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Experience Project is a free social networking website consisting of various online communities. Members submit "experiences" - personal stories, confessions, blogs, groups, photos, and videos. As of April 2014, the company had collected over 37 million of these "experiences". Users can form or join communities based on their experiences and/or interests, and interact with other members with shared experiences, either online or in their physical region. As of April 21, 2016, Experience Project has announced that it will suspend operations indefinitely.

Description

The nodes of the network are "life experiences," such as battling depression or surviving a divorce. Members who list experiences in common are automatically connected. Reversing the "friends" concept of traditional social networks, in which connections are made between known individuals who then may or may not share experiences, on the Experience Project, connections are made based on shared experiences, which may or may not lead to meeting and/or knowing the individuals who've had the experiences. The site emphasizes anonymity to promote conversations unhindered by fear of recognition or embarrassment.

Introduced publicly in October 2006, the site features members sharing stories about their life experiences, which are grouped in general categories (such as "Health" or "Dating and Relationships") and more specifically ("Aging," "First Love"). As members share experiences, they are linked with others who have those experiences in common. Themes of the site include the concepts of "You are not Alone" and "Discover New People Like You". Submitted content is also 'policed' by its own users with little monitoring or interference, which, however, can result in heavy censorship.

Other features of the site include blogs, trivia games for helping animals, confessions, surveys, mood and wellness journaling, and a search engine that matches a mood to a particular song. You can also add friends and chat with them. Experiences posted by others can be commented too. Illegal nudity, copyrighted stories or pics is not allowed. Confessions and Dreams are another menu available. Experience Project is although loved by 15+ Million People. Members have the ability to "purchase" items like images or gestures, cards, etc. and send them to other members.

On April 21st, 2016, Experience Project will be closing the site for the long term. At that time, they will not allow new registrations or the posting of new content, instead freezing the current library of experiences. They have built tools that will enable members to export their contributions, or delete their account , and will leave those tools up for the foreseeable future.

Over the last decade, among other things social media has moved more and more to mobile applications which discourages long-form text stories, these type stories are the foundation of Experience Project content. Privacy of users was always paramount, and names, phone numbers, or addresses were not allowed. This approach made it difficult to build an advertising-based business, also there were more troubling trends than formats. Online anonymity, a core part of EP, was being challenged like never before. Governments and their agencies are aggressively attacking the foundations of internet privacy with a deluge of information requests, subpoenas, and warrants. Proper law enforcement efforts is one thing, but the well-documented potential for even abuse, even if unintentional, is enormous, and growing.

At the same time, scores of new laws require compliance with intricate, sometimes contradictory, data privacy regulations for each country, territory, and even state. For example, today there are nearly 30 different agencies that can decide whether sending data, for example, a private message from your inbox, between Europe and the US is "proper."

Finally, the sophistication of "bad apples," as few as they thankfully are, has increased dramatically. They are better able to cover their tracks and evade user bans by using mobile and encryption networks, and they use information to exploit the trust of others through social engineering. These advances, of course, relate to the first point about increasing government information gathering, in an ever escalating game of cat and mouse. None of these are insurmountable problems, but they require immense resources to address reliably, effectively, and safely at scale. Those are outside the reach of all but a tiny handful of massive companies like Facebook and Google.

So it is with these themes in mind that EP came to the conclusions it did. Better to freeze what is there today, instead of letting it erode, and affect their ability to deliver value, safety, and to respect their users' trust and expectations.

Leadership

Armen Berjikly is founder and CEO of the community, with executive leadership including Neil Sheth and Julio Vasconcellos.

Origins

Experience Project was started by Armen Berjikly in late 2004. After a close friend's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis Berjikly created This is MS, an online community for MS patients and caregivers focused on inspiring hope in patients through knowledge of current research. As This is MS grew, Berjikly identified that the key benefit to patients was not the editorialized content, but the relationships that formed between people who understood each other through the shared experience of having multiple sclerosis. Experience Project extended the ability to connect with people who understood each other to all experiences, and thus, all people.

General media coverage

• Forbes
• Read Write Web
• UCLA Daily Bruin
• Wired Review
• CNET Review
• Planet.nl Reviews (Dutch)
• Venture Beat

Notes

1. "Experienceproject.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
2. "Experience Project Database". Experience Project. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
3. "Deep Dark Secrets on the World Wide Web". UCLA Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
4. "Anonymity on the Net". Forbes. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
5. http://www.experienceproject.com/until-we-meet-again

External links

• Experience Project

• Articles with close paraphrasing from March 2016
• Misplaced Pages articles needing copy edit from March 2016
• Companies based in San Francisco, California
• Social networking services
• Virtual communities