Bebo Save likely? AOL finds potential buyers.

Bebo 2010

We’ve been following news stories this past month about the Bebo situation. Previously AOL decided it needed to cut costs by dismantling Bebo or selling it. Tim Armstrong revealed that there were potential parties interested in buying Bebo. The exact companies who are purchasing Bebo has not been revealed at this time. Though we do know of one individual who will not purchase Bebo.

• Parties not interested in purchasing Bebo
  • Michael Birch

Michael Birch founder of Bebo, in a previous interview with Telegraph, states:

“Most social networks have gone into gaming and I think somebody will buy Bebo from AOL as it still has still has a lot of unique users a month and that’s valuable”

He believes AOL will not get the original price of $850 million when they bought the site from him, but at least they can cover part of their losses. He also believes the demise of Bebo, as well as other popular websites can occur when large companies buy a product in which they do not understand.

An insider explained to Telegraph that a core reason behind the fall of Bebo was how AOL did not listen to the feedback of it’s users and focused towards implementing AIM/AOL features, instead of fixing bugs. We’ve covered a few of those bugs in the previous blog posts of last year, however, those were mainly focused on AOL/AIM integration to Bebo, and not the other way around.

Michael Birch believes Zynga would be a great purchaser of Bebo. Zynga currently focuses mainly on games, particularly social games like Farmville.

[via telegraph + buisnessweek]

With the initial news of a possible Bebo shut down, users created their own petitions, groups, and websites dedicated to Save Bebo. You can read our initial observation here.

Will Bebo Shut Down? Who Can Save BEBO?

The recent news released this week, AOL is reportedly deciding on what to do with it’s 850 million dollar venture. Should it shut down BEBO or sell it to another company.  Hopefully they decide to sell it for Bebo’s sake. Shutting down the site with it’s users is such a downer way to go. It already  has it’s own European following that awesomely continues to maintain the site bringing in new skins and applications, and socializing features. The site ran fine on it’s own before the purchase, but it stirred quite a few headaches once AOL forced it’s own profile system onto it.

What Went Wrong?

Bebo’s Unique Visitor count has fallen from 5 million to 1.8 million.
What could have caused this downward trend?

AOL Members Experience During the Transition

To understand this story a bit better, we need to understand the mind of typical AOL user. AOL is mostly used for emails, and connecting with friends and that’s pretty much it. Whenever AOL enacts a change to the service, AOL members are up in arms over the change. You can put this into perspective with how the typical Facebook user dislikes any upgrades Facebook adds to enhance the site.

The major gripes with the AOL Bebo integration stemmed firstly from its drastic change from the previous profile system. AOL users are used to an open profile system with simplistic features and minimalistic approach. Privacy options were opt in features, so it made it extremely easy connect with other AOL and AIM members in chatrooms. The Bebo transition caused it’s first headache when all profiles were suddenly placed into private by default. Users who were unfamiliar with the system had difficulty finding features, some questioned how they could make their profiles public again.

AOL developers tried to ease the transition by transferring AOL Profile related features to Bebo. This resulted in what could be called a “two faced Bebo”. We’re not quite sure why but OLD AOL profiles who transferred to the profile system were allowed access to these exclusive modules. Any screennames created after the transition, were not allowed access to these modules and instead were forced to use Bebo’s own modules. The most important of these modules was the “Code Snippet” box which allowed HTML editing.

AOL has yet to fix their own Bebo Modules for four months now…

AOL users also had to worry about one extra thing, duplicate names. Some AOL users found themselves with profile urls using extra numbers due to an original BEBO user using the same name. This caused some confusion as it was thought that the original Bebo user stole their password, or some faulty glitch in the system.

 Bebo Users Experience During the Transition

On the flipside, the typical Bebo user are in there teens. They are interested in flashy gaudy websites, music, soccer, and pop stars. Each of their interests leans towards the U.K music industry.

Bebo users  also had to make due to some changes, especially within the profile system and layout. The Login page now sported both a BEBO and AOL login form. The home page went through it’s own transition, now linking to AOL related products like Lifestream, AOL Mail and a To Do page.

