AOL Bebo Migration Issues

The migration of AOL Profiles to Bebo didn’t go as smoothly as planned. For the most part there seems to be great lack of knowledge among AOL members over the inner workings of Bebo. AOL will have to address these issues in some shape or form. These issues were posted by members on various forums and websites.

Each issue is color coded based on whether a workaround exists or not. Workarounds are linked to the individual who found the solution. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to figure out all the problems you have with Bebo, However, if you find a solution to a problem please post in the comments section. I will keep this list up to date as I get notified of new details.

Updated: 5/12/09

Unable to change gender from Male to Female

Description:  Users have reported they are unable to change their gender from Male to Female. When a user changes to their appropriate gender, Bebo will reset as if the changes were not made.

AOL’s Response: No response from AOL could be found.

Workaround: No known workaround.

Bebo added extra numbers to my screen name or someone with my screen name is using my profile.

Description: Some screen names may find they have extra numbers added to their Bebo profile. Bebo will add extra numbers to your screen name if someone already registered your name before the Bebo transition. For example, if your screen name is “Sally”, and someone registered that name on Bebo before you, your Bebo profile will add numbers “Sally12″ so that both of you won’t have the same profile.

Bebo messages sent to the wrong AOL user who shares the same screen name. 

Description: There are some scattered reports of AOL users who have the same screen name with another Bebo member.  The AOL users who report appear to be confused that someone on Bebo registered their screen name before them and thus their screen name now has numbers added to it.

The complaints arise from AOL users who receive messages that were addressed to the original Bebo username. Unfortunately, we don’t have much information about this particular bug as very very few people reported it.  It’s possible that there may be a glitch where two Bebo users are sharing the same inbox, but their profiles are entirely different. If you have a problem similar to this please comment below.

Bebo did not migrate information and photos from AOL Profiles

Description: Some users reported how their profiles were completely wiped out when they transitioned over to Bebo.

Workaround: Lucien Iteratus posted a workaround where you can access your old AIM Profiles for a limited time. Essentially you should copy information from that profile over to the Bebo profile. This backdoor has been shut down by AOL. In April 09,  AOL has moved all AIM photos into Bebo.

• Copy and Paste the address below.
• Replace xx with your screen name
• http://memberdirectory.aol.ca/aolus/profile?sn=xx

AOL’s Response: AOL has not addressed lost information. AIM Photos have successfully transferred over during April, 09.

Unable to edit basic profile information.

Description: Some users are unable to edit their profile information.  When one tries to change this information the profile reverts back as if no changes were made.

Workaround: AOL Message board member Moondancer  posted a workaround. Click “Edit Profile” at your Bebo.com profile. In the “Name” text box, make the first letter uppercase. If you change the first letter to lowercase, Bebo will not allow you to save any changes.

AOL’s Response: No response from AOL could be found.

Buddy Group “Profile Friends” shows up in your buddy List and cannot be deleted. The message “An error has occurred please try again later” appears if you try to delete the group on AOL.

Description: Some users reported a buddy group called “Profile Friends” on their AIM Buddy List. Members are unable to delete the group. The screen names of your Bebo.com friends will get added to this group. Removing your friends from Bebo will delete them from your buddy list.

Workaround: AOL Message board member Soozy posted a workaround.  After April 6th, AOL has fixed this bug.

• Sign into Bebo.com with your AIM screen name.
• Click “Friends” at the top black bar in the website.
• All your friends will be listed with a Red X at the top right corner of their picture.
• Click the Red X to delete each of your friends from Bebo.com
• After you remove ALL your friends from Bebo.com, sign off of AOL or AIM.
• Sign back onto an official AOL / AIM program and the “Bebo Friends” group will be gone.
• The “Bebo Friends” group will reappear if you add a new friend to Bebo.com
• If you cancel your Bebo account, it will take 24+ hours before the buddy group is removed from your buddy list.

AOL’s Response:  “At this point we do not support deleting Bebo Groups” -dev forum

Recommendation: AOL should allow the option of turning on or off your Bebo Friends group. Currently there is no way to manually delete the group without deleting all your friends.

AOL Profile module, “Code Snippet”, is missing on some profiles.

Description: In this case the AOL exclusive module, “code snippet”, is missing for AOL/AIM profiles.  Bebo forbids adding AOL exclusive modules to your page even though your profile originated from AOL/AIM.

Workaround: No workaround exists yet. You can try an alternative application. If you entered text within Code Snippet before February, 2009, it will show up in your Bebo modules list.

AOL’s Response:  No response from AOL could be found.

Friends from previous profile are missing with Bebo update

Description: Some friends who were added before the Bebo migration do not show up now.

