Bebo.com has only been around since 2005, and already it is the 85th most visited site on the internet. When you think of all the sites out there, that’s pretty darn good! It is a social networking site similar to MySpace and Facebook. In 2006 "Bebo" was actually the #1 searched for term on google!

The interesting thing about Bebo is the customization of your profile. Every user chooses from Bebo layouts (or Bebo skins) to put on their profile, and can easily “try on” any other Skins for Bebo they come across on the site. The skins hosted on Bebo.com do have certain restrictions, though. Bebo layouts cannot include any brands, logos, or copyrighted material.

The restrictions on free Bebo skins does cause issues for the users who would love to have their favorite product or brand as their Bebo skin. Hence, the development of outside sites like www.bebostation.com which host skins for Bebo that do not have such restrictions. While other social networking sites allow users to customize their profiles, Bebo has a complex design element, and the ability to easily switch skins without learning programming codes. For a site with only 1.18% of the social networking market, there certainly is room to grow once people discover these great qualities.

How to Make a Bebo Skin
Okay, this is where things get a little tricky. Bebo skins require that you design 7 different "modules" or pictures to create all of the parts of the skin. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it, but at first it's quite the process. The biggest thing is to have the dimensions of each module on hand. And some basic knowledge of whatever program you're using is a must. I'd recommend Adobe Photoshop CS3. It's not cheap, but it sure gets the job done and done well! All of the info you need on How to Make Bebo Skins is right here.