 The profile page went through a major transition, as now a flash timeline bar appears at the top, and several profile features were switched around spaced out further.  The layout change  spurred several hate groups with petitions to get the old profiles back. These groups pleaded for AOL to actually allow the option to choose the old profile layout. Unfortunately AOL did not listen to them. During the transition, BEBO users had to deal with server outages and broken features.

They Changed it Now it Sucks

AOL Members just could not ever see any real value in Bebo. They described it as a “teeny bopper” site, and wondered why in the world AOL moved their profiles to a children’s site. Even teenage Americans had to put up with foreign concepts that were seemingly popular on Bebo. Ever heard of the Fittest girls? Chavs? Or how about Footy Girls? No? Believe me that has nothing to do with foot fetishes (sort of..) These are terms more often used in Europe rather than America.  The types of music they listen to, the style, the shows, the drama, it was just a different experience, sort of like a culture shock…

 The source described Bebo’s demise as the inevitable outcome when digital media startups are bought by more established companies. “You set out with a certain strategy and aim for a certain user experience, and they change it,” [via guardian]

I think this quote nicely described what happened to the two sites. You have a community aimed towards one market then switches to another market which then alienates the original core base.

Bebo Users Need to Face the Reality

Dear Bebo Public:

You have to realize that the way to save Bebo is to find a company who is willing to buy it. If AOL feels they are suffering  a loss over the purchase of Bebo, the possible reasons to this could be due to mismanagement on their part and/or lack of revenue to cover the cost of hosting it. Realize that it’s not your fault for the demise of BEBO. It was an investment which AOL thought they could gain a profit from but in turn alienated both their own AOL members, as well as Bebo’s fan base. Realize that it can go either way. It may be cheaper for AOL to shut down Bebo rather than sell it to another company.

What can you do to save Bebo? Make your voice be heard!

There is no official text message petition statement from Vodafone. You are wasting your money. This is just Chain Mail.

Join ONE petition site to Save Bebo. It’s best to show a large number of signatures on one site rather than have 300 different petitions with 30 signatures each.

Make an organized effort to create a community of Bebo supporters.

Submit BEBO related news story to sites like DIGG, Mashable, Reddit, StumbleUpon.

Convince those who have left the site to return.

Use correct spelling and grammar when submitting news and commenting.

When you submit articles or communicate in news related sites, you have to show that you are intelligent enough to care about Bebo. The community of such sites expect a level of maturity and typing poorly worded phrases with blatant misspellings of “qettinq” with “q” replacing “g” just makes the cause look even sillier.

This “Save Bebo” seems to be on the right track. You need to show the potential buyer that this site is worth the investment due to the amount of monthly unique visitors, it’s click-through rate for advertisements, and the level of activity and buzz the site generates. Proxies aren’t really a great idea to generate unique visitors since they tend to use the same IP address. Remember, if there is hardly any activity on the site, there’s no point for anyone to buy it. 

Unfortunately it still means you will be subject to the greed of whichever company buys you. You will again have to go through another transition period as you did with AOL. During this time, it’s best to show the new buyers what you actually want in the website.

Ideally a company that specializes in the European markets markets (UK, Germany, Italy, and especially Ireland) is a sure fire way to keep the community as active before. For now all I can think of is a company like Vodafone to purchase the website. Though, even they are going through financial hardships.

Good Luck!

Can’t Edit Buddy Info in Aim 7.3 Beta?

The buddy info option in Aim 7.3 beta is missing. AIM members are unable to edit the buddy info. Instead the buddy info button now links to AIM LIfestream. It’s possible that AIM Lifestream will act as the new profile page for AOL and AIM members, considering AOL has recent plans to either shut down or sell Bebo.

In order to update your buddy info you will need to use any version of AIM that is older than Aim 7.3.

• Aim 7.2 

We’ve recently found the reason why the buddy info is gone. Quoted from beta staff:

Good news! While Buddy Info is changing, you will (soon) have a place at Lifestream to provide the persistent information you used to place in Buddy Info!

Buddy Info will be returning, but as previously describe – in Lifestream. While it does require opening a browser window and signing in, the action of doing so from AIM will occur automatically and you shouldn’t have to manually sign in.

