Faceparty

Faceparty

URL	faceparty.com
Commercial?	Yes
Type of site	Online Community
Registration	Yes
Available language(s)	English
Owner	Anarchy Towers Ltd
Created by	Andrew Bamforth
Launched	Autumn 2000

Faceparty is a UK-based social networking site allowing users to create online profiles and interact with each other using forums and messaging facilities similar to email.

History

Faceparty was founded by Andrew David Bamforth and Phineas Kibbey in Autumn 2000. The pair met while working at music site Peoplesound.com.

In March 2008, Faceparty was reclaimed by Bamforth and Anarchy Towers, after closing down CIS Internet Ltd (Bamforth being a director/Major shareholder) the assets being transferred with no refunds.^[1]

It was also announced that all advertising had been removed in a bid to become less corporate, and that staff levels would fall from 18 to 4.^{[citation needed]}

Membership

By June 2006 the site had 6 million members, with another 35,000 new members joining every week. It soon became the UK's most visited website by page impression, beating the likes of eBay and Amazon with over 1 billion page impressions per month (source Hitwise / ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations UK)).

In April 2008, shortly after its acquisition by Anarchy Towers, Faceparty removed 7 million members from its database leaving 200,000 members. However, it would later reinstate those deleted by mistake. The reason given by Faceparty was that it was required to do this by the UK government to comply with new child protection laws, although it later turned out that this was not true.^[2]

There is a forum feature called Gossip, where members can write and post instant threads on various subjects.

Paid services

The Faceparty signup process currently requires users to buy a unique, one use only password, via text message or Paypal.^[3] Additionally, some of the features of Faceparty such as a user being able to see who has been visiting their profile and rating them, require Cool Tools. Users that want to take advantage of these extra features are required to pay an annual fee.

Faceparty also offers Adult Verification System (AVS) which allows users over the age of 18 to view restricted Adult or Pending photos content on other users profiles, for an additional monthly fee, however users have complained that this service is almost impossible to cancel since it is a recurring payment and Faceparty are reported to be very difficult to contact over the matter.

Music

In mid July 2006, Sony BMG struck a short-lived partnership with Faceparty, allowing its artists to be promoted to the social network's members on an exclusive basis, with competitions, free music downloads, and other promotions planned. This partnership was cancelled when Faceparty was re-claimed by the original owners.^[4]

Controversy

In 2006, Faceparty was censured for running a banner that told purchasers of Blue Skin clothing it would ensure they "got laid", following a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority from a member of the public, who strongly objected to the message the banner was projecting to Faceparty's younger internet surfers.^[1]

In June 2008, three men were sentenced to jail at the High Court in Paisley for sexual abuse of a 13-year-old schoolgirl who they met and communicated with on Faceparty.^[5]

On 5 November 2008, three men pleaded guilty at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court to various crimes involving indecent contact with a 14-year-old girl via Faceparty. The men claimed that they didn't know the girl was underage, and that she was "promiscuous and inviting". The offences came to light after another man was jailed for statutory rape of the same girl.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Director in trademark case". ipo.gov.uk. 2006-06-28. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os/t-find/t-challenge-decision-results/o10408.pdf. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
2. ^ "Faceparty bans over-36s in shock ageist move", TechRadar, May 21, 2008.
3. ^ "retrieved 6th September, 2009". Faceparty.com. http://www.faceparty.com/account/join.aspx. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
4. ^ http://www.newmediazero.com/News/List.aspx?liArticleTypeID=1
5. ^ "Three jailed for sexual abuse of schoolgirl, 13". Edinburgh Evening News. 2008-06-12. http://news.scotsman.com/topstories/Three-jailed-for-sexual-abuse.4178495.jp. 

External links

• Official site