| classmates.com | |
| Commercial: | Mixed |
| Type: | Social networking service |
| Owner: | H.I.G. Capital |
| Author: | Randy Conrads |
| Launch Date: | [1] (as Classmates Online, Inc.) |
classmates.com is an American social networking service. It was founded on November 17, 1995 by Randy Conrads as Classmates Online, Inc.[2] and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It bills itself as the leading online social network service in the United States for bringing high school alumni together, with over 90 million members.
Classmates.com has an archive of over 470,000 old high school yearbooks that have been digitized, and members can purchase yearbook reprints. Other features[3] include private messaging, conversations, class lists and reunion planning.
United Online, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNTD) acquired Classmates Online in 2004[4] and owned and operated the company as part of its Classmates Media Corporation subsidiary[5] until 2015.
In 2010, Classmates.com changed its name to Memory Lane, which included a website redesign,[6] and included content like movie trailers, songs, and photos. In 2011, Classmates dropped the Memory Lane brand. Classmates Media operated online social networking and loyalty marketing services under the Classmates.com[7] and MyPoints[8] brands, respectively.
In August 2015, Classmates was acquired by PeopleConnect Holdings, Inc., a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, making it the second acquisition after PCH purchases Bellevue, WA-based Intelius, Inc.[9] Classmates is now operated as a division of PeopleConnect,[10] which also owns Intelius.
In 2020, PeopleConnect completed a merger with The Control Group, a provider of B2C information services located in San Diego, California.[11]
Classmates Media Corporation's business model is based on user-generated content and revenue from paid subscriptions and advertising sales.
As of 2023, under the PeopleConnect leadership team, including CEO Steven Gray & CFO Sach Barot, the B2C information services division of PeopleConnect operates from the San Diego location. The Classmates division, led by President Sarah Howe, is located in Bellevue, Washington.
The only time Classmates appeared on Hitwise's top 10 list of social networking websites was in June 2009, when it appeared tenth with a 0.45% market share.[12]
In early 2008, Nielsen Online had ranked Classmates as number three in unique monthly visitors (U.S. home, work) among social networking sites.
As of June 30, 2008, Classmates Media had more than 50 million members, but only 3.8 million paying subscribers.
In 2006, television program The View mentioned Classmates.com as having more than 40 million[13] members in the United States and Canada.
According to the Online Publishers Association Paid Content U.S. Market Spending Report, Classmates.com was Number 4 among the Top 25 Web Destinations Ranked by Consumer Content Revenue in both 2002 and 2003[14] (the last years that individual site rankings were broken out). As more users have moved to Facebook, the site has fallen in popularity. Classmates.com was one of the first social networks.
As of 2015 (the year the company turned 20), Classmates had over 70 million current members.[15]
Classmates.com members use real names,[16] not screen names, including maiden names. Member privacy is protected through a double-blind email system, so email addresses and contact information are never revealed unless self-disclosed by members one-on-one.
Classmates.com has an archive of over 470,000 yearbooks from the US, some dating back to the 1880s. This represents the world’s largest (and continually growing) digital yearbook collection. Classmates.com acquires these yearbooks and then scans them, creating digital copies that can be viewed online. Many of these yearbooks are available to purchase in hardcover or softcover reprints.
The oldest yearbook on site is from 1886, from Central High School, Manchester, NH.[17]
Classmates.com members can plan and attend reunions on-site. In 2020, Classmates.com also rolled out the virtual reunion feature so that schoolmates can get together without having to travel, which was a new option during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, Classmates.com users organized over 30,000 reunions on the site.
In a Yahoo! Life UK article on July 8, 2022, the costume designer of the Netflix show Stranger Things was reported as telling Australia’s Harpers Bazaar magazine, "We looked at real kids from the period. I spent lots of time on Classmates.com, which has assorted yearbooks, gathering images of real students in different parts of the country. I also found lots of D&D club group photos which lent lots of inspiration for the Hellfire Club."[18]
In October 2022, Insider Magazine[19] used celebrity yearbook photos for an article, many of which came from the Classmates.com yearbook archive.
In June 2023, People Magazine also used Classmates.com[20] celebrity yearbook photos for an article.
Classmates.com has also been in the media[21] [22] for high school romance connections.
5 District Attorneys in CA (including LA) filed a consumer protection lawsuit – Classmates updated its subscription renewal disclosures and settled the claim.[23]
Classmates.com was alleged to have sent emails that told recipients their old friends from school wished to reconnect (and the recipients would need to buy Classmates.com memberships to receive their old friends' contact information). A class action lawsuit was brought against Classmates.com in 2008. The lead plaintiffs in the case were David Catapano and Anthony Michaels.[24] Classmates.com agreed to pay $2.5 million to its users to settle the lawsuit.[25]
Classmates.com was accused of piggybacking and post-transaction marketing.[26] Parent company United Online earned $70 million from marketing practices under investigation in 2009 by the Senate Commerce Committee. United Online denied the allegations and maintained that customers were provided clear disclosures before agreeing to transactions.[27]
On August 18, 2010, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a settlement with six companies, including Classmates, as part of a probe into the discount club industry. Classmates were among the retailers that agreed to pay $2.1 million toward refunds and consumer education.[28] Under the alleged practice investigated, consumers who completed online purchases were presented with discounts or cash-back offers, and accepting these offers triggered small, easy-to-overlook recurring charges billed to unfamiliar company names. Classmates' share of the settlement amounts to $960,000 and a commitment to end these practices.[29]