It’s the end of an era. From December 2nd, 2013 onwards the Dutch social network Hyves will no longer be a social network, but an online gaming portal. What used to be the biggest social media platform in the Netherlands, with over 10 million members at its peak, quickly lost territory to Facebook over the past three years.
Users are able to download all their Hyves profile data with a special tool, before the social network will be shut down. Because the number of accounts was rapidly decreasing from 2010 onwards, Hyves tried to change its approach several times. In 2011 they incorporated a news service, a hit radio channel and a soccer application, but these additions did not get the desired results. That’s why Hyves will continue as a gaming platform, which they started up in early 2013. The platform has over 400 games available and attracts around 540 000 unique visitors a month, making it the most popular gaming portal of the country.
For the Dutchies: are you sad to see Hyves go, or did you see this coming for a long time? Do you think there’s anything they could have done to prevent this from happening?
