| Type | Private (subsidiary of Media Temple) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | Culver City, California, U.S. | ||
| Founder(s) | Brad Smith | ||
| Headquarters | 8520 National Boulevard, Culver City, California, U.S. | ||
| Area served | Worldwide | ||
| Key people | Brad Smith (Co-founder, Chairman and CEO) | ||
| Parent | Media Temple | ||
| Website | www.virb.com | ||
| Alexa rank | 24,898 (As of July 1, 2010)[1] | ||
| Type of site | Social network service | ||
| Advertising | Banner ads | ||
| Registration | Required | ||
| Available in | English | ||
| Launched | 2007 | ||
| Current status | Active | ||
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Virb is a social networking website launched on Friday, March 9, 2007 by Unborn Media, and acquired by Media Temple in June 2008.[2] Users receive a personal profile page where they can post blogs, photographs and videos. Additionally, users may add others as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
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After the launch of PureVolume in 2003, Unborn Media attempted to mimic the websites success by launching Virb, where PureVolume focused primarily on music, Virb would focus on more social features. Virb was launched, as an invite-only beta form in 2006, and was publicly launched on Friday, March 9, 2007[3]
Virb was widely heralded as the possible successor to MySpace; due to the site's similar layout and functionality. However, within a few months, Virb failed to attract a wider audience, and by the end of 2007, Facebook, passed both Virb and MySpace in terms of monthly active users.[2]
Despite its failure to attract a greater audience, the web hosting company Media Temple saw the website's potential and purchased it in June 2008.[2]
Virb is currently in the process of changing its business model from social networking, to web hosting.
Our core desire wasn't ever to build and run a social network. We wanted to build this really cool niche area for the people MySpace didn't really work for. Virb was going to be an alternative, but we couldn't keep up. What Tumblr has done for the simplicity of setting up a blog, we want to do for the simplicity of creating a website. Sure, some people use Tumblr as their website, but at end of day its a blogging platform. We're taking it a step further to where the entire idea is based around what we've always known a website to be - one location for all your content.
— Brad Smith, CEO at Virb[2]
Virb has been highly praised for its unique design, customisation, and innovative features, such as iTunes integration.[4]
In early 2008, Virb was listed as one of the biggest technology disappointments of 2007, among other websites, due to its focus on social networking basics, and lack of innovative features.[5]