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]