Yesterday we broke the news that AOL has sold social network Bebo, later confirming from sources that the buyer is hedge fund Criterion Capital Partners.

Now, AOL has officially announced the news. According to the announcement, “CCP will assume the rights and complete operating control over the global social platform business.”

“The young, highly active user base, revenue history, presence in countries throughout the world and solid technical infrastructure make it an attractive media platform both as a standalone entity and in the context of our broader investment objectives,” said Adam Levin, managing partner at CCP.

Exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but we reckon that the AOL’s experience with Bebo was, on the whole, very negative. Bebo launched in 2005, quickly reaching an important market share, especially in the UK, and AOL acquired it in March 2008 for $850 million. Unfortunately, together with many other social networks such as Friendster and hi5, it got overrun by Facebook and is still not showing signs of recovery. AOL was probably lucky to find a buyer for Bebo, and we reckon that the selling price was far lower than the price of acquisition.

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Tags: aol, bebo, social networking

The United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded Amazon a patent for a “Social Networking System.” Amazingly enough, the description of the patent sounds, well, pretty much like any social network we’ve seen over the years, including Facebook.

The description of the patent is as follows:

“A networked computer system provides various services for assisting users in locating, and establishing contact relationships with, other users. For example, in one embodiment, users can identify other users based on their affiliations with particular schools or other organizations. The system also provides a mechanism for a user to selectively establish contact relationships or connections with other users, and to grant permissions for such other users to view personal information of the user. The system may also include features for enabling users to identify contacts of their respective contacts. In addition, the system may automatically notify users of personal information updates made by their respective contacts.”

Replacing the word “system” in the paragraph above with “Facebook” reveals, once again, how flawed the U.S. patent system is. This patent was invented by Brian Robertson and Warren Adams — the same two guys who founded social networking service PlanetAll, which Amazon acquired in 1998. Alas, not seeing potential in the service, Amazon shut it down in 2000, but decided to revive it by filing a patent application in May 2008.

Now, let’s look at some of the other social networking-related patents. Four years ago, Friendster patented — you guessed it — “social networking.” It was described as a “system, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks.”

Friendster was awarded several more patents for certain aspects of social networking over the years, Facebook patented the newsfeed three months ago, and we’ve seen many other patents that supposedly cover the fundamentals of social networking over the years.

So, after all this, who owns the patent for the social network? You tell us, cause we have no idea.

[via TechFlash]

image courtesy of iStockphoto, drflet

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Tags: amazon, facebook, patent, social networking

Mashable’s Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Nadanu

Quick Pitch: Nadanu transforms the electronic giving into a simple, fun and accessible experience.

Genius Idea: Based on the ancient Sumero-Akkadian word for “giving”, Nadanu seeks to make the currently complex setup, management, deployment and usage of electronic giving and interaction with donors into a faster, better experience for users and charities alike. It helps organizations reach out to individuals who care in order to secure the funding they need.

For donors, the process is as simple as dropping virtual “coins” into a custom receptacle; the service eliminates the long, prohibitively complicated donation forms we’re used to seeing. Donors can also create reminders to give and set recurring micro-giving schedules for themselves.

Nadanu’s Push-K platform lets donors to give to their charity at anytime through a fun interface. With Nadanu, donors enjoy a simpler giving process, and non-profits or charitable organizations can deliver content such as video, audio and text messaging through a single system.

Here are some examples of the user-facing apps for iPhone, Facebook and desktop:

For charitable organizations, Nadanu also offers full access to donor contact information, transaction history and usage patterns; and automated, branded email receipt system; and granular campaign tracking.

The company is also strongly focused on mobile and social distribution and interaction; just today, they a range of mobile apps for Apple and BlackBerry devices as well as some interesting Facebook integrations. Android OS support is expected this fall.

Getzy Fellig, the company’s co-founder and CEO, said in a release “We want to change everything about the way people think, the way people give and the way organizations receive. The availability of our new mobile and Facebook apps blends the best parts of mobile giving ‘any time from anywhere’ with the fun, accessibility and enjoyment of social networking.”

What’s your opinion: Could this no-speedbumps approach help raise more money for good causes online? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

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BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: nadanu, social good, social media, spark-of-genius

From the daily-dose-of-WTF department, here’s a site we just found out about: YeahYeahYeahYeahYeah. The name is as inexplicable as the premise.

Anyone and everyone with a camera phone that also has email capabilities is invited to upload images anonymously to the site. Images are then displayed in a continuous, seemingly eternal stream. They’re blurry, funny, ugly, sad, voyeuristic, boring and even mystifying; altogether, the collection can be described as fascinating and bizarre, an exercise for the culture of curation amid a mobile world.

The site is, we suppose, what you make of it. It doesn’t “do” anything, it has no ad platform, it’s not integrated with social networks. It doesn’t even have any text. It’s not for showing off designs. Images are simply siloed on Cellblock. Its complete lack of connection to the wider web is somehow restful and refreshing.

In other words, it’s a colossal time-waster, much more so than Chatroulette or any such service.

On the other hand, the site’s uses and potential also fly in the face of current concerns about privacy, copyright, ownership and ever so much more. As the site’s creator wrote in an email to us, “Yeah started from the idea that one product, in this case a mobile phone, can have so many functions; the Internet, a camera and email/mms messages capabilities all on one device that fits right into one’s pocket.”

He continues to note that the site “challenges the ideas of surveillance, and public versus private by creating a medium for people walking down the street to instantly anonymously broadcast their experiences to the world using today’s mobile phone technology.”

Yeah was created by Tyler Healy of Type/Code, a collective of designer/developers from Parsons School of Design in New York.

You can anonymously contribute to Yeah by simply emailing mobile phone photos to yeah@yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah.com.

We sincerely hope the fine fellows of /b/ (or any trolls of similar persuasion) don’t find out about this site; as with Chatroulette and other anonymous content submission sites, all it takes is one bad image to ruin the entire experience. Currently, we give the site a PG-13 rating for mild drug references, occasional strong language and obligatory hipster-in-underpants appearances.

Moreover, we get the impression this is going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it sites. What kind of first impression do you get from Yeah?

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Tags: Photos, type/code, YEAH, yeahyeahyeahyeahyeah

As we speculated last week, Twitter is, indeed, experimenting with trending topics as ad space.

This is all part of Promoted Tweets, the company’s new ad platform aimed at increasing brands’ interaction with fans — and increasing Twitter’s revenues, too.

These promoted trends are rumored to sell for tens of thousands of dollars. When a user clicks on the trending ad, he is directed to a search results page with the advertiser’s promoted tweet listed at the top. In this case, the promoted trend is from Toy Story, the first customer for trend-related advertising.

Some of the promoted tweets for this ad read, “‘To infinity and beyond’! Toy Story 3 hits theaters Friday, June 18. Did you get your tickets yet?” and “Exclusive clip for our Tweeps! DJ Pogo presents a remix of the original classic before Toy Story 3 is out on 6/18.” Both contain links as calls to action, of course.

Here’s what the ads look like in action:

Of course, Twitter COO Dick Costolo insists these promoted tweets aren’t ads. But after checking out these tweets and their content, including links, an ad by any other name still smells like an ad to us.

Still, it’s not intrusive or offensive, and it encourages people to interact on their own terms and as much or as little as they choose. What’s your opinion of promoted trends?

[hat tip: hornOKplease]

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Tags: ads, Promoted Tweets, trending topics, twitter