AOL spent $850m on Bebo two years ago whilst the phenomenon of social networking was still emerging. However, it has failed to prove a competitive rival against many other sites, with ComScore reporting that approximately 5.1 million individuals used the site in the U.S, a falling of 700,000 from the same year before and far below the number of users on Facebook which is estimated to be 210 million.

Whilst buyers are expected to be initially sought for the website, analysts have revealed that AOL will almost certainly be facing a much reduced sale price than they bought Bebo for. Expressing that they were keen to make a quick decision of the social networking site’s fate, AOL Ventures Jon Brod said “Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space. AOL is committed to working quickly to determine if there are any interested parties for Bebo.”

Explaining that the phenomenon was now at the top of parental concerns, Ms Berry said that girls were “permanently connected” to social networking sites. Dame Alice Harpur School head teacher, she explained “They (parents) worry about the addictive nature of networking sites and the fact that their daughters seem to be permanently connected. They ask us what to do about their daughters being on the receiving end of ‘We hate x’ sites or ‘honesty boxes’ where comments about each other can be posted anonymously. Our schools now need routinely to advise parents about internet safety, in addition to working to educate the girls and to encourage them to be responsible in their relationships on and off line. We do have to educate girls – we can’t simply protect them.”

Ms Berry added “Girls can be highly intelligent and interested in being seen to be attractive – the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Caring about physical appearance and fashion and wanting to look good doesn’t have to be a betrayal of some feminist ideal. I love shoes but it doesn’t make me shallow. Girls can have fun and also be taken seriously,” she explained, fighting against the stereotype that typical girl’s interests were deemed “shallow”.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Facebook said “It’s equally convenient to characterise TV and video game usage as time-consuming distractions. Yet there’s academic research that touts the benefits of these activities and services like Facebook. Regardless, it’s in the hands of users, to define priorities and decide how to spend their time.”