Classmates.com

Classmates.com is a website launched in 1995 to build an online community that serves to maintain contacts between former school, university and military service comrades and to this end, various functions, such as personal profile pages, offers. It is one of the first portals that form the Internet.

With more than 40 million members (2008), the portal is one of the most successful social networks in the English-speaking world, it was performed in February 2008 by the online marketing portal Nielsen Online for the U.S. market in 3rd place behind MySpace and Facebook, according to Alexa Internet other hand, it was the world with room 708 and 149 in the U.S. ( non-representative sample August 15, 2008 ) behind other similar pages. Most users are from the USA and from Canada.

Company History

The service was founded in 1995 by Randy Conrads, which the company Classmates Online Inc. einrichtete for this purpose. In 2004, United Online service. A 2007 announced IPO of Classmates Online has not been implemented. For Classmates Online is also the service StayFriends, a German -, French - and Swedish -language portal for former school friends.

Features and Pages

The site offers both free and paid services. Registration as a so-called Basic Member is free, but there are only a few functions such as creating a profile, upload photos and biographies as well as the search of friends in the database. To connect with other users through the site in contact, a paid membership (Gold Membership ) is required, which is also required for reading over the network received messages. The contact is possible both via email and via a network 's own news service called MyNetwork. Also can create user groups and organize meetings on a special function for paying members.

Criticism

An examination of PC World magazine, according to the service got with the worst grade, when it came to the simplicity of the termination of membership. In addition to former members have continued to get even after the termination of promotional e- mails from Classmates.com.

In September 2009, filed a class action lawsuit against Classmates Online, Inc. for illegal business practices. This is especially criticized that Classmates.com was sent routinely send emails to members who gave the impression that people they know would actively attempting to contact. That this is not always the case heard the plaintive members here only after they had entered the paid Gold Membership. Furthermore, lack of privacy is lamented to point without it because Classmates.com used in emails and links on the website cookies which make it very easy third, log on behalf of a foreign member at Classmates.com. Classmates.com and the plaintiffs seek a comparison (as of 5 October 2010) under payment of 1.05 million U.S. dollars, attorneys' fees and 0.5 million U.S. dollars to a charitable organization.

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