Bolt (website)
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Social network service | |
Available in | English |
---|---|
Owner | Fundbolt, LLC |
Created by | Dan Pelson Jane Mount |
URL | www |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | Required for most services |
Launched | 1996 |
Current status | Inactive |
Bolt was a
1996–2006
In 1996 Bolt.com was founded as a teen community by
Bolt was originally marketed towards teenagers to create content, meet people, and play games in a safe and age-appropriate environment. As members aged and stayed with the site, more members were college students and between ages 18–24. In 2005, Bolt.com launched its second iteration, Boltfolio. Touted by itself as the leader of the "cult of creativity", Boltfolio intended to provide a one-stop shop for creative users to upload their own photos, videos, and music, as well as write blogs or record directly from a webcam. The goal of Boltfolio was to provide a set of tools that would attract users of creative sites such as DeviantArt, YouTube, and Flickr.
2006–2009
In December 2005 Bolt Media finalized a deal to purchase InterMedia Inc., a small company focused on a video-sharing site,
On October 17, 2006, one week after announcing a revenue-sharing deal with
In February 2007, Bolt Media announced that it would be selling itself to
On March 30, 2007, it was announced that Bolt2.com would shut down on April 6, 2007, ending more than 10 years of operations. This letter posted on the site to members of the community:
"Well, the time had come. We have decided that it is time to officially say good-bye to Bolt2. In the past few years Bolt Media has explored new ideas, and grown in a different direction. As we continue to move in this direction it has become necessary that we need to make some difficult choices.
One of which is the closure of Bolt2. Although we value our loyal members, we are clearly moving in a new direction and need to focus our energies there. We recognize that many of you have been on the site for up to 10 years, and would like to thank you for your support and for allowing us to be a part of your lives. We hope you are able to take the time to reflect on the people who you may have met through Bolt2 and maintain these friendships after the site is down.
Much like pulling off a band-aid, the closure will be short and hopefully not too painful. The site will officially close on Friday, April 6th at noon (eastern standard time)."
Again, we would like to express our gratitude for your continued support of Bolt2. You have been a valuable part of our lives, and we hope to see you on Bolt in the future.[6]
On July 30, 2007, Digital Music News reported that the GoFish buyout of Bolt had been abandoned.[7] This was later confirmed by GoFish in a press release.[8]
Unable to withstand a lawsuit from copyright holders, Bolt.com filed for bankruptcy, and the site was shut down August 14, 2007.
On April 21, 2008, Bolt.com went live again. The domain was registered to Fundbolt, LLC, a limited liability company based in Irvington, New York.[9]
On August 1, 2008, Bolt.com began integrating aspects of the old Bolt2.com site. Tagbooks, a popular way to ask questions and get answers from the broader community, were relaunched on the site.
On September 30, 2008, Bolt.com was announced to be shutting down once again. It was announced that this was due to the website's resurrection "not working out as they'd hoped". On October 6, 2008, the site was shut down. In December 2008, a notice was put up at the bottom of Bolt.com's old domain announcing the return of Bolt.com social network. The site was later re-opened, hosted by Ning. By July 2011, the site was once again shut down, until bolt3 launched.
Bolt and American Idol
In 2003 Bolt was the official message board for
References
- ^ Chaffin, Joshua. "Rights Success for Universal as Bolt Settles". ft.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
- ^ Bolt.com Archived October 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine "Bolt is Shutting Down" Retrieved September 30, 2008
- ISBN 9781581313840.
- ^ "NBC Battles, and Joins With, Video Web Sites", The Wall Street Journal
- ^ "Bolt.com Selling to GoFish for $30M" Archived 2007-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, NewTeeVee.com
- ^ "Bolt.com RIP: Files For Bankruptcy", Mashable.com
- ^ Digital Music News Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine GoFish report
- ^ "GoFish Terminates Plan to Acquire Bolt Media", Prweb.com, August 2, 2007
- ^ "Whois.Net". Archived from the original on 2011-11-02. Retrieved 2008-06-11.