Fotolog
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Screenshot | |
| Founded | May 2002 |
|---|---|
| Owner | HiMedia Group |
| Website | fotolog.com |
| Alexa rank | 5,672 (December 31, 2014)[1] |
| Type of site | photoblog |
| Advertising | Google AdSense |
| Available in | Basque, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish |
| Launched | April 23, 2002 |
| Current status | Set to close on February 20, 2016 |
Fotolog.com (originally Fotolog.net) is a web site for sharing pictures through online photo diaries or photoblogs. Its owners claim that it has registered users in 200 countries, hosting 200 million photos.[2] On August, 17th, 2007, French online advertising company HiMedia agreed to acquire Fotolog for 65.8 million euros.
History
Launched in May 2002, the Fotolog site formerly generated over 3 billion page views, and received over 20 million unique visitors each month. In 2007, Fotolog.com was in the list of the top 20 busiest websites in the Alexa global site rankings.[3]
Fotolog is a registered trademark of Fotolog, Inc., which is a privately held company backed by BV Capital, 3i and several individual investors. Fotolog headquarters were in New York City, prior to its acquisition by Hi-Media Group.
The site had frequent technical problems during its growth. On December 10, 2005, the site stated that "Fotolog is currently able to accept 1,000 new free members from each country each day", up from 500 a day previously. According to Fotolog co-founder Scott Heiferman, upgrades had made the site much faster and as of November 16, 2005, Fotolog was generating 750 million pageviews a month.[4]
Originally, free members could not upload during peak hours, and only 500 people a day (per country) were allowed to register. In mid-2006, 10,000 people per day, per country were allowed to register, and on August 14, 2006, the limiting of daily registrations was removed.
In 2005 Fotolog received an investment of 2.4 million dollars from BV Capital.[5]
In Spring 2006, a book of photographs from fotolog.com was published by the UK publisher Thames & Hudson titled fotolog.book: A Global Snapshot for the Digital Age. Edited by Andrew Long and containing text contributions by Nick Currie, the book is organized in sections highlighting several themes that arose in the site's community of photographers and several individual photographers from some of the major cities and countries with many fotolog users.[6]
On August, 17th, 2007, French online advertising company HiMedia agreed to acquire Fotolog for a combination of stock and cash worth $90 million.[7]
After a few weeks of periodic downtime, on January 26, 2016 Fotolog announced (in the form of a large header message on all pages) that the site was being closed down and would become "permanently unavailable" on the 20th of February.[8] As of April 18, 2016 the website remains online.
Usage
The website offers both free and subscription accounts. The free version is ad-supported, and limits users to uploading one picture per day, and having only 20 comments (in their "guestbook"). The free user can also customize their page and add other fotologs into their "Friends/Favorites" list.
Paying members, known as "Gold Camera patrons" can upload up to 6 pictures a day, have 200 comments per photo and can access better customer support. Subsequent changes allowed Gold Cam members to comment on any guestbook that is full. Other features include customized photo-headings, and having the most recent image appear beside the members name when commenting on other photoblogs.
The Fotolog "groups" are fotologs on a certain topic, and are managed by fotolog users. Fotolog groups are allowed 50 photos per day. These photos may be added by any registered member.
Some site users, mainly in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Spain, create so-called "dedicated fotologs" on their favorite actors and musicians, with images and information about them.
User demographics
The site is based in the U.S., though the majority of its users come from South America. As of September 2, 2008, Chile claimed the most accounts (4,827,387), Argentina was second with 4,225,209, while Brazil had 1,443,474 users. Fotolog's success prompted many other websites to appear and compete. In Spanish, and also in Portuguese, the word "fotolog" is almost universally understood to mean "any photoblog".
For a time, Brazil was the country with most users; the site later lost users there to Orkut and Facebook.
In Argentina and Uruguay, Fotolog gave rise to a fashion trend, called 'Flogger'. Chilean urban group pokemones made use of Fotolog.
As of December 28, 2008, Fotolog.com had 22,952,102 accounts.
References
- ↑ "Fotolog.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
- ↑ PrimeNewswire Fotolog Surpasses 200 Million Photos Posted, Feb 20, 2007
- ↑ Fotolog Reaches 7 Million Member Milestone, Alexa Top 20, March 28, 2007
- ↑ Scott Heiferman's Daily Fotolog, November 16, 2005
- ↑ The Blog Herald, Fotolog secured major investment from BV Capital, March 30, 2005.
- ↑ http://www.photographyblog.com/news/fotologbook_a_global_snapshot_for_a_digital_age
- ↑ http://www.businessinsider.com/2007/8/fotolog-sells-t
- ↑ http://www.techtudo.com.br/noticias/noticia/2016/02/fotolog-volta-ao-ar-por-tempo-limitado-baixa-suas-fotos.html