TWIT 98 includes a segment (30:42-32:30 1.9 MB 96 kbps MP3 file) about Bebo. At the Tipperary Institute Internet in Education Conference, Bebo figures as a topic because of its reach into the mindset of Irish school students. But the TWIT panel did not seem to understand the impact Bebo is making in Europe. Some snippets of the conversation reveal the level of TWIT's understanding.
"And Yahoo looking to buy Bebo as well."
"Bebo's a music site, right?"
"No, I think it's social networking."
"Like a Facebook?"
"It's like a UK version of Facebook."
"It's the number one search result on Google for 2006 and I had never heard of it."
"What is Bebo?"
"Looks kinda junky."
"It looks like a MySpace."
"A junky MySpace."
"It does look a little awkward."
"It's out of San Francisco. It's a San Francisco company. Looks like I can meet some nice chicks there."
"It does look exactly like MySpace. So why would Yahoo even want this?"
"Because they like the font."
"It's a nice font."
"Is this worth one billion dollars?"
"I don't know what Bebo is all about. Although it's fun to say what Bebo is all about."
Snippet from TWIT 98: "The Big Bang"