I joined Classmates.com years ago, probably when Zuckerburg was still in junior high, and I've stayed with it mainly through inertia. Once every two or three years someone would try to contact me and I'd "upgrade" to Classmates' gold membership to swap updates. It's given fair entertainment value.
But lately Classmates has cranked their marketing machine into high gear, and it's getting tiresome. Part of the problem is that they don't really have anything to market-- any people who would post to my Classmates page are probably all on Facebook now. I haven't had a new hit in many months, and I've dialed back all my "update me" settings, but I still get breathless e-mails from Classmates exclaiming excitedly about things that happened on my guestbook months ago.
I'm seeing other signs of desperation, too, such as their offer to scan our high-school yearbook in exchange for a gold membership-- as long as we're the first person in our class to send that yearbook. (Of course we can't tell whether Classmates quickly scanned it before regretfully informing us that we're #2 or #3 to respond... unless they forget to Photoshop all the handwriting of the people who've signed the yearbooks.) Other days I get 50% discount offers on gold membership. Classmates was also indicted to settle a lawsuit over a deceptive advertising scheme a few years ago where they tricked people into having their credit cards automatically billed without full disclosure.
Like their other corporate service, Juno e-mail, Classmates was a pretty good deal when they were the only show in town. These days it looks like Classmates is about to become the next social-network victim to shut down, although they're going to spam the hell out of me before going dark. But I already have a Facebook account plus a Navy.TogetherWeServed.com account, and I don't see any reason to stick with Classmates. Haven't seen much motivation to socialize with my actual high-school classmates, either.
Anyone else here still finding value or a novel use out of Classmates?
But lately Classmates has cranked their marketing machine into high gear, and it's getting tiresome. Part of the problem is that they don't really have anything to market-- any people who would post to my Classmates page are probably all on Facebook now. I haven't had a new hit in many months, and I've dialed back all my "update me" settings, but I still get breathless e-mails from Classmates exclaiming excitedly about things that happened on my guestbook months ago.
I'm seeing other signs of desperation, too, such as their offer to scan our high-school yearbook in exchange for a gold membership-- as long as we're the first person in our class to send that yearbook. (Of course we can't tell whether Classmates quickly scanned it before regretfully informing us that we're #2 or #3 to respond... unless they forget to Photoshop all the handwriting of the people who've signed the yearbooks.) Other days I get 50% discount offers on gold membership. Classmates was also indicted to settle a lawsuit over a deceptive advertising scheme a few years ago where they tricked people into having their credit cards automatically billed without full disclosure.
Like their other corporate service, Juno e-mail, Classmates was a pretty good deal when they were the only show in town. These days it looks like Classmates is about to become the next social-network victim to shut down, although they're going to spam the hell out of me before going dark. But I already have a Facebook account plus a Navy.TogetherWeServed.com account, and I don't see any reason to stick with Classmates. Haven't seen much motivation to socialize with my actual high-school classmates, either.
Anyone else here still finding value or a novel use out of Classmates?
I just don't have time for former classmates showing up at my doorstep.
