bebo

I noticed this a few days a go and was surprised that the guys over at Mashable didn’t pick up on it. The map, which is accessible here, allows users to check who has been visiting their profile within the last 24 hours and where they hail from.

This has been a feature that many web-security experts have been recommending be implemented on Bebo and other social networks for a long time. I would be inclined to agree with them as a feature such a this allows more transparency and can potentially cut down on the phenomenon which has become known as “Bebo Stalking”. Think about it, would you hypothetically stalk someone if they knew you were doing it? Most likely not.

It may seem like an innocent addition but such a feature gives users increased information about their profile which can be used to keep them safe but what I really like about it is that it also adds to the Bebo experience as a whole. It’s nice to be able to see who’s been visiting your profile and by using the Google Maps interface they can potentially add more features to it in the future such as a social connections map which could map out how many of your visitors are connected to each other.

The only complaint I have about the addition is that users have the option to set themselves as private and are actually set to private by default. I would have preferred if all users under the age of 18 were set to private (and were warned about the dangers of setting their profiles to public) while over 18 year olds should automatically have their profiles set to public. This, I believe, would further add to the Bebo experience and enhance the effectiveness of Bebos security.

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