O2 to link to Bebo

GIVEN THE total over-hype surrounding social networking sites, it's no surprise to find that in the UK, mobile phone operator, O2, is seeking to link to trendy youth site, Bebo.

INQ readers may recall that in a recent survey by Entertainment Media Research - in association with the law firm Olswang - Bebo came a very respectable second after MySpace in terms of popularity. Ahead of MSN Spaces, too.

According to The Business , O2 (Oh DOS) is already in serious talks with Bebo, whose users are in a slightly younger age group compared to your typical MySpace user.

Aside from being a typical social networking site, Bebo does serve as a useful source of free music from unsigned bands. Getting those tracks on a mobile phone would be a very attractive proposition.

Arch rival, 3, which thinks of itself more as a content provider rather than merely a mobile network operator, has - naturally - already embarked on this route.

3 claims its Kink Kommunity has acquired 50,000 paying members since its launch in July [2006] and has on average around 350,000 postings a day.

The Business doesn't say if Bebo will be offered on O2's i-mode service, its WAP portal - Activ - or both of them. µ

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