The steps being taken aren’t arbitrary, mind you. They’re coming with a bigger picture in mind and, hopefully, once we get there, you’ll fully approve. [via beta]

It appears AOL Lifestream will take place of the buddy info. It’s speculated Lifestream will become our new “profile system” as Bebo leaves AOL in May.

Removing your Full Name from AIM

Aim 7.3 beta which somehow became a mandatory update, added the option for users to add their full name to their screen name. The purpose behind it was for others to search for your screen name by just entering your name.

Although they could still find you by submitting their email contacts. A friend of mine noted how there was not a clear way of removing your full name if you opted into it for fun.

Removing your Real Name from Aim 7.3

Taking off your Name from AIM

• Sign into AIM Full Name
• Uncheck Allow people to see my full name and find me in search results
• Click on First Name and Delete the entire text field
• Click on Last Name and Delete the entire text field
• Click Submit

If it worked properly it should say

“Your full name has been cleared. Thanks for updating your info on AIM!
To change your name, click here. “

Keep in mind the full name option does not apply to those who have manually added your real name as a nickname. Although, only they will see the name they typed.

If you have used the Plaxo service, you will have to remove your full name from there. Your name shows up to those whom you connected with.

You must clear both the First Name and Last Name text boxes before you press submit.

 /p>

What is AOL Lifestream? How to Use it or Remove it?

What is AOL Lifestream

AOL released a brand new update to AIM Lifestream, or should I say AOL Lifestream. It’s a service where AIM/AOL users can connect their social networking accounts, such as Twitter, Myspace, and even Facebook. If you use any of these services, AOL Lifestream allows you to publish your status updates to these networks. In essence, it streamlines the process of being on 3+ websites at once.

AOL Lifestream is also an app on iPhone and Google’s Android platform. If you are poor like me and can’t afford the two, you can join in the fun on different applications.

AOL Lifestream is available  through;

• AOL Lifestream
• AIM 7.2
• Aim for Mac
• Google Android
• Apple iPhone

The Lifestream application does not allow you to communicate to other AOL and AIM members through IMs. This application’s sole purpose is to view updates through different websites and allow you to input your thoughts by liking or commenting on them.

Using AOL Lifestream

When you enter a status update in your application, everyone who has you on their buddy list will see it. They are able to “Like” or “Comment” on it as they please. You’ll see a nifty little notification at the bottom of the AOL Lifestream application which shows you what new updates you have in social networking sites, as well as new comments from AIM members.

Clicking on the globe icon will show you a list of trending topics. These are just the most popular word in everyone’s status update. As you can see, AIM is popular amongst kids who are bored out of their mind with homework.

If you notice, there is a filter section that allows you to view only one network. If you want to see only twitter updates, type the word twitter. Or if you want to look up specific friend just type the first part of their name. In fact you can type shortcuts for the various things like twit, mysp, face, digg, photo, video, etc.

Removing AOL Lifestream

If you add random people to your buddy list, their lifestream updates will show up.

The screenshot above is a great example of someone who may not understand the functions of AOL Lifestream. If you add someone on your buddy list, you will automatically follow their lifestream updates. You can alternatively view anyone’s lifestream updates without following them by viewing their buddy info or inputting their screen name through:

http://lifestream.aol.com/stream/screenname

If you don’t want to see a certain person’s lifestream updates, remember to remove them from your buddy list.

If you want to turn off AOL Lifestream, head to the Settings Page. Clicking the trashcan icon will remove your connections to these services. Alternatively you can also click the drop down box and select “No one -Private”. Don’t forget the drop down box for the “AIM” service which will stop any of your status updates and away messages from showing up in the Lifestream tab. If you scroll down further you can disable commenting by selecting “Only You (private)”.

Thoughts

Generally I love the new design AOL is taking with the AIM website. All of the ads are gone and everything is streamlined. The same design style goes on to AOL Lifestream, now if only they could apply it to the message boards. As for the Adobe AIR Application, I do like how it instantly notifies me at the bottom of the screen. I’m not sure if this application is useful per say, it’s more like a time waster. It’s practical to use this service within the AIM program, unless you are mobile and have to rely on the iphone or android app.

