Friends Reunited will survive

Posted On: Mar 21, 2012 By

Known as the ‘original British social network’, Friends Reunited is re-launching itself in a bid to differentiate itself in a social media world dominated by Facebook. The site for hunting down old friends plans to make the social network stand out by focusing on memories. The social media site was launched 12 years ago by a married couple, Steve and Julie Pankhurst, in a bid to help people track down old school friends. It is now re-launching as the new destination for ‘collecting and keeping memories’. The new look social site will allow people, from March 27, to save their most loved memories in their very own ‘digital keepsafes’. It saw a peak in its popularity in 2003, where the social networking site had more than 20 million users. However since Facebook came on the scene, which now has over 850 million users, Friends Reunited has seen a decline in popularity and now only has 1.5 million active users a month. The site was brought by ITV in 2005 for £175m, but then sold on to Brightsolid for just £25m two years ago. However, Chris van der Kuyl, Brightsolid’s Chief Executive, thinks there is still a slot for Friends Reunited in the social networking world. “The new Friends Reunited is unashamedly nostalgic. It’s a place where people can still find their own school pals – but also store their favourite memories and images all in one secure place. These memories range from personal recollections to the national events which we all remember fondly. “We need to protect our precious and shared memories for longevity, which the new site enables you to do, or we’re at risk of becoming the lost generation.” The re-launch team has joined up with the Press Association and photographic archive, Francis Frith, in order to allow users to store old images on their profiles or in keepsake boxes online. The social networking sites does plan on bringing in revenue from advertising but has stated it would steer clear of personal ad’s. Existing users will still be able to use their original details to login.

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Friends Reunited will survive

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