We Heart It was an image-based social network. We Heart It describes itself as "A home for your inspiration" and a place to "Organize and share the things you love."[1] Users could collect (or "heart") their favorite images to share with friends and organize into collections. Users can access the site through We Heart It's iOS and Android mobile apps.
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| Available in | Multilingual (23) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | , |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | Super Basic, LLC. |
| Founder(s) | Fabio Giolito |
| Industry | Internet |
| URL | weheartit |
| Registration | Required |
| Users |  45 million |
| Launched | January 3, 2008 |
| Current status | Inactive |
History
edit
We Heart It was founded in 2008 by Fabio Giolito, a native of Brazil.[2] He started the site as an alternative to the popular invite-only website FFFFOUND! when he was unable to get an invitation.[3] We Heart It was based around the idea of "hearting" photos and saving them for sharing with friends. The product then began to grow organically.[4]
When growth began to surge, Fabio brought on co-founder Bruno Zanchet to help focus on infrastructure. The two took on some seed funding and the site became an incorporated business of 25 employees in San Francisco in 2011.[5][6] We Heart It then raised a further $8 million in Series A funding from White Oak and IDG Ventures in June 2013.[7]
We Heart It announced a video content partnership with Popular TV in January 2016.[8]
In June 2016, We Heart It formed a strategic partnership with influencer marketing company The Blu Market, led by co-CEOs Steven Forkosh and Jonas Brothers singer Kevin Jonas, in hopes of attracting more users and advertisers.[9]
We Heart It is no longer incorporated in the United States. It is now owned by Super Basic, LLC. It no longer has an office or any employees in San Francisco.[citation needed]
In 2023, We Heart It removed the ability to upload photos from its app, only allowing users to download their previously collected images through the website. [citation needed]
Features
editWe Heart It was primarily a visual platform that supported still images and animated GIFs. In recent years, the platform had been updated to allow written posts, known as Articles. It had also introduced a Podcasts feature that includes listenable audio episodes of various podcasts.[10]
It offered follow icons, live widgets, and share buttons for users who wanted to incorporate We Heart It on their website or blog.[11]
We Heart It lacked features for commenting or "dislikes". As a result, users posting content will not potentially receive negative comments as they might on other social networks.[12]
We Heart It first rolled out mobile advertising in the app in May 2014.[13]
In March 2015, We Heart It introduced a new postcard feature, allowing its 30 million registered users to message one another with images.
In 2015, Weheartit launched a 'Heartist' program to award its top users. 'Heartists' are a selection of the most engaged We Heart It users every year, acknowledged as leaders in creativity known to inspire other members of the community. We Heart It awards each Heartist with a pink star badge displayed on their profile picture.[14]
In December 2015, the companion app Easel was released. With Easel, users can create custom images with quotes, filters, and colors to share on We Heart It or other social media apps.[15]
In late August 2017, the feature Articles was released on the site to even further its users' creativity. This function enabled users to share poems, recipes, opinions, creative thoughts and ideas, advice; anything you are able to write down.[16] A while later, “Reactions” were added to the site where you could react to the articles with 5 different options.[17] If you did not want to heart an article, you had the choice to react to it still, while it not having to appear in your canvas. In 2018, reactions for images were added as well.
Usage
editIn December 2013, We Heart It reached 25 million monthly users.[18] Four out of five of the site's over 25 million users were under 24 years old, and more than 70 percent were female.[19] We Heart It has an average user age of 19.[20]
On average, We Heart It members spend more than 16.5 minutes on the site at a time. The average mobile app users opens the app over 25 times per month.[5]
In February 2014, We Heart It ranked 754 in Alexa's global traffic rank.[21]
The Huffington Post cited We Heart It as one of the "10 Happiest Places On The Internet"[22] for finding a smile or inspiration on.
We Heart It was chosen as one of Google Play's Best Apps of 2013[23] and Best Apps of 2015.[24]
References
edit- ^ "We Heart It | About". Retrieved 17 May 2013.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson. "There Is A Very, Very Big Pinterest Competitor With More Than 600 Million Monthly Pageviews". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ Wortham, Jenna. "BITS; If Digg Did Pictures". query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2023-09-25.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson. "Another Pinterest Has Arrived In Silicon Valley: WeHeartIt Snags $8 Million With 20 Million Uniques". Business Insider. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ a b Taylor, Colleen (27 June 2013). "We Heart It, The Social Photo Phenom That's Quietly Amassed 20M Monthly Users, Nabs $8M Funding". Techcrunch. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ Taylor, Colleen (24 July 2014). "Hands-On With The Revamped iOS App For We Heart It, The Feel-Good Social Photo Site". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ Gannes, Liz. "We Heart It, Image Site That's a Favorite of Young Ladies, Raises $8M". All Things D. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
- ^ Ben, Frederick. "Popular Teams With We Heart It, Brings Video To App". Mediapost. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ^ Tadena, Nathalie. "We Heart It Teams Up With The Blu Market to Expand Social Network's Reach". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "Podcasts". Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Ray, Mitt. "How to Get Started With We Heart It [Complete Guide]". Yahoo! Small Business Advisor. Archived from the original on 16 December 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
- ^ Jones, Stacy. "The Most Popular Social Network You've Never Heard Of--Until Now". Fast Company. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ Wagner, Kurt (7 May 2014). "With Nearly 30 Million Users, We Heart It Tests Loyalty With Ads". Mashable. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
- ^ "We Heart It, Named To Best Apps Of 2015 By Google, Launches Heartist Program To Recognize Its Top Members". prnewswire (Press release). Retrieved 9 December 2015.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (21 December 2015). "We Heart It, The Image-Sharing Site Used By 40 Million Teens, Launches Its Second App, Easel". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Introducing Articles!". WeHeartIt. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- ^ "Introducing Reactions!". WeHeartIt. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
- ^ Taylor, Colleen (13 December 2013). "Now With 25M Monthly Users, Social Photo Startup We Heart It Partners With Teen Vogue & Others". TechCrunch. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
- ^ Hockenson, Lauren. "With more than 25M users, We Heart It has found a niche with girls under 24". GigaOm. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ Schallau, April. "App Provides Positive Way For Users to Interact". WomensForum. Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
- ^ "Alexa Statistics Summary for weheartit.com". Alexa. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
- ^ Gregoire, Carolyn (30 January 2013). "Inspiring Websites: The 10 Happiest Places On The Internet". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- ^ Bogdan Petrovan (December 6, 2013). "Here are Google's picks for Best Apps of 2013 and Best Games of 2013". Android Authority. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- ^ "Best Apps of 2015". Google Play. Retrieved 16 March 2021.