How to Connect and Sync Facebook with AIM

It appears there are those who don’t know how to chat with Facebook friends on AIM. Yes despite how there’s a huge banner that asks if you want to use Facebook Connect. Well maybe you closed it out or you really don’t understand the process, so here’s how you do it very quickly.

Choose your version of AIM

You need to download or use a specific version of AIM to start this process. You have only three choices:

• Aim for Windows 7.2 Beta
• Aim for Mac 2.1 Beta
• Aim Express

These are the only three versions that include the new Facebook chat feature. While you are installing AIM, you can set up your Facebook account by going to the Aim Lifestream website.

Adding Facebook to AIM Lifestream

f Connect allows third party websites like AOL to sign into Facebook

Head over to AIM Lifestream:

• Enter your AIM login details.
• Click on Settings in the top right corner.
• Click ADD near the Facebook Icon.
• Click fConnect.
• Enter your FACEBOOK login details.

Once you complete the process, your AIM screen name will be synced to your Facebook account. This synchronization will appear on all beta versions of AIM that support this feature. So you do not need to repeat these steps for each client. You can also add as many screen names as you want to the same Facebook account!

Within your buddy list check for the Facebook icon and full names of your friends on the buddy list.

Facebook Status Update Through AIM

Click that little Facebook Icon

To send a status update through AIM, you must activate the Facebook icon within the status update box. If you hover over the Facebook Icon it will say “Also update your status on Facebook (updating is OFF/ON).” If it’s turned on,  it will first show up in your AIM Lifestream, and might take a while before it shows up in your actual Facebook profile. 

If you click that little +photos icon at the top right corner you can also add post images to your Facebook Status. Pretty neat!

Facebook And AIM Problems

A sample of issues that affect AIM 7.2. Pay particular attention to the ones highlighted in purple, as your very likely to hit these problems through daily use.

• There can be a delay in seeing your Facebook friends go online, offline or idle.
• If you have a very large number of Facebook friends it can take a minute to load your AIM Buddy List, and you will not be able to IM until the Buddy List is loaded.
• Messages sent to an offline Facebook buddy will not be delivered when they come online.
• When you login to AIM as invisible, you will see a non-working “Sign In to Facebook Chat” prompt under your Facebook groups on the Buddy List, and in the Buddy List menu.
• An empty Facebook Friends group will appear on clients that are not Facebook enabled/capable
• If you are using IM forwarding to send IMs to your mobile device, you will receive, but not be able to reply, to messages from Facebook friends.
• Occasionally the association between AIM and Facebook account is lost with no visible user notification
•  IMing Facebook friends while your AIM privacy is set to ‘Allow only users on my Buddy List’ causes IMs to be bounced back.
• Your Facebook friends’ status message from Facebook will not be shown in the AIM buddy list, next to their name.

Just like Bebo Friends, the “Facebook Friends“ buddy list group will get added to your buddy list and will stay permanently until you remove yourself from Facebook Connect.

Currently there may be a bug where your Facebook Friends group shows zero Friends online even though they are supposed to be on. As this bug is currently being researched the suggestions would be to ensure “online presence” is checked on the Facebook Privacy page. Also check that your buddy list privacy settings are not set to allow only users on my buddy list.

Facebook Application Settings

Also check for the following:

• On Facebook.com, Click Account
• Click Application Settings
• Click Edit Settings Under AIM
• Ensure “Log into Facebook Chat on my behalf” is checkmarked.

As the settings on this page are straightforward, having one of them unchecked means that feature would not work within AIM. Is Publish to Streams unchecked? Well you wouldn’t be able to update your facebook status through AIM would you?

Aim 7.2 Beta With Facebook Integration; Chat with Facebook on AIM; Custom Skin Support

Aim 7.2 Beta

Today AOL released it’s newest version of AIM with version 7.2. This time it has integrated Facebook support. Wait a minute, wasn’t Facebook already integrated within Lifestream? Well the only new added feature in this version is that now you can see who is online on Facebook and chat with them.

