New Times,
New Thinking.

  1. Politics
  2. Media
8 August 2013updated 26 Sep 2015 12:01pm

Bebo to relaunch with fewer pics of crudely-drawn penises

Did AOL balls it up for good?

By Alex Hern

Last month Michael Birch, the founder of social network Bebo, used some of the $850m he made from selling the site in 2008 to buy back the site. After five years in the management of its new owners, AOL, it was worth just $1m.

When the sale was made, James Evans looked for five ways the site could make a comeback. But Birch seems to have a different plan: shut the site and start again. The New Bebo doesn’t yet exist, but what we do know is that it’s getting rid of one of the biggest resources old Bebo laid claim to. The vast repository of crudely drawn pictures of cocks-and-balls is no more. Birch explains:

Content from our partners
Building Britain’s water security
How to solve the teaching crisis
Pitching in to support grassroots football

Give a gift subscription to the New Statesman this Christmas from just £49