Bobiler.org

What did it do?

Bobiler.org was a Turkish humour site and community where users created and shared funny photomontages they called "monte". It is remembered as one of the first homes of the kind of visual humour that would later become widespread in Turkey as "caps" (memes). In 2012 it also released "Bobiler evreni" (the Bobiler universe), an iOS app that presented its content on a map.

Why did it shut down?

In March 2022 Bobiler.org announced on its social media account that it would be pausing publication, probably for a long time, and would close its website on 26 March. According to Webrazzi, the team criticised economic conditions in the platform's own brand of humour, saying it was not easy to run a "parallel universe" these days. Webtekno noted that the site had not been as popular in recent years as it once was. Shortly before the closure, the site had put its first monte up for sale as an NFT, giving the impression that it would fund itself this way, but it did not pursue that route.

The story

Bobiler.org launched at a time when the internet was very different from today, and by March 2022 it had passed the 15-year mark. Users created and shared all kinds of photomontages, which they called "monte". Bobiler became one of the first and best-known homes of the kind of visual humour that would later become widespread in Turkey as "caps" (memes). In its own words, the site became a "parallel universe", a community whose members gathered around a shared sense of humour.

Bobiler did not remain just a website. In 2012 it released "Bobiler evreni" (the Bobiler universe), an iOS app that presented the site's content on a map. In 2017 co-founder Ezgi Tüzün was a guest speaker on an entrepreneurship course at Üsküdar University, where she shared the story of how the company was founded and the stages it had been through with students.

Over time, however, social media platforms became the main home of humour and visual content. As Webtekno put it, Bobiler had not been as popular in recent years as it once was. Shortly before the closure, the site put its first monte up for sale as an NFT; according to Webrazzi, this step had given the impression that the site could fund itself through NFT projects. That route was never tried.

On 3 March 2022 Bobiler announced in a post on its social media account that it was pausing its 15 years of publication. The announcement described the economic conditions in the platform's familiar humorous style: running a parallel universe was not easy these days, it said, with black holes trying to swallow planets and an ever-growing darkness. The website closed on 26 March, and posting on its social media accounts was scaled back. The team asked users to back up their montes to their own computers and thanked them for the 15-year adventure.

The announcement said publication was being paused "probably for a long time", while the press treated the decision as a farewell. Bobiler's story shows how hard it is for independent content sites that build a strong community culture to survive once the consumption of humour and visual content shifts to social platforms.

Lessons for founders

• A community built on user-generated content loses its lifeblood quickly when that content moves to other platforms.
• A strong brand and culture are no substitute for a sustainable revenue model.
• When you try a new funding route, work out from the start whether it can carry the cost of the core product.

Sources

1. Bobiler.org says farewell after 15 years of publishing (Webrazzi, 2022-03-04)
2. Bobiler.org decides to stop publishing after 15 years: the site will close (Webtekno, 2022-03-04)
3. bobiler says farewell (Odatv, 2022-03-04)
4. Üsküdar University hosts Ezgi Tüzün (Üsküdar Üniversitesi, 2017-04-21)

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