Release Notes:

• Chat with your Facebook friends.
• Get your updates from Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.
• Comment, ‘like’ and update your Facebook and Twitter status.

Aim 7.2 Beta with Custom Skin

When chatting with a Facebook friend, you will see the Facebook logo at the bottom of the IM Window. Facebook Friends also show up under their own category within the buddy list, optionally you can show their pictures as buddy icons.

Aim Lifestream

It looks as if your supposed to be able to click the Like button under all the Facebook status updates, however this feature wasn’t working properly at this time. It appears to only work under your own status update and not your friends. You can note that it says “Like” under the status I posted. To view your friend’s status updates, click the “Lifestream” button.

Aim 7.2 Skin Support

Congratulations! All custom AIM 7.1 skins are supported under Aim 7.2. The instructions will change based on the installation directory.

C:\program files\aim7\services\imApp\ver7_2_3_10

Aim 7.1: Changing Screen Name Colors

Back again after 4 months of translating Japanese to English.

This time we’re going to change screen name colors for Aim 7.1, and it’s going to work without signing off.

AOL loads a certain CSS file each time you re open an IM window.

So feel free to go far beyond this tutorial and customize the colors of AIM as you see fit. This page will get rid of that ugly brown color they use for your screen name.

Before we Start

This tutorial requires a certain skill level. You must be able to do the following on your own.

• Navigate folders in Windows Explorer.
• Understand the process of opening a file in notepad.
• (Vista Only) Changing File Permissions under Administrator.
• Understand the process of copying and pasting text.

If you are unable to do these tasks please do not continue this tutorial.

Unlocking Vista’s Notepad: 

• Open Notepad with Administrative privileges by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then right-click Notepad and select to open as Administrator.

Preparation

Unlike Aim 7 Beta, Aim 7.1 has made the process of editing screen name colors very easy. All it requires is pasting a few html colors within the a CSS file.

The first step is to find the default.css file that controls screen name colors.

This file is located in the folder:

C:\program files\aim7\services\imApp\ver7###\content\im\ 

Simply copying and pasting the above path will not work in Windows Explorer. You must manually navigate to the folder using My Computer if you have Windows XP or Computer in Windows Vista.

Program Files, Vista users may see Program Files (x86), if you can not locate the AIM 7 folder, try the other Program Files folder.

Ver7### represents your Aim 7 version number which you will instantly see if you navigated to the folder manually.

en-US is the language and region folder.

Screen Name Color

Open Notepad (Vista users must open as Administrator) then drag the file, default.css, into notepad. You are going to look for the line below…

.color_font-header_local, .color_font-header_local_inline
{
color: #864F04;
}

Highlighted in brown in the code above is your screen name’s default color. To change your screen name color, replace it with an html color code of your choosing.

.color_font-header_local, .color_font-header_local_inline
{
color: #b2bf16;
}

I have now changed the color to #b2bf16 to match my new AIM  7 skin. You can of course edit the screen name color of the person you are iming by changing the color on the line below it.

.color_font-header_remote_0, .color_font-header_remote_inline_0
{
color: #e49600;
}

To summarize, .color_font-header_local changes your screen name’s color. Whereas .color_font-header_remote_0 will change the person you IM.

When you are done you must save the file.  For your changes to show up, close ALL IM windows, you don’t need to shut down AIM, then re open them. Even though you have completed the tutorial, you can also edit other colors as well.

Screen Name Status Color

If you still have default.css open,  look for this line.

.color_font-screenname_status,
.color_font-state_status,
.color_font-timestamp_status
{
color:#5D6E87;
}

Editing that html color will change the color of the status message. Here I changed the color to pink to match the website.

Miss AOL Ficlets? Try Ficly!

Ficlets was an idea brought up by AOL developer Kevin Lawver. Essentially you and several authors will continue a multi-part story that spans as long as there is interest.  The site came under fire when AOL announced last year that they would be shutting it down.

During AOL’s restructuring and downsizing, they decided to let a few properties go. This evidently ended up with the message board fiasco we had a few months ago, but that’s beside the point. Kevin Lawver has relaunched his new site Ficly.com!

