04 January 2008
Website Bebo performs better than rival sites Facebook and MySpace, says a new report from Computing Which? magazine.
In a test of ten popular sites, Bebo (www.bebo.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com) achieved the highest scores* of 79 per cent and 74 per cent respectively, were rated easier to use than MySpace (www.myspace.com)** and best for socialising.
Saga Zone (http://home.saga.co.uk/sagazone) and BBC Talk (www.bbc.co.uk/communicate/) were both given a maximum five star rating for their performance***. They were also named as Best Buys for users interested in discussion groups.
Flickr (www.flickr.com) proved to be the best site in the special interest category, scoring five out of five for both performance and ease of use.
Abigail Waraker, Editor, Computing Which? magazine, says:
“Social networking sites are growing in popularity and, as the success of Bebo in our test shows, sites like MySpace and Facebook can’t rest on their laurels if they want to stay in the game.
“It’s also encouraging to see that no matter what age you are or what interests you have, there is a social networking site out there for you.”
- Ends -
For further information, a PDF of the full report, or an interview with Computing Which?, contact Nicole Sheinman on 020 7770 7564 or nicole.sheinman@which.co.uk.
Computing Which? is a subscription-only computing magazine published 6 times a year by Which? For details on how to receive 2 issues of Computing Which? for £3 telephone 01992 822800 or visit which.co.uk
* An independent expert assessed 10 social networking sites, testing each for ease of setting up and using the site, the range of features on offer, and the way the sites protected privacy and security (including how easy it was to remove your personal details from the website).
** MySpace received an overall score 67 per cent.
***Performance of the site was rated on how quickly the pages loaded and whether everything worked as it was intended to.
