JuicyCampus, a website that invites students to post anonymous (and often-times libelous) messages about their peers, is headed for the Deadpool. In a blog post on the company’s website, founder Matt Ivester blames the site’s demise on a lack of revenue, despite steady growth:
Unfortunately, even with great traffic and strong user loyalty, a business can’t survive and grow without a steady stream of revenue to support it. In these historically difficult economic times, online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved. JuicyCampus’ exponential growth outpaced our ability to muster the resources needed to survive this economic downturn, and as a result, we are closing down the site as of Feb. 5, 2009.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the site’s advertising issues stemmed from the fact that it often featured incredibly hateful and mean-spirited content that advertisers were hesitant to be associated with. Ivester has long maintained that the site was for ‘Juicy’ gossip, not mean insults, but with top threads including “Biggest Whore At Tulane”, it was hardly a place for light-hearted fun. In light of the overwhelmingly negative comments found on the site, some schools began banning JuicyCampus entirely, leading Ivester to claim that they were “joining the ranks of the Chinese government in internet censorship, and spitting in the faces of everyone who believes in free discourse online”.
Ivester may also be growing increasingly worried about the litigation threats the site receives for defamation and libel. Ivester has claimed legal protection, citing the fact that he didn’t author any of the defamatory posts, but he may not be too eager to put those claims to test in court.
Update: The site’s FAQ discounts any suggestions of possible lawsuits or advertisers pulling out from the site, but given JuicyCampus’s history of turning a blind eye to trouble, it’s a little hard to take at face value:
Does this have anything to do with the investigations by Attorneys General? Other legal reasons?
No, not at all. No charges were ever brought against JuicyCampus by any AG. The site is likewise not shutting down as a result of any lawsuits or other sort of legal trouble. JuicyCampus’ services and policies have always been well within the law.Is this because advertisers pulled their ads from your site?
No. Online ad spend dropped across the board as the economy took a turn for the worse. Our advertisers have spent less, but have remained loyal, and for that we are very much appreciative.Is this because too many campuses banned you?
No. The vast majority of campuses decided not to censor their students. Our traffic levels have remained very strong. Any revenue lost as a result of the campuses that banned us was negligible.
We’ve added JuicyCampus to the Deadpool.
What was the original business model for Juicycampus? Purely based on advertisements?
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the site’s advertising issues stemmed from the fact that it often featured incredibly hateful and mean-spirited content that advertisers were hesitant to be associated with
No suprises here.
What a shame. The world so badly needs more hateful and mean-spirited content.
LOL, so true.
Well said.
Here’s a recipe for failure:
1. Start controversial site
2. Hide behind “Free Speech” motto
3. Generate zero income
4. Piss off everyone
5. Crawl away with your tail between your legs
great list there.
cooljobsalways
http://tinyurl.com/7uj5ay
yes, good riddance to trash in sites like that
VC funding has dried up? Is that why I see articles every day on Tech Crunch about companies getting later round funding from VCs? Oh wait, they were good ideas. Maybe that was the difference.
http://www.twit...r.com/dankalmar
I tend to think you are correct, sir, about advertisers wanting to stay clear of that site. Everything I’ve read about it just said mean, hateful, rumor mongering. Good riddance.
I think Matt Ivester needs a reality check. His site seems to be promoting cyber bullying. Here in Australia there has been a lot of effort to stamp out this type of thing in our schools. I am surprised these guys lasted as long as they did.
This was a poor excuse for a startup. The only converage it deserves is like this….about its demise.
Anyone else find the title of this post funny? lol
YAY!!!!!!
There are certain ideas that more richly deserve the deadpool than others. This is certainly one.
What the Ponzi scheme of Silicon Valley VC’s is unraveling.Almost all of these web startups that were touted to be the new deal based on the new HYPE of a moniker they coined Web 2.0
All supposed to be different from the previous Ponzi scheme they were all revenue generating from day 1 not just eye ballz.
The fact that this site is stating “online ad revenue has plummeted and venture capital funding has dissolved” hopefully will lead to a whole bunch other sites to close shop along with the Video Online services that seem to be all over the place hyped and jacked up.
Let the games begin to see more of such closures happen.
Juicy Campus was devised by adults? What a lame concept. I could see it being a site started by 12 year-olds though… and experience grassroots success until their parents and teachers found out.
Well-deserved fail.
It will be interesting to hear more about what sparked this idea in the first place or if it was just another social networking site. There seems to be a shake-out for anything social network related right now as people flock to Facebook and Twitter…..you can post all your juice there.
Hopefully the CEO will share the story at Startup Revival
We (at http://www.answerjam.com/), have taken a more conservative and safe approach to allowing confidential sharing of dreams, vents, advice, secrets, and it works well. But hard to do, and we learned!
nice.
Basically it’s TMZ.com for school campuses. People love dirt in North America. Living vicariously through the drivel of others. Do you know VCers would start to actually invest in something WORTHWHILE and actually productive to humanity instead of crap startups? The whole thing is a Ponzi, from the VCers and investors to the people who come up with these silly ideas. In fact, Al Gore is the inventor of the greatest Ponzi scheme of them all, the Internet!!!
>People love dirt in North America.
