Bebo to add a “timeline” — and data from Facebook and MySpace?
Can social network Bebo roll out new features that will help it regain its stride against larger rivals like Facebook and MySpace - and justify the $850 million that AOL paid for it? Well, the latest on that front is a screenshot of a new feature called "timelines," obtained by Silicon Alley Insider, that was mentioned last December when Bebo launched its "social inbox" interface. It’s supposedly a big part of a new "Bebo 2.0″ interface that will be rolling out later this month.
The "timeline," judging from the screenshot, apparently shows you your own activity on the site over the course of however long you’ve been on it, including big dates like birthdays, "Day At The Beach," etc. The information in the timeline will apparently be drawn from the social inbox, itself an aggregator of your activity on Bebo, and on other sites like micromessaging service Twitter and photo site Flickr. "The timeline will help people turn chaos into order," a Bebo spokesperson tells Alley Insider, "and help them share their experiences with others," and also "herald a new era in display advertising and bringing brands to life online." That’s quite ambitious, but the "timeline" frankly seems more like a nice add-on to what’s already available in the social inbox.
:
