"We take Beboers' [site users'] privacy and safety very seriously, " San Francisco-based Jim Scheinman told the Sunday Tribune this weekend. "We work with experts in the safety and privacy area, like Parry Aftab at wiredsafety. org, one of the leaders in this area, and have created safety tips for parents and students that we post on every single page on Bebo."

Popular predominantly among female school and college students, Bebo has been an internet success story in Ireland, with an eighth of Ireland's population now a member of the website. But it has been criticised by concerned parents for its lack of security, and also for bullying comments left on members' web pages. Last weekend, the Sunday Tribune reported that the National Parents Council (post-primary) had met with the National Centre for Technology in Education to discuss its concerns about the social networking website.

Bebo now has over half a million registered users in Ireland, who view 15 million of the site's pages every day.

The website has recently overtaken MSN and Yahoo as the most commonly viewed site in Ireland. Bebo has been banned from some colleges and schools because of the amount of time users can spend on the site.