Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Dot-com (2006-present) |
Founded | 2005 |
Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States |
Key people | Ben Elowitz (CEO) Rob Grady (COO) |
Products | Wiki hosting and professionally published content |
Revenue | Venture capital funded |
Owner(s) | IBC Corporation |
Employees | 41 |
Website | http://www.wetpaint.com/ |
Wetpaint is a Seattle, Washington-based company, founded in 2005, that hosts both user-generated and professionally created content. Wetpaint began as a wiki farm, hosting wikis using their own proprietary software. In 2010, the main site was rebranded as Wetpaint Entertainment, a website focused on TV entertainment for the female 18-34 demographic. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint" and moved to an auxiliary site.
Over two million wikis have been created on Wetpaint.[1]
Contents |
Company history
Wetpaint was originally named Wikisphere.[2] Wetpaint was founded in October 2005 and also received its initial A round of venture capital funding of USD5.25 million from Trinity Ventures and Frazier Technology Ventures in October 2005.[3] Wetpaint closed a USD9.5 million 'B' round of funding in January 2007, adding Accel Partners to the list of investors.[4] Wetpaint closed a Series C round of venture capital funding of USD25 million in May 2008. Investors included Accel Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures.
Wetpaint was a sponsor of Wikimania 2006. It was named by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2007.[5]
In March 2008, Wetpaint added social networking features.[6]
In 2009, Wetpaint won the WTIA Industry Achievement Award.[7] In 2010 it was named in Lead411's Hottest Seattle Companies list.[8]
In July 2009, Wetpaint laid off 15 of their 56 employees.[9] An additional 9 employees, including co-founders Kevin Flaherty and Alex Berg, were laid off on December 4.[10] The company also decided to refocus the website on professionally created content. Both steps were taken as a result of declining online ad revenue.[10]
During late 2010, Wetpaint re-launched its main wetpaint.com homepage as The Wetpaint Entertainment platform, a set of new online TV fan destination sites.[11] The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint", and moved to the URL wetpaintcentral.com.
Notable Wetpaint partners have included Fox Entertainment Group, HBO, Showtime, IGN, NY Giants, Houston Rockets, T-Mobile, HTC, Oracle Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Discovery Channel, and Lucas Arts.[12]
Wiki farm permissioning
The "Wikis by Wetpaint" platform uses a simple permissions system to give various users different rights. Site administrators can set permissions levels for their entire site, individual pages, and individual users. For example, an administrator may restrict the editing of a page to registered users only; anonymous users who have not logged in and joined the site will not be able to edit the content.
The highest rank of each wikis by Wetpaint site is its creator, who has full permissions over the wiki. Directly beneath the creator are the administrators, who can do everything a creator can do except demote the creator or other administrators. Registered users of a site may be promoted to writers or moderators at the discretion of the administrators.[13]
References
- ^ "Systems Admin Job post". Wetpaint. 2010-06-25. http://www.wetpaint.com/page/jobs-linux-system-administrator.
- ^ "Startup Wikisphere changes its name to Wetpaint". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 2005-12-01. http://blog.seattlepi.com/venture/archives/100675.asp.
- ^ Cook, John (2005-11-02). "Startup Wikisphere raises $5.25 million in 1st round". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://www.seattlepi.com/business/246734_wiki02.html.
- ^ "Wiki Providers Score Funding". Red Herring. 2007-02-22. http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21412&hed=Wiki+Providers+Score+Funding§or=Industries&subsector=InternetAndServices.
- ^ "Wetpaint.com - 50 Best Websites 2007". Time Magazine. 2007-07-09. http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1633488_1633608_1633634,00.html.
- ^ "Wetpaint Goes Social". press release (Wetpaint). 2008-03-10. http://press.wetpaint.com/page/Wetpaint+Goes+Social. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
- ^ Ontela, Visible, Wetpaint Win WTIA Awards
- ^ LEAD411 LAUNCHES "HOTTEST SEATTLE COMPANIES" AWARDS
- ^ "Seattle Layoff Update:Targeted Genetics, Wetpaint, Google, and Others Cut Staff". xconomy. 2009-08-26. http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2009/07/27/seattle-layoff-update-targeted-genetics-wetpaint-google-and-others-cut-staff/.
- ^ a b "Exclusive: Wetpaint cuts staff, changes focus to publishing". John Cook, TechFlash. http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/12/exclusive_wetpaint_cuts_staff_changes_focus_to_online_publishing.html.
- ^ Wetpaint Launches Online TV Fan Destination With Coverage Of This Fall's Most Anticipated TV Programs
- ^ Partner With Wetpaint
- ^ Wetpaint Central Permissions Page