hi5
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Screenshot  Screenshot of Hi5's sign up/log in | |
Website type | Social networking service |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Owner | The Meet Group |
| Founder | Ramu Yalamanchi |
| Website | hi5 |
| Commercial | yes |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | June 27, 2003 |
| Current status | Discontinued |
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hi5 was an American social networking service based in San Francisco, California. It is owned by The Meet Group.
Users could create a profile and provide personal information including interests, age, photos, and hometown. Users could also send friend requests via email to other users. When a person received a friend request, they could accept or decline it, or block the user altogether. If the user accepts another user as a friend, the two would be connected directly or in the 1st degree. The user would then appear on the person's contact list and vice versa. Users could opt to make their profile viewable to everyone on hi5, or only viewable to people in their network. hi5 was marketed to users interested in flirting, dating, and making new friends. In order to join hi5, users had to be at least 18 years or older.
In a 2009 redesign, hi5 added features oriented toward gaming and entertainment. The site featured over 200 games in a variety of genres, and was adding games at a rate of 2-3 per week. Due to hi5's shift in focus to social gaming, Comscore reclassified hi5 as an online gaming site in early 2011. According to comScore, hi5 ranked as the 6th most trafficked online gaming site.