Workaround: Visit your friend’s profile and manually add them back.

AOL’s Response: AOL is aware of this issue and included it in a blog posting. AOL automatically updated the missing friends during a 3/20/09 update.

Unable to edit About Me and code snippet modules

Description: Some users are unable to edit the “About Me”  and “Code Snippet” module.

Workaround: Both “About Me” and “Code Snippet” modules do not support Internet Explorer 6. You will need to upgrade your browser to one of the choices presented on this browser upgrade page.

AOL’s Response: Bebo states some features are not supported by older versions of Internet Explorer.

Recommendation: Since other modules are compatible with IE6, these two modules should be reprogrammed.

[AOL/AIM  Bebo Migration Guide]

How to Disable Smileys in Aim 6

For a long time I’ve been asked how exactly do you remove graphical smileys and emoticons in AIM6. In Aim 5.9 the option was there but in Aim 6.0 it was removed.

A recent update to Aim 6.9 has reinstated this feature.

How to Disable Smileys in Aim 6

• Download and Install Aim 6.9 Beta 3
• Open Aim
• Click Edit at the top of the window.
• Click Settings
• Click Expressions
• Checkmark “Display Emoticons as text instead of images..”
• Click Save.

Checkmark “Display emoticons as text…”

Code Snippet, Where is it? [AIM/AOL Bebo Profiles]

So you’ve switched over to Bebo, but you find the Code Snippet box isn’t there, what do you do? Cry! Profiles with Code Snippet before the Bebo takeover will have it listed in their modules section. Profiles who did not use code snippet will have it missing from their module list. Don’t fret, there is an alternative!

Gigya’s “My stuff” Application

1. Go to: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5881631369

2. Click on Try this App

3. Press “Add Application”

Its pretty much just like Code Snippet. You add HTML code and it will display it for you.

Did you know you can add flash and mp3s to code snippet? Check out this handy guide!

[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]

How to Cancel AIM/AOL Bebo Profile

The steps for removing your AIM/AOL account on Bebo is very easy. Just remember you can not reverse this process unless you want to contact Bebo staff on your own. You will not be able to go back to the old AIM Profiles. 

1. Click Settings at the top of the page.

2. Click on “cancel my account”

3. Click “Yes, Cancel my Bebo Membership”

Here are some notes about canceling.

• You won’t be able to view most of your AIM or AOL friend’s profiles if they forgot to set the account to public.
• Be sure to inform your friends to set their profiles as public.
• You won’t be able to re-register the same AOL email address as a new account.
• To reactivate your profile you need to contact Bebo Support.
• It will take 24+ hours before you are fully removed from Bebo’s system. This includes the Profile Friends group on your buddy list and your status messages.
  
• Click Here to read instructions on how to remove Bebo Friends from your buddy list.
  

[AOL/AIM Bebo Migration Guide]

AOL Profiles replaced by Bebo and Users Hate it!

So a few weeks ago at the end of February, AIM Profiles became Bebo. The new profile system allows more control over your profile allowing you to add videos, music, and text, in a much easier fashion than AIM Profiles. However, dedicated AIM Profiles users were really ticked off with what seemed like a sudden change over to the Bebo profiles. Some users pointed out how they were not notified about this change and had no idea it was about to occur. Before we continue on, I want to address this issue first.

Did AOL notify users that AIM Profiles would switch to Bebo?

Yes, in fact, there was a yellow bar at the top of every profile giving you a preview for what the new profile system would look like.  There was really no way of avoiding that announcement if you used AIM profiles last year. I’ve also covered this in previous entry four months ago that you can read here in case you need proof. 

As it happens whenever AOL changes something, most users get disgruntled, they assemble their pitch forks and flames, they walk up to AOL’s headquaters and raise hell! The same thing pretty much happened when AOL changed “AOL Profiles” over to the same sytem AIM profiles used, but that’s another story.

Some have started their own petitions gaining over 3000 signatures about this event. I totally agree, the Bebo profiles are not user friendly for AOL users. Settings are pretty much scattered all over the place and there isn’t one central area for everything you need. Some users describe their experience with it as frustrating, confusing, and a piece of garbage. AOL will have to modify the Bebo setup to appeal to the AOL side. As for those who already exist on Bebo, they are quite used to it and understand how it works.

But I’m here to help. The likeliness of AIM Profiles coming back is slim, so we just have to make due with what we have. The next post will feature a guide to some of the confusing issues with Bebo. We’ll have a little walkthrough where you can ask questions and I’ll get back to you as I find out.

[AOL/AIM  Bebo Migration Guide]