Ask.fm
Ask.fm is a question and answer format social networking site founded in 2010 that allows users to ask questions anonymously. It was created by brothers Ilja and Mark Terebin in Riga, Latvia who wanted to create a rival of Formspring, another Q and A style social networking site. Questions are only displayed publicly on ones' profile when they respond to them, and users can opt out of answering questions. Ask.fm has a reputation for its ethical concerns as it is a site where an abundance of cyberbullying has occurred, and the website and app has also been linked to the suicides of five teens in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
History
Ownership
In 2010, lja and Mark Terebin founded Ask.fm. In 2014, the site was bought by InterActiveCorp (IAC), the company that owns Ask.com. IAC promised to improve safety measures and address bullying concerns. In 2016, IAC sold Ask.fm to asset management firm Noosphere.
Headquarters
When Ask.fm was purchased by IAC in 2014, their headquarters moved from Latvia to Dublin, Ireland. IAC determined that in order to help Ask.fm with their safety issues, they need to have them in a location with pre existing infrastructure and networks.
Branding and Interface
When it was first created in 2010, Ask.fm was initially thought of as a place to anonymously send questions. Ask.fm featured tabs to see questions submitted to the user and friends’ responses to questions.
A rebrand in 2016 highlighted the natural collective curiosity humans have as social beings. It emphasized the importance of learning about people’s thoughts and feelings to create better connections and discover more about oneself. This rebranding included more simple elements to allow users’ to emulate their own personalities. They also included the ability to respond to questions with gifs from GIPHY.
In 2017, a discovery page was created for users to see the most liked posts in their area and people that use similar hashtags. Updates were also made that provided more customizable background options, hashtags for profiles, suggested friend connections, a “view more” button for long posts, and the ability for the user to indicate if they are online or offline.
Later in 2017, to address negative comments and the issue of self-bullying, Ask.fm implemented the emotion-distress management service, Koko. Self-bullying is a phenomenon where users send themselves hurtful messages anonymously to display on their page for followers to see. Koko finds this type of content and removes it as well as offers support users affected by pointing them to support.
In 2018, Ask.fm works with a UK charity, and adds a Safety Center page on the website that includes material to educate students, teachers, and parents about online safety and specific Ask.fm safety features.
