Social media
Social media: the closure stories and lessons of 58 startups.
58 startups
instela (İTÜ Sözlük)
A collaborative dictionary born as İTÜ Sözlük that turned into a social community called instela
Closed2019 – 2024Koo
The microblogging app born in India as a home-grown alternative to Twitter
Closed2014 – 2023Ello
The social network born as an ad-free alternative to Facebook that became an artists' community
Closed2018 – 2023IRL
An events and messaging network for young people whose users turned out to be 95 per cent bots
Closed2016 – 2021Houseparty
The group video chat app that told you when your friends were online
Closed2014 – 2021Periscope
The app that popularised live streaming from your phone, bought and then closed by Twitter
Closed2005 – 2020Blogcu.com
Turkey's first free blogging service, which helped hundreds of thousands of people start a blog
Closed? – 2020Smopin
The swipe-based chat app that matched strangers who wanted to talk about the same topic
Closed2010 – 2018Path
A mobile social network designed for sharing photos and moments with a close circle of friends
Closed2014 – 2018Pondr
The Turkish social app that let you put two photos side by side and ask your followers to choose
Closed2014 – 2017Beme
An app that promised unfiltered sharing through short videos with no editing and no preview
Closed? – 2017Fotokritik
The Turkish-language photography community where photographers shared their work and critiqued each other
Closed2012 – 2017Vine
The sharing service whose six-second looping videos ushered in the short-video era
Closed2013 – 2017Yik Yak
The campus app that let users post anonymously to everyone within 8 kilometres
Closed2014 – 2016Frankly.me
An Indian social network that connected users with celebrities through short video Q&As
Closed2002 – 2015Friendster
One of the first big social networks, reaching millions before MySpace and Facebook
Closed2012 – 2015Giggem
The LinkedIn-style social network connecting musicians with the music industry
Closed2013 – 2015Secret
The mobile social app for sharing anonymous messages with your circle of friends
Closed2012 – 2014Youlike
The dating site and social network that matched people by what they love and loathe
Closed2009 – 2013Formspring
The social network that started the anonymous Q&A craze and reached 30 million users
Closed2008 – 2013Posterous
A Y Combinator-backed blogging platform that made it easy to publish posts by email
Closed2011 – 2013Sonar
The New York social discovery app that showed your connections with people in the same room
Closed2010 – 2012Color Labs
The proximity photo-sharing app that raised $41 million and could not keep its users
Closed2007 – 2012Gowalla
The Austin start-up that took on Foursquare in the check-in race and closed after joining Facebook
Closed2006 – 2012Sosyomat
A home-grown, tag-based Turkish social network founded before Facebook caught on in Turkey
Closed2000 – 2009Dodgeball
The early mobile social network that let you text in your location and find friends nearby
Closed2007 – 2009TeeBeeDee
The social network built for the over-40s that closed within two years in Facebook's shadow
Closed2022 – 2025Firefish
Open source, decentralized social media platform on the Fediverse
Closed2016 – 2024Baaz
Arabic social networking service
Closed2022 – 2024Cohost
Social media platform developed by the Anti Software Software Club
Closed2017 – 2023Big Big Channel
Online video platform operated by TVB
Closed2010 – 2023paper.li
2010-2023 socially networked news aggregator
Closed2002 – 2023Skyrock
French social networking service (SNS) and blogging platform
Closed2005 – 2022StudiVZ
Website
Closed2018 – 2022Switter
Social media network
Closed2019 – 2021Ruqqus
Open source social news aggregation website and discussion portal
Closed2014 – 2020Voat
Social news aggregation website
Closed2004 – 2019Blox
Polish blog service
Closed2006 – 2019Flixster
American movie website
Closed2010 – 2018Storify
Social networking service
Closed2012 – 2017App.net
Social networking service (SNS) and microblogging service
Closed2016 – 2017Imzy
Social media
Closed2005 – 201543 Things
Social networking website
Closed2004 – 2015Netlog
Belgian social networking website
Closed2008 – 2015Poupéegirl
Japanese social networking website
Closed2011 – 2014Everloop
American social media website for children
Closed2002 – 2014iWiW
Hungarian social networking web service
Closed2007 – 2014Me2day
South Korean micro-blogging platform
Closed2004 – 2014Orkut
Social networking site owned and operated by Google
Closed2007 – 2014Ya.ru
Social networking service
Closed2010 – 2013ally
Website
Closed2002 – 2013Hevre.co.il
Israeli social media site
Closed2004 – 2013Hyves
Social networking site in the Netherlands
Closed2012 – 2013Menshn
Social network created by Louise Mensch and Luke Bozier
Closed2001 – 2013Partypeeps 2000
Social media
Closed2003 – 2012Piczo
Company
Closed2000 – 2011Myu
Social networking service in Japan
Closed1996 – 2000PlanetAll
Social networking site
Is a startup missing from the graveyard?
Tell us about a startup that has shut down; we'll verify it with sources and add it.
This section is compiled from public sources (Wikidata, news archives and company announcements). Figures are given as they appear in those sources; unknown fields are left blank. If you spot a mistake in an entry, you can send us a correction.