The best part of the site is how you really don’t have to register. The site uses OpenID, you can ironically use your AOL screen name to sign in. Now we’re off to finish up our 20 part telenovela!

Why is AOL directing users to Yahoo Message Boards?

So one question that’s on everyone’s mind is why is AOL directing people to Yahoo Message boards. There is no official answer to this question but if we read between the lines we can figure out why.

The message board everyone seems to be ending up in is Yahoo’s ACC Message board.

What does ACC stand for?

ACC is the Atlantic Coast Conference, it pertains to a list of 12 colleges who play in the NCAA College Bastketball.  The university of North Carolina will be participating in the NCAA Final Four on April 4th, 2009. People Connection has a heading called “Top Headlines” and the NCAA Final Four is very much so a top headline. Now this should explain why AOL is linking to this particular message board.

Well why is AOL directing users to Yahoo Message Boards?

Facebook, Myspace, on AOL.com?

Well first I need to explain AOL’s home page. You may have noticed in the previous year, AOL.com has begun linking to Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Ebay, and Facebook. AOL is trying to show the world how ‘cultured” they are by linking to such sites. It’s really just another way to show how they are no longer a “walled garden”.

Does this mean AOL is letting Yahoo take over the message boards?

No, let’s take a look at the People Connection page. Under the Top Headlines, it links to several other message boards. All of these message boards are not owned or operated by AOL, BUT, AOL is linking to them. Whenever someone posts a new topic on these specific message boards, AOL displays the newest topic as soon as it’s posted. Here’s where things get technical.

RSS Feeds

Do you know what RSS feeds are? Well to simplify it as much as I can, RSS feeds show the latest news, blogs, or message board posts as soon as they are publicly available. The “Top Headlines” on the People Connection page is just a simple list of RSS feeds displaying the latest post on message boards. Each time a person posts, AOL shows that topic. AOL members have pretty much hijacked a message board with topics unrelated to basketball.

So in conclusion, AOL isn’t really telling users to join Yahoo, they are just displaying posts from different message boards using RSS feeds. Since AOL users hijacked the Yahoo ACC message board, it appears as if AOL wants members to use Yahoo as their main message board. This of course is not the case.

AOL Message Board Closings Generates Frustration and Anger

In a previous post on the People Connection blog, AOL announced changes would be coming to the AOL Message boards. These changes included a new look for popular message boards, while the other boards would retire. On March 31st, the entire message board system was down. On April 1st, the old format boards re-appeared for a few moments then quickly vanished.

It seems AOL will be moving some message boards over to their blog network as seen with Fanhouse forums. Other message boards will be under AOL’s many themed portals such as the AOL Autos and AOL Travel and AOL Developer Forum.

The complete list of available boards can be found on the People Connection page but a majority of the boards are missing. The highly popular Rants and Raves, This and That, Computer and Electronics,  and Religion boards, are interestingly missing. AOL has not released a statement whether those boards would return or if they have been retired.

Since many of the AOL Message Boards are down, users have huddled over to other websites. There’s currently an AOL thread on Yahoo message boards, while other members have started their own message boards on Yuku.com

If you got lost in the shuffle there is an active list of message boards run by AOL members maintained by Spiderswebhelp’s Website. Also another blog, Anti-AOL is covering this news story.

AOL Message Board Gathering Areas

17 Ways to Beat Boredom

Free Parking

AOL Travel on Yuku

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]

Remove Buddy Update from AIM Buddy Info

Another frequently asked question. So we’ll walk you through on how to remove messages from appearing inside your Buddy Update box in the AIM Buddy Info.

Please note that it can take 5 days for buddy updates to disappear from the box.

Buddy updates are controlled through two locations. One is within Aim 6.8 and another is located at its own special website. If you use Aim 6.9 you’ll need to perform both methods. If you don’t use Aim 6.9 you just have to perform the first method.

Method 1: Buddy Updates Website

• Head over to http://buddyupdates.aim.com
• Sign In and Click Setup

On the Right side you will see a heading that says “Sites that you already have.” You need to click delete under everything that is listed there. Remember that it takes 5 days for buddy info updates to disappear.

