StayFriends
| StayFriends GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 2002 |
| Seat | Berlin , Germany |
| management | Management: Marc Schmitz , Oliver Thiel |
| Website | www.stayfriends.com |
StayFriends is a website for finding and managing school friends. According to its own information, with more than 14 million entries in over 70,000 schools and around 11,000 class reunions organized via its platform (as of February 24, 2014), it is the leading such search service in Germany. It is free in its basic version; In order to use the full range of functions, a paid gold membership must be concluded, which is automatically renewed.
Companies
Berlin-based StayFriends GmbH has been operating the online platform StayFriends.de since August 2002. The former managing director Michel Lindenberg is a co-founder of the site.
In January 2004 StayFriends GmbH became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Classmates Online from Renton, USA , the operator of the online community classmates.com , which in turn belonged to the US Internet company United Online until August 11, 2015 . After that, StayFriends was a direct subsidiary of United Online .
On April 1, 2016, Ströer SE & Co. KGaA bought StayFriends from United Online . StayFriends has been part of the Ströer Content Group since then .
StayFriends GmbH operates other sister sites in Europe with the same software platform :
- the Swedish sister site StayFriends.se , until March 2005 Klasstraffen.se ,
- the French counterpart trombi.com
- the Austrian platform stayfriends.at
- the Swiss version stayfriends.ch , until April 2009 Klassenfreunde.ch
Since 2018, StayFriends GmbH has also been running the partner exchange Lebenfreunde.de. The site is aimed at the 50+ generation and, according to industry expert Henning Wiechert, has over 100,000 members.
Working principle
StayFriends gives the user the option of entering their name and year of graduation in a virtual version of their former school. The schools are sorted by state, city and school type, and there is the option of registering at several schools. A search query in the database to find old friends can be made via a name, a location or a school.
While a few functions can be used free of charge, such as finding old friends, most functions are only available after paying an annual fee. While searching for old friends is possible, it is not possible to establish contact between basic version users. Viewing class photos is only possible in the paid version, unless they are self-uploaded.
The premium functions include the normal exchange of messages with all other "gold members" as well as the display of all photos and profile information and the class photos. An exchange of messages between the “gold member” and the basic member is not possible here either. Looking at poetry albums (guest book) (even one's own) and reading the “own page” of others is also dependent on “gold membership”.
privacy
At StayFriends, you register with your real name. That is why the exchange of messages takes place via a platform-specific message system. Your own e-mail address is only visible to other users if you explicitly communicate it in the course of the message exchange. Entries in search engines such as Google can be viewed by non-members , which means that first and last name, year of graduation as well as the type and name of the school attended can appear in the search results. The publication of such data can be contradicted, however, delays can occur in the event of delays in removing it from the index of a search engine or in correcting information recorded there.
In its “Social Networks” test (April 2010 edition), Stiftung Warentest rated StayFriends as “Significant defects”. This rating was based primarily on deficiencies in the areas of data security and protection of minors. The handling of user data was rated as good. There were no defects in the terms and conditions .
Web links
- Company website
- 20,000 schools without asking in the searcher , STERN from October 4, 2010
- Website StayFriends Germany
- Website StayFriends Sweden
- Website StayFriends France
- Website StayFriends Switzerland
- Website StayFriends Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ Classmates: Press release on the changeover of the Swedish platform ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ OpenPR: Press release on the takeover of Klassenfreunde.ch
- ↑ Lebensfreunde.de - Friendship and partner search from 50. Retrieved on April 10, 2019 .
- ↑ Singles exchanges for 50plus singles in the test & comparison 2019. Accessed on April 10, 2019 .
- ^ Stiftung Warentest: Social networks: Data protection often inadequate test.de, March 25, 2010
