Friends Reunited Prove that taking your foot of the gas is fatal

Keeping an eye on the road

In 2003 Friends Reunited was deemed to be worth a 160 million pound investment. In 2009, like a rescuer pulling remains from the rubble, DC Thomson has taken the troubled site off the hands of loss making ITV for the considerably reduced amount of 25 million with the focus largely to merge a subsidiary 'genesreunited' with their genealogy website findmypast.com. I would be amazed if there are any plans at all to try and revitalise the original success of the friends model.

So what went wrong? The simple answer is nothing. The engine was running and the drive was smooth, but as ever newer models became available and ITV decided against trading in for an upgraded vehicle.

When the buzz around Friends Reunited first hit it was an incredible concept. The excitement of finding those you'd lost contact with was something very new. But Facebook and Myspace wiped the excitement very quickly, giving everyone their own webspace, and making it much easier to stay in touch with friends, making Friends Reunited a dated product almost over night. ITV either weren't tracking the market, or made a fruitless decision to swim against a tide with their hands tied behind their backs and an anchor strapped between their legs.

In turn, Myspace is now battling that very same strong current and many believe Facebook will go the same way when the next bigger and better phenomenon comes along. Whether they will or won't, only time will tell but at least Facebook is swimming in the right direction. An article this week suggested that the site is aiming to tap into the online shopping market which is, as recent results show, currently flourishing. If successful this could make Facebook a bigger online platform than it already is (which is a somewhat terrifying thought in a way). Imagine the power it will hold over both retailers and consumers alike, bringing them together in what will be without question the biggest market place in history.

None of this is fluke. Someone, somewhere is constantly looking for opportunities such as this one to keep Facebook ploughing down the motorway in fifth gear. Unfortunately for Friends Reunited, they didn't even think to check their mirrors.