The deal is done: AOL, you've got Bebo!
Monday, May 19, 2008
As of this morning, the AOL/Bebo acquisition deal is a thing of the past. I am proud to announce that after almost two years of working for Bebo, I have survived the merger process and am now an employee of AOL. The real surprise is that I am actually very excited about working for AOL.
AOL and I go way back. I became a customer around 1992, after having tried compuserve and prodigy and having spent several years connecting with a 1200, 2400 and then 9600 baud modem to several local and toll free bbs systems. AOL emerged as the best contender for a geek like me to connect to the early internet. I can remember using AOL to connect to FTP servers to gain access to free software, and then using AOL mail as a mechanism for sending large files (long before napster) to friends - upload once, send forever. I still retain my original aol screen name "jozecuervo", which has followed me ever since on every service and is now my domain name as well.
I stopped using AOL as an ISP sometime in the late 1990's when the ISP business started to commoditize and other services emerged to compete. I worked for an ISP when I was 17, so no I had no need for AOL. I had grown tired with the proprietary software and content experience and switched my email over to hotmail. I had begun using Trillian as an IM client. The one thing I kept using from AOL was the AIM protocol, though I never had a good reason to go back to the native client. This certainly seemed to spell the beginning of the end for AOL, especially as an ISP. The one thing that I believe kept them alive was the fact that computer illiterate America does not like change and people didn't want to change their email addresses. It was slightly more inconvenient to leave than it would have been to stay, at least for a little while.
So here we are in 2008. If you told me 3 years ago that I would end up working for a major media company and enduring a near billion dollar merger, I would have laughed and told you I was more of an indie startup guy. After all, I studied media theory at Santa Cruz and spent most of my time writing papers about how media ownership consolidation was bad for free speech. Furthermore, of all the mega-internet-media companies I would never have guessed TWX/AOL, maybe a Google or Yahoo or at least Microsoft, Newscorp or a Viacom.
AOL's affair with TWX never materialized in a meaningful way. The ISP business has now been forgotten. There are 4 or 5 major IM networks and major webmail providers. Google owns 5% of AOL which has in turn been acquiring company after company and now AOL grabs Bebo... so I have to ask myself why? Is this a good fit? Where is AOL going and why should I care? Is AOL a sinking ship or a rising star?
I think the answer is yes - this is a good fit. And here's why:
1. This is the first chance to holistically merge an IM network with a Social Network.
AOL has AIM, which is huge in the US but has been unable to successfully transform into a real social network via AIM pages. Bebo lacks an IM network or functionality, but has a large audience in the UK, NZ, Ireland. There is enough overlap in each to spawn some serious growth in both networks. Win-win. Not to mention, how cool it will be to have AIM tightly integrated in Bebo.
2. Bebo needs good content.
AOL has good content on its own, via TWX, and via partnerships with the other large media companies. Win-Win.
3. The 3 tier reorganization makes sense.
AOL has stated that it intends to focus on 3 areas: Platform-A, People Networks and Publishing. Notice the word "ISP" is not in there? Finally. People networks is not just the division Bebo will be a part of, but it is an entire third of the business that Bebo can actually drive. AOL has placed Joanna Shields (from Bebo) at the top of this organization and is really demonstrating that it wants to learn from bebo as opposed to simply absorbing bebo. I think the right people with the right ideas are in the right positions to make the right kind of changes.
Today is day one - and I've barely checked my email. This is just the beginning and I know that the bigger the ship, the harder it is to turn - that the world does not change overnight. However, the world just did change overnight. The small startup of 12 or so people in a garage that I joined 2 years ago no longer exists as an entity (only as a family). I work for AOL now, who woulda thunk? The dust is still setting but I am already looking for direction, seeking out new friends, forging allies and rallying to the cause. I never thought I would say this in a million years, but I am totally stoked to be working for AOL. Now to read up on the TOS - and update my profile for the first time since 1996!
AOL and I go way back. I became a customer around 1992, after having tried compuserve and prodigy and having spent several years connecting with a 1200, 2400 and then 9600 baud modem to several local and toll free bbs systems. AOL emerged as the best contender for a geek like me to connect to the early internet. I can remember using AOL to connect to FTP servers to gain access to free software, and then using AOL mail as a mechanism for sending large files (long before napster) to friends - upload once, send forever. I still retain my original aol screen name "jozecuervo", which has followed me ever since on every service and is now my domain name as well.
I stopped using AOL as an ISP sometime in the late 1990's when the ISP business started to commoditize and other services emerged to compete. I worked for an ISP when I was 17, so no I had no need for AOL. I had grown tired with the proprietary software and content experience and switched my email over to hotmail. I had begun using Trillian as an IM client. The one thing I kept using from AOL was the AIM protocol, though I never had a good reason to go back to the native client. This certainly seemed to spell the beginning of the end for AOL, especially as an ISP. The one thing that I believe kept them alive was the fact that computer illiterate America does not like change and people didn't want to change their email addresses. It was slightly more inconvenient to leave than it would have been to stay, at least for a little while.
So here we are in 2008. If you told me 3 years ago that I would end up working for a major media company and enduring a near billion dollar merger, I would have laughed and told you I was more of an indie startup guy. After all, I studied media theory at Santa Cruz and spent most of my time writing papers about how media ownership consolidation was bad for free speech. Furthermore, of all the mega-internet-media companies I would never have guessed TWX/AOL, maybe a Google or Yahoo or at least Microsoft, Newscorp or a Viacom.
AOL's affair with TWX never materialized in a meaningful way. The ISP business has now been forgotten. There are 4 or 5 major IM networks and major webmail providers. Google owns 5% of AOL which has in turn been acquiring company after company and now AOL grabs Bebo... so I have to ask myself why? Is this a good fit? Where is AOL going and why should I care? Is AOL a sinking ship or a rising star?
I think the answer is yes - this is a good fit. And here's why:
1. This is the first chance to holistically merge an IM network with a Social Network.
AOL has AIM, which is huge in the US but has been unable to successfully transform into a real social network via AIM pages. Bebo lacks an IM network or functionality, but has a large audience in the UK, NZ, Ireland. There is enough overlap in each to spawn some serious growth in both networks. Win-win. Not to mention, how cool it will be to have AIM tightly integrated in Bebo.
2. Bebo needs good content.
AOL has good content on its own, via TWX, and via partnerships with the other large media companies. Win-Win.
3. The 3 tier reorganization makes sense.
AOL has stated that it intends to focus on 3 areas: Platform-A, People Networks and Publishing. Notice the word "ISP" is not in there? Finally. People networks is not just the division Bebo will be a part of, but it is an entire third of the business that Bebo can actually drive. AOL has placed Joanna Shields (from Bebo) at the top of this organization and is really demonstrating that it wants to learn from bebo as opposed to simply absorbing bebo. I think the right people with the right ideas are in the right positions to make the right kind of changes.
Today is day one - and I've barely checked my email. This is just the beginning and I know that the bigger the ship, the harder it is to turn - that the world does not change overnight. However, the world just did change overnight. The small startup of 12 or so people in a garage that I joined 2 years ago no longer exists as an entity (only as a family). I work for AOL now, who woulda thunk? The dust is still setting but I am already looking for direction, seeking out new friends, forging allies and rallying to the cause. I never thought I would say this in a million years, but I am totally stoked to be working for AOL. Now to read up on the TOS - and update my profile for the first time since 1996!