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| File:Reunion dot com logo.gif | |
Type of site | Social Network |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California |
| Owner | Privately Held |
| Created by | Jeffrey Tinsley |
| URL | http://www.reunion.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required |
Reunion.com is a social network service founded in 2002 by Jeffrey Tinsley after meeting his wife at their high school reunion. The company began with the acquisition of highschoolalumni.com and PlanetAlumni.com[1]. The website claims to help members find and keep in touch with friends, relatives and lost loves.
Reunion.com is the 6th top social networking site as of August 2007. Reunion.com claims to have 28 million members, growing by nearly 1 million new members each month[2], mostly in the United States and Canada.
Reunion.com is expanding the reach of its people search capabilities. On April 30, 2007 it was announced Reunion.com had signed an agreement with Wink to provide Wink's people profiles (from on-line social networks and other sources on the web) to Reunion's members. Then on August 20, 2007 Reunion.com announced an agreement with ZoomInfo to provide ZoomInfo's business related people profiles to Reunion.com members.
Memberships
Reunion.com has 2 types of members: Free Members and Premium Members. Free Members can
- create personal profiles for others to find/view, including a public profile non-registered visitors can view
- post photos to their own photo albums
- search for people that are also members
- view photos of other members
- send announcements to other members and non-members
- create blogs
- add themselves to their high school listings
- store information in their own address books
- write and read message board postings
- read and reply to messages from other members
- browse for photos, members, or blogs on member attributes such as gender or age
- view newsfeeds of their contacts and classmates' recent activities
- "nudge" a classmate to update their profile
Premium Members, who pay an annual fee, can also do the following:
- see who has searched for members with their name (a reverse search feature)
- see who has visited their profile
- send new messages to any member
- use website tools for planning reunions and events
- read more detailed profiles about other members
- send internal mail to another member
Privacy
Reunion.com members use real names, not screen names. Member privacy is protected through a blind relay e-mail system, so e-mail addresses and contact information are never revealed unless self-disclosed by members one-on-one.
Ownership
Reunion.com, Inc. is privately owned. The original investors, making a total investment of $1.4 Million in angel financing, included Internet veterans Jeffrey Tinsley, former founder and CEO of GreatDomains.com and current CEO of Reunion.com; Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Demand Media and the former Chairman of MySpace; and Andy Mazzarella, CEO of eForce Media and former CFO of iMall.
Financing
On April 16, 2007, the company announced that it received $25 Million in venture funding from Oak Investment Partners[3] in the largest series A venture financing in a social networking company to date. The percent ownership stake that Oak received for their investment has not been reported.
Business model
The company’s business model is based on user generated content and revenue from paid subscriptions and advertising sales.
Better Business Bureau
This company practices what the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau calls negative option cancellation. In this sales strategy, customers agree to pay for services unless they cancel within a specified period of time. Members are required to cancel prior to the initial anniversary date to avoid continuing annual charges to their credit cards.[4] Reunion's FAQ provides instructions for turning off automatic renewal.
Complaints from customers not resolved in a satisfactory manner once caused the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau to rate Reunion.com 'F', which is the lowest rating of the eleven they use to rate businesses.[5].
The complaints estimated that the company used misleading advertising practices by e-mailing customers advising them that people may be searching for them, and offers them to become paid members to find the identity of any people that may search for them in the future. In its FAQ section, the Reunion.com site describes this feature as follows: "'Who's Searching For You' will reveal the listed names of the specific users who have performed a search using your first and last (current or Maiden) names and your age range within 5 years of your listed date of birth and is still saved in their Search History'.[6]
Similar Sites
LizaSearch.com is an extensive people search, allowing members to find information about any person.
References
- ^ Yahoo! Finance Reunion.com, Inc. Company Profile
- ^ Business Wire, April 16, 2007 Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners
- ^ Business Wire, April 16, 2007 Reunion.com Receives $25M Funding From Oak Investment Partners
- ^ Reunion.com FAQ (accessed November 21, 2007) How do I turn off automatic renewal?
- ^ Better Business Bureau (accessed December 1, 2007) Company Report
- ^ Reunion.com FAQ (accessed November 21, 2007) What is Who's Searching for You?