Xanga

Xanga /ˈzæŋɡə/ is a website that hosts weblogs, photoblogs, and social networking profiles. It is operated by Xanga.com, Inc. and based in New York City.

Origins

Xanga began in 1999 as a site for sharing book and music reviews. According to Alexa Internet, an internet metrics website, Xanga's ranking has continually declined since 2007.

History

Xanga was introduced in October 1999, in a format dissimilar to its current strain. The following year, Xanga became public as a result of a series of e-mail recruitment methods via GeoCities sent by Bianca Broussard, a fictional PR personality of Xanga. In 2001, Biz Stone, the former Creative Director left Xanga. He eventually went on to become part of the Blogger team at Google, and then to work at a new internet startup, Odeo.

Over the next few years, Xanga underwent several formatting changes. Featured Content was divided in 2002 into Premium and Classic views with Premium as the default. In 2005, Lifetime Premium was withdrawn as Xanga introduced Premium Plus. Eventually, new profile features such as friends, "nudges", and chatboards that resemble Facebook were added. In 2006, Xanga launched Xanga Video and Audio.