“Who laughs last thinks too slowly!”, “Every pot has its lid—but I think I’m more of a wok”, “Schakkeline, get away from the shelves, you idiot.” or “I’m not stalking, I’m just researching!” Who remembers? Exactly—this is about the social network studiVZ!

As an early user, I like to look back on the legendary groups on studiVZ and the beginnings of social media. The hype around “studiVZ” spread rapidly through German universities from 2005 onwards. Just after finishing studies, it was a great way to stay in touch with former classmates. It developed into an early digital social friendship network with a very high entertainment value—an eye-opener for a young, internet-savvy audience. Due to its popularity, “schülerVZ” and “meinVZ” soon followed. By 2008, the German platform had around six million users.

But eventually, the gradual transition to Facebook began. Initially developed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 as “facemash.com,” Facebook evolved over the years into the world’s leading social network. In Germany, the hype started in 2008 when Facebook became available in German. Facebook took over Europe, and users began to migrate. Just three years later, in autumn 2011, Statista recorded over 37 million visitors in Germany alone. At the same time, the VZ networks rapidly lost relevance. The SchülerVZ network shut down on May 1, 2013. studiVZ and meinVZ, however, remained active—albeit with little attention. After a brief discussion of a possible relaunch in 2020, they were finally shut down yesterday.

It’s Friday afternoon—so in the spirit of studiVZ: “Goodbye, standards… see you Monday…” ;)