9GAG

9gag
Type of business Private
Type of site
 Entertainment
Available in English, German
Founded July 1, 2008 (2008-07-01)
Headquarters Mountain View, California, United States
Country of origin Hong Kong
Area served Worldwide
Founder(s) Ray Chan
Key people Ray Chan (CEO)
Slogan(s) Go Fun The World
Website Official website
Alexa rank Decrease 184 (January 2017)[1]
Advertising Banner ads
Registration Optional (required to submit, comment, vote or view NSFW content)
Current status Active

9GAG is an online platform and social media website. Users upload and share "user-generated content" or other content from external social media websites. Since the website was launched on July 1, 2008,[2] it has grown in popularity, reaching more than 35.4 million Facebook likes,[3] 8.34 million Twitter followers in February 5, 2017[4] and 40.8 million followers on Instagram as on 1 July 2017[5]

In December 2015 it had 164 million visitors: 7.82% from Germany, 7.02% from the United States, 5.35% from France, 4.77% from Brazil and 3.93% from Turkey.[6] As of 2015 the company had raised $24.5 million in total funding. Investors included 500 Startups, Benjamin Ling, BoxGroup, Adam Rothenberg, David Tisch, Freestyle Capital, James Hong, Philip Kaplan, Scott Banister, Stapleton Inc, Luvtug, and Y Combinator.[7]

History

The website was co-founded in 2008–2009 by University of Hong Kong student Ray Chan, his brother Chris Chan, and others, with the intention of creating an alternative online platform to email on which users could easily share humorous photos or videos. In a 2012 interview, Ray Chan declined to explain where the name "9GAG" is derived from.[8]

Starting the company under a “Just for Fun” mentality, 9GAG's co-founders began using 9GAG as a résumé-builder for the 500 Startups accelerator program. During the summer program, the 9GAG team worked on other startup ideas, including StartupQuote and Songboard. [9] Following the 500 Startups accelerator program, 9GAG participated in Y Combinator's incubator and its user-base increased to 70 million global unique visitors per month.[10] The 9GAG co-founding team discontinued all other projects and shifted their focus exclusively on 9GAG. 500 Startups was given equity for their aid and mentorship.

In July 2012, 9GAG raised an additional US$2.8 million in funding from Silicon Valley-based venture capital,[11] including True Ventures and Greycroft Partners. In August 2012, 9GAG received another US$2.8 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including True Ventures and Greycroft Partners, as well as individual investors like Christopher Sacca, Kevin Rose, and Naval Ravikant. This funding was able to support 9GAG's engineering team growth both in Hong Kong and in Silicon Valley.[12]

Mobile app development

9GAG has a mobile application on iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, and BlackBerry 10.[13][14]

In July 2012, 9GAG launched an app for iOS and Android. The mobile application serves as a streamlined version of the web-based content.[15] In summer 2014 9GAG launched 9CHAT. 9GAG users are able to log into their account and write to others by sending them a message. 9CHAT also added support for the creation of groups in different sections.[16] January 2015, 9GAG launched its first game called 9GAG Redhead redemption.

Authorship

9GAG users and admins may also re-post content (usually without any consent from its respective authors) from other websites (e.g. 4chan, Newgrounds, Reddit, SomethingAwful, FunnyJunk, YTMND, Instagram, etc.), replacing the source site's watermark with their own. In 2011, 9GAG and 4chan disputed authorship of internet memes published on both websites, whereby each company claimed the memes originated from their own website. As stated by 9GAG co-founder Ray Chan, "9GAG does not create memes or rage comics, but helps spread them." [17][18] In a 2015 Slate article, writer Amanda Hess described 9GAG's reposting of content from Instagram as part of an "online ecosystem of joke stealing".[19]

References

  1. ↑ "9gag.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  2. ↑ "9GAG.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
  3. ↑ "9GAG". 9GAG on Facebook. Facebook. April 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  4. ↑ "9GAG". 9GAG on Twitter. Twitter. February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  5. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/9gag/
  6. ↑ "9Gag.com Traffic Statistics". SimilarWeb. SimilarWeb. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  7. ↑ "9GAG | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  8. ↑ Fiona Ren (24 July 2012). "How Ray Chan started 9GAG, and a career in fun". Meld Magazine. Meld Magazine. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  9. ↑ Mott, Nathaniel (2012-08-21). "9GAG, the Biggest Little Startup at Y Combinator’s Demo Day | PandoDaily". Pando.com. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  10. ↑ "Jokes aside, 9GAG’s co-founder Ray Chan shares about the serious side of their latest US$2.8M round". E27.co. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  11. ↑ "Project st@rt-up | South China Morning Post". Scmp.com. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  12. ↑ "Meet 9GAG, the Community Comedy Site That's Growing Like Crazy - Liz Gannes - Social". AllThingsD. 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  13. ↑ "Behind 9gag. Its business modelFix Need". Fixneed.com. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  14. ↑ http://9gag.tv/
  15. ↑ "Humor Website 9GAG Ups the Ante for Fun, Launches New Mobile App and Receives $2.8 Million in Seed Funding". Marketwired.com. 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  16. ↑ http://9chatapp.com/
  17. ↑ Seitz, Dan (September 12, 2012). "Redditor Details 9Gag’s Theft Process". UPROXX. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Eördögh, Fruzsina (June 4, 2012). "Internet pounces on 9GAG after joke theft". Daily Dot. Daily Dot. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Hess, Amanda (26 August 2015). "Laugh Factory". Slate. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
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