Social networking sites sprang to prominence in 2005 following the widespread acceptance of MySpace and then Facebook. Whilst these big players continue to dominate in the arena of general social connectivity, we have drilled down a little bit more to look at sites that specialize in connecting you with old friends. We were surprised to see that whilst MySpace and Facebook post huge traffic and membership numbers, a number of the “reuniting” sites are not too far behind.
Whilst many people may not particularly want to delve into their past and dig up memories of their youth, they will probably also admit that it is really tempting to try and find out about their peers. Curiosity often trumps any fears about digging up skeletons! For entrepreneurs who crave connectivity and want to see what the high school prom queen looks like now, here are the Blogtrepreneur top three picks:
1 – Reunion (formerly My Life)
This site has maintained a rapid rise to stardom since its introduction in 2002. The model allows for two different types of membership – basically free or paid. Once you sign up as a free member you are able to search for basic information about your former friends and classmates. However, as is common with sites of this type, they soon “tease” you to find out more information, which of course requires you to enter your credit card and sign up as a premium member.
The layout of the site has been criticized for being quite plain and in truth there is a limited amount of individual information available. You will also receive a regular e-mail blast from the company “teasing” you that people are checking out your profile, suggesting that if you buy a premium membership you will open up the chance to connect with your old flames.
2 – Classmates
Classmates.com is probably the best known within this category and boasts some 50 million registered users. It appears that they have the highest level of visitor traffic according to experts who know such things about the Internet. We think the site is mildly entertaining, but their site architecture and navigation are a little awkward at times. Once again, you will likely get bombarded to upgrade your membership, with the tease that you will indeed find out more information and track down other long-lost friends. A lot of the information appears to be very out of date, however, and don’t be surprised to find surveys that are several years old. Their billing model – charge the card unless you call to cancel – has been heavily criticized.
3 – My Yearbook
This is certainly one of the fastest growing of these sites. It was started by two high school students in 2005 and features a cleaner, more streamlined design. The site has a predominantly teen audience, and by its very nature and model is likely to be more up to date and active than other similar sites. The promoters have very lofty goals and both their traffic ranking history and member numbers suggest that My Yearbook will garner substantial growth over the next few years.
So what do you think about our top three picks? Do you have any favorite sites of your own? Get in touch with us and let us know what your thoughts.
Matthew Toren
“Small Business, Big Vision provides a framework for you to unleash your driven and relentless passion to achieve unprecedented growth.”
All American though!
I have found a few friends through facebook and a good UK based site is friends reunited.
Did you read the recent article about how FAcebook is now greatly increasing in the older market?
http://blog.freshnetworks.com/2009/07/older-users-becoming-dominant-on-facebook/
Fascinating stuff.
Hi.. Facebook is the best social networking site! it doesn’t only connect you with other people and make friends, you can also play games in the website. Reunion is okay though. internetbusinessbox.com
I probably should be hammered in many people opinion cos I still do not have any social site account. Not even the Facebook. I know Facebook is a great tool to connect people. But somehow, I just did not sign up and be part of the network game. But one day I am sure I will join the crowd and say hallo in the online world :)
Facebook is the best place to reconnect with friends (my opinion). MyYearBook, well, it’s sort of a fling just-have-fun site.
That’s a great list man. Will be checking them out soon, thanks!
My first option is always Facebook. Since that is free, there are many people on there and the interlinking of friends makes it easier to find people. On some occasions this has failed for me, in which case I usually turn to Google/Bing. If even that fails, I use the phonebook (online, but still old-fashioned).
Sometimes ‘old’ ‘technology’ just works best, because it has been around long enough for everyone to be in it. Even if you run into a phone number or address that is no longer owned by the person you’re looking for, it is usually a good starting point. Many times the new owner can tell you where the previous one moved to.
In social market still has lot of potential for new networking site and specially with unique features and new facility little bit hard to compete with myspace and facebook.
Exactly. I was re-connected with some long lost friends through the sites. Isn’t technology wonderful?
It is better if we target social or friend sites on the basis of popularity in certain country or region. For example, orkut is popular in middle east and Facebook in USA.
It is indeed wonderful. Technology has really make our life so much more easy to manage. But I still miss the good old slow mail days :)