Bebo is Coming Back in February: How to Locate Archived Content, Old Photos, Retrieve Old Accounts
 |
| Screenshot of Bebo |
In statement on its site (Bebo.com), Bebo said it will launch as a "brand new social network".
After closing down due to bankruptcy in 2013, it seems the social networking site could be making a major comeback. Before Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and those fresh-faced babies dubbed TikTok and Clubhouse, there was Bebo.
Social media users noticed that when you head to bebo.com, a message appears on the website which reads: “Bebo is coming back in February 2021 as a brand new social network. We are currently in private beta. If you’ve been invited please enter the password below.”
What is Bebo and History
Created in 2005, Bebo boasted over 10 million users and even topped MySpace in the race for social network popularity (sorry, MySpace Tom).
The company was acquired by Amazon through Twitch Interactive in 2019 for a whopping $25 million, after a bidding war with Discord.
However, it fell out of favour amid the rise of Facebook in the 2010s.
Co-founder Michael Birch tweeted that he has been coding the new website during lockdown.
The social media site Bebo - the social darling of the 2000s and 2010s? It's returning from the ashes.
"Am relaunching bebo.com as a social network next month," he said.
"Have been coding it myself during lockdown. I put a coming soon page up yesterday and it trended on Twitter in Ireland. Hopefully the actual site does nearly as well..."
In reaction to news of the relaunch, social media users have been reveling in nostalgia.
How to Retrieve your Old Accounts and Locate Archived Content, Old Photos?
While there’s currently limited information about Bebo’s return sadly, users won't be able to retrieve their old accounts so you can rest easy.
The website states: “PLEASE NOTE: All old data and photos were lost many years ago and are not recoverable. Sorry.”
Old photos and data will not be available.
That's right, you won't be able to see your top 16 or your old (and grainy!) pictures from back in the day.
The news was announced in the last hour and already people are expressing their excitement for its return.
Best Tips to Locate Bebo’s Archived Content
According to Dummies, If you are an old bebo.com user, then you may have had a heck of a time trying to keep your account content when Bebo was sold to AOL (America Online) and then bought back by the original creators. During the transition from Bebo Inc., to AOL and back again, many users found it difficult to retrieve their uploaded blogs, photos, and posts.
If you are or were a diehard bebo.com user and logged in regularly to keep your account active, you probably want to maintain and save all your old online content. Due to the transition to and from AOL, some users stopped visiting the site regularly. Consequentially, their accounts have been disabled and removed from the Bebo archive.
If your account was still active prior to the Bebo transformation into a social messaging application, chances are you will be able to retrieve all your lost blogs, photos, and posts.
To access Bebo’s archives, follow these steps:
-
To access the old content, you first must download the Bebo application from either the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
-
After you have installed this application, launch Bebo and follow the steps to create a new account.
Do not use the same credentials with your new account as the old ones you used on bebo.com. Reports of old accounts being deactivated have been noted, and some additional users have lost their archived material due to the same username/password combination causing confusion on the Bebo application’s servers.
-
After you have created your new account, you can send a hashtag message to anyone as follows: #oldphotos.
-
Instantly a window will pop-up asking for your old Bebo account information. Enter your username or e-mail and password to the old Bebo account and press continue.
Make sure you are putting in your old bebo.com account info and not the new info you just created!
-
E-mail then will be sent to you via the e-mail associated with your account containing links to all your old bebo.com content.
Bebo Inc., claims #oldphotos doesn’t work for just old photos but also for old posts and blogs as well and is trying to rectify the issues caused by AOL. If you are one of the lucky ones and get to keep your archived content, great! Otherwise, be prepared to say goodbye to the content in case it is lost forever, and perhaps next time consider a hard copy backup directly on your computer, external hard drive, or memory card for safe keeping.
Good Luck!
