The number of storylines suggested by our readers would probably fill a second HotViews each day. But I was really interested to learn that iAnnounce had been bought by US Legacy.com. The UK site had been developed by a friend of the CEO of one of our clients who lamented that it was ‘sadly another example of the Little British Battler being 'taken out' at an early stage’.
Whereas Legacy.com is a US site, iAnnounce does the same in UK and Europe. The closest descriptor is that it’s ‘Facebook for the Dead’. It takes family notices (mainly deaths but also including weddings and other happier events too) from newspapers and makes them available online. This simple service has made Legacy.com one of Top 200 most visited sites! iAnnounce has 2m users and has already put up over 5m such announcements (I tested it for my own parents which it failed to find…). Legacy.com CEO says that ‘Death is the most viral event that ever occurs’. From experience, I do ‘get that’. You really do have to tell people very quickly. In turn, people do ‘like’ to post their condolences, memories etc.
The sites are funded by ads. Today’s headline is for Grief Counselling. One step on from my sponsored lead ad on my Facebook page today which is for Funeral Services.