Wer-kennt-wen
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Cologne, Germany |
| Area served | Germany, Switzerland, Austria |
| Owner | RTL interactive (RTL Group |
| Employees | about 80 |
| Slogan(s) | Auch du kennst wen bei wer-kennt-wen ("You also know someone on wer-kennt-wen") |
| Website |
www |
| Alexa rank |
 8,319 (April 2014)[1] |
| Type of site | Social network service |
| Registration | Required (with the real name) |
| Users | 9.4 million (November 2011)[2] |
| Available in | German |
| Launched | October 2006 |
| Current status | Inactive since 2 June 2014 |
Wer-kennt-wen (English: Who-knows-whom) was a popular German social networking site. It had been compared to Myspace by TechCrunch.[3] According to Alexa Internet in July 2011, wer-kennt-wen had a world-wide traffic rank of 959[1] and was one of the most successful websites in Germany.[4] The site allowed users to write blogs, chat with friends and write in their guestbook.
History
The site was started in 2006 at the University of Koblenz and Landau. The site is now owned by the RTL Group media conglomerate.[3] The RTL Group decided to withdraw the site's services by the beginning of June 2014.
Users
wer-kennt-wen did not have a specific target group, but was open to everybody older than 14 years. Company statistics from 2011 reported 9.4 million[2] registered users, of which 41.7% were male and 58.3% female, with 36.7% of all users over 40 years of age.[5] Users were able to connect with everybody they know (colleagues, friends, neighbors, classmates etc.).
Features
- profiles with photo, hobbies, interests, home town, contact etc.
- the acquaintances are shown in a map of Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
- search of people, schools, clubs/associations and groups
- status updates "Was machst Du gerade?" (What are you doing right now?)
- "Neues": stream of status updates, groups and photos of other users
- guestbook
- blog
- calendar and events
- groups
- photo albums and tagging
- chat
- inviting new people via email or Transaction authentication number
- reporting users or links to the customer care team of wer-kennt-wen
- ignoring users
- "Klassenfinder" (class finder): adding schools to the profile, classified by year
- "Vereinsheim" (club house): clubs and associations
- "Meine Seite für andere": preview of the own profile
- AusKenner: users help users
- mobile website: wkw-Mobilportal (mobil.wer-kennt-wen.de)
- iPhone App
- Android App
Awards
OnlineStar 2008 - category "Social Communities"
References
- 1 2 "Wer-kennt-wen.de Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
- 1 2 "wer-kennt-wen.de facts and figures". wer-kennt-wen.de. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
- 1 2 Rao, Leena (February 2, 2009). "German Social Network Wer-kennt-wen.de Bought By RTL". TechCrunch.
- ↑ "IVW ranking". IVW. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
- ↑ "internet facts 2011-03". AGOF. Retrieved 2011-07-14.