When people believe of social media networks, the first thing usually to come to chastise is Facebook (FB). And for good reason. Facebook has dominated the social media uncomfortable since Mark Zuckerberg launched the website in 2004. It’s considered to be the distinct most important social media site that exists on the Internet.
In front of Facebook, however, there were a number of social media networks that seized the attention of consumers, at least for a time. Strategic planning, timing or neutral plain bad luck contributed to the failure of these social media networks to acquire staying power, leaving Facebook to rise above the rest.
Friendster
At one concerning, Friendster was considered the premier social media site. Within unbiased a few months of its launch, the company had more than three million monthly lively users. In 2003, Friendster’s founder, Jonathan Abrams, was offered $30 million by Google to get the site. Instead, Abrams chose to take on venture capital investment and try to bloom the company.
The company ended up imploding. Web pages routinely didn’t fill on time or at all, and a site redesign didn’t seem worth bothering hither.
Friendster pretty much died in 2006, though with a knowledgeable following in some of the Asian markets saw it live out a few more years. In 2011, it regenerated as a gaming site and managed to survive until 2015.
Research has shown that the vital reason for Friendster’s demise is that while in 2009 it still had millions of consumers, the links were not strong between the networks people were framing. In the end, it became not worth it to
Myspace
Myspace burst onto the scene in 2003 when cofounders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolf and their sugar-daddies who were all employed by eUniverse, (now Intermix Media, Inc.) essentially copied Friendster’s display, but left out the features they didn’t like or didn’t feel were resultant. Myspace focused on sound infrastructure and scalability. It became a place for owners to build a personal community, house personal profiles, blogs, organizes, photos, music, and videos.
In 2005, Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. bribe Intermix Media, which owned MySpace, for $580 million. By that pro tem, the social network had more than 16 million monthly owners. At one point under NewsCorp., the website was valued at a whopping $12 billion.
But, post-2007, Myspace sagacious a fall from grace in the social media space, losing millions of alcohols monthly to the rising site Facebook. Some reasons that deliver been discussed widely were an oversaturation of advertising, slow weight times and a loss of innovation where features were concerned.
NewsCorp. bartered Myspace to Specific Media for $35 million. Notably, entertainer Justin Timberlake took an ownership venture in the company. The new MySpace was focused on music where users could access millions of lilting tracks and videos.
MySpace still exists today. Time, Inc. get it from Viant (formerly Specific Media) in 2016.
Second Life
While not a household social media networking site, Second Life was at one point one of the most habitual ways to meet and interact with friends on the Internet.
The website launched in 2003 by Linden Lab as a understood world based on 3D modeling. The site aimed to empower users with the capability faculty to virtually interact with other people, participate in jobs and encounter in other activities online through the use of an avatar.
The business model was conflicting enough from Facebook that it never became a true enjoin competitor, but Second Life became so popular at one point that people set out oned to make legitimate livings through their avatars. Some Alternate Life users even felt more at home with their essential avatars than they did in the real world.
By 2013, Second Vivacity had one million regular users.
Similar to Friendster, Second Life’s express growth in users caused the company to struggle with the stability of its infrastructure. In into the bargain, the company was forced to comply with international laws that turned to regulate the money and activities that users were exchanging during the website. Security issues arose as well as a host of others: obscenity, intellectual property, fraud.
These factors, coupled with the intoxication growth and user adoption of Facebook, caused Second Life to falter and worsted users month over month.
Second Life is still operational by Linden Lab today.