But not in Europe? I guess you’ve not picked up a British newspaper in a while.
that site was a piece of crap… an ingenious idea to get a surge of traffic (i have not seen the traffic numbers over its existence) but don’t blame the economy for not being creative enough to develop revenue model… karma’s a bitch
Wow, another web 2.0 bubble burst! I think recession or depression tends to reveal ponzi schemes in financial circles, and no business model sites in internet. There were so much capital wasted on all these carps.
so…college gossip didn’t work, how about college road trips?
http://mycolleg.../project/cayman
This was not a good idea. Going into this business, they obviously realized the only way they are going to make money is through advertising. Great! But what is all of your content made up of? People saying bad things about other people…negative comments. So why would big advertising dollars pour money into this website because they have a high volume of users, yet negative content? It was inevitable that Juicy Campus would hit the deadpool!
I find it hard to believe that a website that spreads senseless rumors and hate speech actually expected to become a thriving business, nonetheless secure VC funding. I thought a “Best of…” book was on its way – the perfect revenue model. Guess not… This dorm room side project is finally going where it deserves – the dumpster.
Plus, I heard Juicy Campus’ founder (Matt Ivester) is a big fat stupid whore who likes to eat poop.
Yeah its no wonder they went down. They were based entirely on hate. There were sites against it, blogs against it, and hundreds of students across the country against it.
http://abcnews....9608&page=1
http://juicycam...usrevealed.com/
http://www.thet...n-juicy-campus/
Having run a website about that size for several years (approx 100k visitors per month per Compete), it can easily be done on two decently powered servers from Rackspace and easily sustain itself on AdSense revenue alone.
I’m so glad this site is going in the deadpool! People write such hateful things and it’s really not what the web needs.
I got the chance to hear Matt Ivester speak at Georgetown University and he was as easy to dislike as I thought he was going to be. You could tell he was smart and behind the free speech retoric, I think a part of him felt bad about what he was doing. Feel free to disagree, but I think Matt will be a tech leader somewhere. And I don’t think anyone is going to argue with shutting down the site – it did more harm than good.
I would like to ask Matt how long it takes after a lawsuit is filed against him for his company to remove a libelous posting.
I always thought the main problem with juicycampus was the constant spouting of bile and mean attacks on other people. While it does have a certain voyeuristic appeal for many, and clearly they had the traffic to prove it, no-one wanted to be associated with it.
The freedom of speech argument wore thin pretty fast, esp in the face all of the slanderous/libelous things posted
I think there is room for an anonymous social network, where you can confess, gossip etc. I think that there’s no reason it has to become hate filled.
I don’t know about that Ted. Who wants to work with the guy who is famous for helping people spew more hate into the world? Not exactly the kind of guy I would want to work with, or for. He may find real problems finding a new place.
Why would he shut it down instead of keeping it on and running with a server or two? It would be a minimal cost ($1k/month?).
If revenue were the problem, everyone could be laid off and they could just keep the server on. The site would continue to grow, and actually the business would likely be slightly profitable. Given that he actually shut it down, it seems there is more to this story.
The site now just says “This website is temporarily unavailable, please try again later. ” Fishy.
Agreed. Makes you think something else was up. And now back to startups that contribute positively to the world.
This was a horrible and demeaning website. thank god is has been closed. Rightfully so. Whoever made this site up probably isolated themselves.
Good riddance!
The demise of Juicy Campus is cause for celebration. Matt Ivester was President of a frat at Duke University, and apparently enjoyed ridiculing his peers while downing a beer or two. That was what inspired him to start JC, and the notion that it was anything but venomous from the start is laughable. I blog about hookup culture at http://www.HookingUpSmart.com, and have heard from many college women who have been devastated by JC reports calling them horrible names and reporting slanderous stories. They are all breathing easier today.
Hi Susan, I’m curious if any of these female victims have hired attorneys and kept copies and timestamps of the postings. It would be very easy to subpoena the names and IP addresses of the students and sue for damages. It would also be easy to sue juicy campus itself since they are profiting from the libelous and harassing postings. It would be great if students had the guts to sue each other and even the colleges for allowing the use on their computers.
With juicycampus closing come over to collegeacb.com. Collegeacb allows users to create posts on their college page and encourages taboo discussions.
I wonder if you will face any legal issues on your own. I expect the online world to mirror the real world when it comes to lawsuits.
I suspect many personal injury lawyers and college university lawyers were gearing up for the names of the users so they could prosecute. To keep that level of customer service requires a lot of revenue, such as myspace keeping off the predatory felons and illegal teenage content and images. You can host any website but you HAVE to take down any illegal images, libelous and defamatory material.
Dude, your site sucks so hard it’s not even funny. My bet is your site will be shut down faster than you can say “JuicyCampus”.
…Douche
HAHAHA FUCK YOU JUICYCAMPUS. Matt Ivester, GET A FUCKING LIFE YOU DEUSCHBAG. Check yourself.
LOL. Looks like I was right and that POS shit Collegeacb.com has shut down. LOL @ YOU FOOLS!!!!
On top of it CollegeACB paid 5 figures for trafficking rights from Juicy.
Dumb, broke and ugly is no way to go through life Peter Frank!
So glad this shit is gone. this site ruined many lives. Matt Ivester mustve been a bullied child and made this cowardice site to get back at them. Rot in hell forever JuicyCampus!