Bebo’s first employee and board member, and current angel investor, Jim Scheinman joined MocoSpace’s board of directors. Scheinman pioneered and shaped the social networking space as an early employee of Friendster and the first employee of Bebo, helping to launch the world’s third largest social networking site which was sold to AOL last year for $850 million.

Scheinman’s broad social networking, business development and viral marketing experience will help MocoSpace widen its lead in the mobile social space by developing new approaches that leverage consumers’ increasing dependence on their mobile phones as their social lifeline. The US-focused mobile social site has 3.5 million registered users and nearly 2 billion monthly pageviews.

“Jim’s decision to join our board validates both our focus on mobile and our company’s achievements to date.” said Justin Siegel, MocoSpace CEO and co-founder. “His expertise in building two highly successful social networking businesses from early stage will be invaluable in evolving the MocoSpace experience and accelerating our growth.”

“I am very excited to be working with the extremely talented Mocospace team. A lot of advisor opportunities in this space come across my desk but I work only with companies that have a chance to do something truly special like we did at Bebo. MocoSpace meets that standard.” said Scheinman. “They have already established mobile social networking as a viable business model and they are building a company that will have a meaningful impact on the way we communicate on our mobile phones.”

A leading expert on social networking and frequent speaker at industry conferences, Scheinman headed business development and sales at Friendster from 2003 to 2005. There he created the concept of ‘engagement marketing’, enabling consumers to become brand advocates by spreading engaging brand content among their network of friends. Jim left Friendster to join Michael & Xochi Birch as the first employee and board member at Bebo where he was integral in launching the site, heading sales and business development, and leading the strategy which resulted in the company’s eventual sale to AOL.