get on let me know!!
cheers
This is some stuff y did yall block bebo yall some fools!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
plz can u gt me on to bebo plz tanks
WE NEED PROXYS IM GAY
we should get it
can’t get onto bebo at work, please heopl
does ne1 know how to get past the filter at school? i reli need to get on to it
One of these sites are usually unblocked !
gtunnel.com (or) vtunnel.com
tpproxy.com
jesseneo.co.uk/unblock
i need to get passed the filttering at school
plzzz help!!!!!
ive tried so many proxies
Bebo Developers is the name of a dynamic quality assertive and low cost team of developers who expertise in developing Face book, Open Social applications that include Bebo, LinedIn and iGoogle widgets.
Possessing some of the best available talent present we are proud to have developed a
Wide range of deployed applications that rank amongst the highest used by everyday Face book and Open Social applications. The increasing popularity of Face book
Applications has made every businessman want to get his hands on a Face book application that increases his market and product and this is where Bebo Develop.
Visit now: http://bebodevelopers.com“
but this path is correct why this error
The page cannot be found
http://apps.bebo.com/whatcolour