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Type of site | Social networking service |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | DC Thomson |
| URL | www |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Users | 23.8 million (2010)[1] |
| Launched | 30 June 2000 |
| Current status | Shut down as of 26 February 2016 |
Friends Reunited was a portfolio of social networking websites based upon the themes of reunion with research, dating and job-hunting. The first and eponymous website was created by a husband-and-wife team in the classic back-bedroom Internet start-up; it was the first online social network to achieve prominence in Britain, and it weathered the dotcom bust.
Each site worked on the principle of user-generated content through which registered users were able to post information about themselves which could be searched by other users. A double-blind email system allowed contact between users. Formerly, the site cost £7.50 per year to use but it was later free of charge.[2]
The main Friends Reunited site aimed to reunite people who had in common a school, university, address, workplace, sports club or armed service; the sister site Genes Reunited enabled members to pool their family trees and identify common ancestors; the Dating and Jobs sister sites linked members with similar attributes, interests and/or locations.
Friends Reunited branding was attached to CD collections of nostalgic popular music, and television programmes broadcast on the ITV network, which owned the site until August 2009. A book of members' stories was published in 2003 by Virgin Books, and a song about (and named after) the site was released by The Hussys in 2006.
Following ITV's sale of the site to DC Thomson's Brightsolid subsidiary in 2009, the company relaunched Friends Reunited in March 2012 with a new emphasis on nostalgia and memories.[3]
On 26 February 2016 the website closed down, after 16 years of operation.[4][5][6][7]
- ^ Durrani, Arif (6 September 2010). "Ten-year-old Friends Reunited in need of guidance". Media Week. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
- ^ "Friends Reunited axes fee". Manchester Evening News. 27 April 2010 [Updated 12 January 2013].
- ^ Lee, David (27 March 2012). "Friends Reunited relaunches site with 'nostalgia' focus". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
- ^ Kleinman, Zoe (18 January 2016). "Friends Reunited website to close down". BBC News. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ^ "Friends Reunited - the sunset of an era". Friends Reunited. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ "R.I.P. Friends Reunited". BBC News. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 20 July 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ^ Stewart, Rebecca (18 January 2016). "Friends Reunited to shut down as co-founder says site 'has had its day'". The Drum. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.