Chat Café

Hereby I will provide you with interviews with founders and CEO’s of social networking platforms:

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Interview with Lorenz Bogaert founder and CEO Netlog NV

Lorenz Bogaert Founder and CEO of Netlog

Netlog.com is a social network that focuses on young people. The Web 2.0 platform is created after a merger of several local networks including Redbox, Facebox and O’box.
This all under the control of a Belgian company.
The success story of Netlog resides mainly on the ability to have a profile in different languages, the platform is available in more than 25 countries and in 19 languages.

How did Netlog started?

Immediately after the eruption of the Internet bubble, came to light several sites where databases were used and which users could create profiles. Before 2002 we’ve created several sites without much success, but by 2002, Redbox was born, a social network site for Flemish young, quickly, other network platforms such as O’box for the Netherlands and Gentebox for Spanish youth were created. Each platform was adapted to the local language. By 2007 Netlog was born by a fusion of all these platforms.

Why the name Netlog?

We found the name Netlog more appealing for youngsters.

What are the strengths of Netlog, and what is the success behind the concept?

For us the user profile is at the centre of gravity. Netlog is an entertainment site, so we continually create new technology and applications for the users to play. Netlog is multilingual and cross-language, which is important because there are no language barriers. We had noticed that, following the pattern of our cultural society minorities, which continuously met in groups were they share the same language. We saw quickly that the need for language was of great interest. This contributes to a more personalized profile.
Other nice applications were added to the site as emoticons that are now part of the Netlog culture. Let us say that Netlog is especially social interactive.

With more than 36 million registrations Netlog is at this moment according to the Alexa’s ranking the 26th most visited social network site for the Web Search. Where does this growth go?

First, they are already 40 million users, regarding the growth of Netlog, we want to add more user-friendly applications. The ability to fully customize the profile.. The possibility of simultaneously using different languages, thanks to an automatic translation system.

What were the biggest growth obstacles for Netlog?

The difficulty is certainly the scalability, this is because the number of profiles grows exponentially, so we needed more memory with the result that we had to buy more servers, including a constant investment in the system.

I’ve seen a video of your company presentation, I have noticed that your team is mainly composed of young people. What is the reason?

Well, yes we are a young company therefore we express dynamism. We’ve all started young with age between 18 and 23. It is also true that the team also grows with the company.

Maybe young people understand better the Netlog population?

Yes, of course, that plays a role

Lorenz, you’re a Belgian Success Story, has this experience changed your life?

Well, yes. When I started I was very young and had little responsibility. Now I am responsible to a hundred people and millions of users worldwide.

What is the future of social networks?

Social network has evolved from “common desking” , at the moment it has entered in a more mature phase therefore there are attempts to monetize the concept.

The future seems to convergence all the daily jobs, everything will be done online, business, job, entertainment, shopping, banking, live communication, etc. We will also be teleported from network to network via online portals, so that all your contacts will be reachable on all networks. Like you can do today with online gaming.

Good Lord Lorenz it was a pleasure to talk with you and we wish you much success with your career.

(interviewed 26 January 2009)