Teens and parents often ask me which social networking site I think is safer. One that I’ve recommended as being more safety conscious than most is Bebo. It’s based out of the UK and run by people who I can personally say genuinely care about the safety of their consumers.

Bebo has been less visible in the U.S. market where MySpace and Facebook have been the dominant social networking sites, so I’m happy to see the acquisition of this service by AOL which should help boost its U.S. presence. The acquisition is also a good fit from a safety perspective as AOL has traditionally been the most safety conscious of the large ISPs.

When the two companies social networking worlds combine the union will have 80 million unique users which will make it larger than Facebook though still smaller than MySpace, but if Bebo/AOL can maintain, and ideally extend, their leadership in safety while keeping up with the ‘cool factor’ their numbers should skyrocket.

I’m not suggesting that there isn’t room for real improvements in terms of consumer safety in Bebo’s social networking service, there is. But they are miles ahead of either Facebook or MySpace when it comes to respecting and protecting consumers - and they do it without being heavy handed. Check out their Safety information, then compare that to the newly beefed up yet still poor Safety tips on MySpace.

Then compare the terms of use of Bebo that clearly leaves control and ownership of content in the individuals hands...

To Facebook’s terms of use that specifically call out their ownership of your material – even if you delete it.

As you consider your options for social networking, Bebo is worth a second, and third, look.

Linda