Once your done the box will no longer appear as long as you do not alter your status message. However there are other programs that alter the status messages.

Method 2: Aim 6.9 Plugins

In Aim 6.9, plugins can trigger your buddy info updates in several different ways:

• If you install Aim 6.9 for the first time.
• If you install a new plugin.
• If a plugin changes status message for you, e.g. AIM Music Link

Aim 6.9 luckily has privacy settings for plugins. Some plugins like AIM Music Link, has its own built in settings that need to be disabled in order for this to work. Follow these steps to ensure status messages are not updated:

• Open Aim 6.9
• Click Edit.
• Click Settings
• Click Privacy
• Uncheck “I have updated my profiles or blogs”
• Uncheck “I have installed a new AIM Plugin”

Method 2b: Aim Music Link Status

• Open Aim 6.9
• Click View > Plugins
• Click Aim Music Link Preferences
• Uncheck Share Music with your Buddies.
• Click OK. 

So again, as long as you don’t update your status, your buddy info updates box will disappear after 5 days of the last update message.

If you need further help please comment below with your AIM screen name, or type your “AIM” email address in the mail section of the comment form.

AOL Xdrive will close Janurary 12, 2009 – How to Backup Files

AOL sent out an email today warning users to backup all your storage from Xdrive. Xdrive will shut down on Janurary 12, 2009. This also affects Bluestring users as well since both websites use the Xdrive platform. We’ll help you along the way and run through some steps you can use to backup files. We’ll also add in some tips for other websites you can backup your files to.

Did You Know: By backing up all files from Xdrive…
You are also backing up pictures from AOL Pictures.

How to Backup Xdrive Files

• First log into Xdrive
• Click Download Your Entire Account

As you reach this step either you’ll see a link of a zip of all your files or not. It depends on if your zip is ready or not. If it is, download the file and you can extract all your files in a Zip File. Click here to learn how to open and extract a zip file. If your files are not ready yet, please keep reading on.

How to Generate A Zip Backup

If your files are not ready, go back to the previous page and click on Xdrive Classic, a new window will now pop up on the screen.

Click on the small tick box next to the word name, then click the green download arrow. It will take several minutes for the download box to appear, please be patient as Xdrive generates your zip file.

One it pops up, click save, or save file. Choose the location you want it to download in, like for example, Desktop. Don’t understand zip files? Click here to learn how to take files out of a zip file.

Where can I backup my Xdrive files online?

Well there are several places, we shall list some we deem appropriate for your Xdrive content. Each site has their own rules and limitations, you may not be able to get back the same amount of space you used up before. Below there will be a review for each site and you can decide whether you want to use it or not.

Box.net would be the first choice for Xdrive Users

• 1GB of Space (4GBs less than Xdrive)
• 25Mb File Size
• 10GB/Month

ADrive.com has as much storage as the premium version of Xdrive.
It has some of the features Xdrive has.

• 50GB of Space (Same as Xdrive Premium)
• 2GB File Size
• Unknown Bandwith

For Xdrive users who liked having a program to upload files, Dropbox has a similar experience where one can just drag and drop a file, and it will be uploaded into storage.

• 2GB of Space (3GBs less than Xdrive)
• 350MB File Size
• Unknown Bandwith

A New Aim For Macs

AOL has released a brand new version of AIM for Macs through its beta website. No, this is not Aim 4.7 that was released several years ago, this is a brand new 2008 version that follows behind Aim 6 for Windows. Though this has been released a while ago, the  lack of advertising has Mac users still complaining about Aim 4.7.

Feature List

• Customize Aim icons, Wallpapers, and Emoticons, and Sounds
• Tabbed IMs just like Aim 6
• Aim Groups, Aim Blast, Aim Chats
• Aim File Transfer even while buddy is away
• Friendly/Nickname support
• Full Offline IM support

Feedback & Bugs

While this product is in beta, expect some bugs to appear. Background color for text may not show up. Offline IMs may appear twice. Generally users have been very happy with this release, so Mac users should try it out too if you dislike iChat or Adium.

Download Aim For Mac

Download is available at AOL Beta.