The End Of Bebo? Social Network Goes Dark

Social network Bebo has caused an internet outcry after an outage prompted conflicting reports over its demise.

The website went offline on Monday, prompting many users to take to Twitter to lament that after years of decline it was finally gone for good.

However a company spokesman told TechCrunch the outage was merely a "technical cluster****", and said the website would be back online within hours.

Bebo which was the most popular social networking site in Britain until 2007, whereupon it was overtaken by Facebook.

Co-founder Michael Birch contributed to the confusion, tweeting: "Am super sad that Bebo has actually gone. Some very fun times with very cool people. #RIPbebo - keep sharing that luv!"

Just minutes later, he tweeted again, saying: "Hold the press (too late for that). Bebo should be coming back in a matter of hours. #LongLiveBebo".

The confusion prompted Twitter chatter that the entire episode had been a hoax.

Twitter user @Billy-higgins wrote: "What did I tell y'all about #publicitystunt eh?"

While @sobeckyrehill wrote: "could #bebo shutting down be a publicity stunt to get everyone talking about it and wanting to log back in? am i this much of a cynic?"

If so, the move may be backfiring, with many users warning each other to log back in to Bebo purely to download all their pictures before the site really does shut down for good.

"As soon as it up fingers crossed!! I'm so getting all my photos and deleting!" wrote @Elizabeth_Rocks.

Elsewhere on Twitter, many were ironic in their lament over the supposed demise of the website. "Bebo was shut down? What's Bebo?" tweeted @BeanieSheep.

"Bebo: gone but not forgotten... oh wait it's back? Time to forget it again," wrote @aidankelly.

Bebo was sold in 2008 for £539m ($850m).

It was bought by American internet giant AOL in a move seen as an attempt to challenge Facebook's dominance in the social networking market.

But just two years later AOL sold the network to Criterion Capital for less than £6.3m ($10m), according to TechCrunch.

Its British founders Mr Birch and his wife Xochi had started the company in 2005 with just £8,000.

After Criterion bought the company, Mr Birch invested in it once more, leading to hopes for a resurgence - but, despite a redesign, the site has failed to regain momentum.