Report: High School Social Network Sconex Shuts Down

Vasanth Sridharan | August 20, 2008 7:16 AM

lockers.jpgHigh school students are huge social network users. But just building a social network catered to them doesn't guarantee success. This, apparently, is the lesson we can learn from Sconex, an ancient (by Web standards) network that YPulse says has shuttered its doors for good.

We’ve tried to confirm the closure, but we haven’t heard from Sconex’s parent, Alloy (ALOY), a hybrid Web marketer/book publisher geared toward teens. Alloy bought Sconex in March 2006 for $6.1 million.

We don’t know the story behind the Sconex shutdown, but we can make an educated guess: Despite being relatively early in the social network race, it still couldn't keep up with MySpace, which always had a big high school (and younger) contingent, and Facebook, which opened its doors to high schoolers in September 2005.

Shorter version, via Compete:

See Also:
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24 Comments

dean collins (URL) said:
With a unique visitor dropoff like that it tells me that the concept isn't necessarily dead....but that the content was crap.

You cant tell me that starting off with 300k visitors if there was compelling content the encouraged repeat returns there could have been a different outcome.


Cheers,
Dean Collins
www.Cognation.net
Love to see what this chart looked like going farther back. Didn't Compete allow you to set the dates yourself a while back?
No, you have to be a Compete Pro subscriber to get data going back two years.
Angel Acosta said:
A warning would've been nice -_-
SP3030 said:
Why in the hell would they shut down a website like this with still plenty of users without previous notice. like (pardon my language) but thats really f*cked up cuz i had notes in the blog on sconex...some valuable sh*t from school and hobbies and stuff...so what the hell??? im puzzled now. imma have to start from scratch now. i even had the top rated Freestyle group on that shyt (Sconex.com) with still a large audience who dropped posts. Am i right or wrong to say that there should have been previous notice. i dont care if it was a week before ...but atleast something to work with. feel me.
SP3030 said:
i would have to say the main reason that sconex failed was because it didnt really appeal to the masses (the older age group...past high school and even the younger. for one) second, the homepage content was kept constant throughtout..it was never improved or anything. and thrid, the bullsh*t pop-ups every time you switched pages.
Rupa said:
Im mad. really really mad...they shouldnt hav done that....they erased my past!! Im really pissed. Every single day i try to log on to sconex... i need all my information from my notebooks. they shouldnt done that..... without notice?? OMG Stupid People!!UGH!!!!
Torque said:
LMAO, wow i was just about to sign on to sconex. it's been a few months. What kind of underwear do you use lol. The favorite quotes was a good thing though.
Candace said:
I lost my account too!! I'm so annoyed. Who has highschooltabloid.com? It's suppose to open this september I think I'm moving over to them.

Jazzz said:
:( I had awesome old photos from like, forever ago. Waaaa.
Andrew (URL) said:
Aww man! I also had some really old photos of me from my 8th grade prom. I think the reason why Sconex had a decline of member activity is because of the lack of appeal and content. I was tired of seeing the same orange homepage with the same pictures on kids on it, and there was never anything to do on Sconex. The addition of the video tab was good, but for some reason they took it off, thats when i notice something was going wrong....
Robert said:
GOOD!!!
im glad they shut it down... it started having ppl with naked pics up there... it turned like a porn sex site!
lmaooo
Shawn (URL) said:
With the shutdown of YPulse, there is always additional opportunity to make a nice social networking comeback online. This is a lesson for them to leanr from, and benefit from in a positive way. Additionally, perhaps if they create another social network that keeps it's content fresh and targets all sorts of people, maybe they can become a bigger SUCCESS than what they set out for ...:-)



http://www.Social-Networking.Drewryonline.net
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Joe said:
Damn, i used that site part of my year book. especially all the comments i had since 2007,2006,2005 i always came back and check it once in awhile for memories, this fuckin sucks ass
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edythe (URL) said:
642-061I want to go back to school What for? You already have a Ph D. I'm so hurry that I could eat a horse.
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640-802 You give me the money. I'll get you the goods. What now!
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Flower (URL) said:
That sucks so baaad.They shut it down without any warning, everyone lost their data...Sucks...Anyway there is a new one who seems definitly better.It's called Highschooltabloid.com, kind of a tabloid for highschoolers...sounds pretty fun
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khristalle said:
how can i get my pics off of that site

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