Nostalgia · History · New Zealand
Bebo, MySpace and MSN: how New Zealand did the internet in the 2000s
The skins, the top friends, the sign-in sound. A look back at Bebo, MySpace and MSN Messenger in New Zealand, and what happened to each of them.
Chatroom · 5 November 2026 · 2 min read
If you were online in New Zealand in the 2000s, your evenings probably involved three tabs: Bebo, MySpace and MSN. Here's what each one was, and where it went.
MSN Messenger: where the actual talking happened
MSN Messenger launched on 22 July 1999 and became the after-school ritual: get home, sign in, and see who else was on. It had the contact list, the nudges, the personal messages and the display pictures. By 2009 Microsoft said more than 330 million people used it each month.
It was renamed Windows Live Messenger from 2005, and Microsoft retired it in April 2013, moving everyone to Skype (Wikipedia). The full story is here.
Bebo: the profile everyone had
Bebo launched in 2005, started by Michael and Xochi Birch, and was especially big in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. Media looking back on it have called it New Zealand's most popular social network of its day.
What we remember: customisable skins, the "other half" on your profile, comments on everyone's page, and the quizzes.
In March 2008 AOL bought Bebo for US$850 million (TechCrunch). By 2010 people had moved on to Facebook, and AOL sold it to Criterion Capital Partners for a price that wasn't disclosed but was reported to be around US$10 million (TechCrunch). Bebo has changed hands and been relaunched more than once since.
MySpace: the music one
MySpace was where bands lived. Your profile song started playing the moment someone visited, your Top 8 friends were a matter of national security, and every page was a different colour scheme.
What made it all work
Looking back, the magic wasn't any one site. It was the combination: profiles to show off, messages to actually talk, and the feeling that your friends were right there in the evening.
Where to get it back
The profiles have mostly gone, but the talking bit is back. Chatroom is a free chat site built in the style of 2000s messengers: a contact list, personal messages, display pictures, nudges, sign-in sounds and chat rooms like Class of 2004 and Emo corner. It's not MSN, Bebo or MySpace, and isn't affiliated with any of them; it's just built by people who miss them.
Sign up free, then tell everyone in the Throwback rooms who was in your Top 8.