Bebo founder picks Ireland to test political networking site

THE POPULARITY of Bebo in Ireland was one of the main reasons why its co-founder Michael Birch has chosen to test his new social network for politics here. Mr Birch’s latest venture Jolitics.com is a politically focused online network that is accessible to Irish residents by invitation only at the moment.

He said he hopes the site will move to an open beta (test site) in the next two to three weeks, which will open it up to all internet users in Ireland, but it will be some time before users outside of Ireland will be able to access the service.

“Bebo was really successful in Ireland so maybe there’s a kind of sentimental loyalty to go back to Ireland and launch our next site there,” he said.

“Politically Ireland is very local too and people like to talk about politics so this site has as good a chance of succeeding in Ireland as anywhere.”

“Besides, it’s fun to do something a little bit different; most start-ups launch in San Francisco and grow it from there but we want to be different”

Jolitics.com aims to provide users with a forum for constructive political discussion based on their location. In the case of Irish users, members connect to a council and vote on issues relevant to them, with individuals able to build influence over time.

“One of the problems that we realised with debate online was that if you put one million people in a room and ask them to come to a decision that will never happen,” said Mr Birch. “You need some kind of status that people can rise above others, gain a greater reputation, and a greater influence above the community.”

Mr Birch, along with his wife Xochi, sold Bebo to America Online in 2008 for $850 million (€670 million). Since then he has maintained a connection to Ireland through Paddy Cosgrave, who he has praised as a great advocate for the country.

Mr Cosgrave runs the popular Dublin Web Summit series of conferences and has recently announced a “Founders” forum for October. The likes of Mr Birch, Twitter-founder Jack Dorsey and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, along with prominent investors and journalists, are due to attend what will become an annual event.

“Start-ups in Silicon Valley are able to do this a couple of times a year but I suppose things are more dispersed in Europe,” said Paddy Cosgrave.

“This provides an opportunity that doesn’t exist for a generation of guys to meet with each other to exchange ideas and also to connect on a very personal level.”