The player: Joanna Shields, president of Bebo, a social networking site.

The play: Bebo targets folks under 30 with a core audience of 16- to 24-year-olds. Bebo counts more than 40 million users worldwide, with its primary membership coming from the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Ms. Shields said Bebo is the most popular social-networking site in Britain, drawing more than 11.4 million users there in November, according to comScore.

The pitch: Bebo competes in a crowded business but is tailoring its site around media and entertainment. “Facebook is like a BlackBerry and Bebo is more like an Apple iTouch,” Ms. Shields said. “Media and entertainment is part of the Bebo experience.” The company launched an initiative called Open Media late last year, giving small and large media companies free and open access to provide multimedia content to Bebo’s users. Media companies can sign up to participate at www.bebo.com/OpenMedia.jsp.

In the mix: Bebo competes with MySpace, Facebook, Peoplejam.com and other social-networking sites. Bebo has inked deals with media companies including MTV, CBS, Crackle, JibJab, BBC and ITV; it also partnered with iTunes to offer a free single every Saturday.