Initial objectives:
As set out by a group of English friends living in Europe in January 2010:
- build a social network with strong and dependable privacy controls
- functionality and features of a normal social network, additional blog tools and in-house gaming
- no advertising based around user content
- no third-party applications phishing and selling user content
The people behind the site:
Folkdirect.com is designed and maintained by professional
programmers supported in-house by a team of internet users and
enthusiasts. Without external funding the team have been able to focus
entirely on user feedback, not corporate agendas, and improve on their
existing platform.
"We're listening to our users by honing features and implementing new
ones on a daily basis" said Guildford (Surrey, England) born Joe
Wakeford, CEO of folkdirect.com. "Privacy, data security and fun are key
to our product which will remain free to use." When not overseeing the
day-to-day running of the site, Wakeford is a music producer and
songwriter to big names around the globe. He values an efficient, secure
communication system based around an intuitive and consistent platform.
Why join?
For some, joining a new site or making a change is perceived as an effort – folkdirect.com has a
short join form on its intro page giving users direct access to the following benefits:
- robust privacy controls
- no adverts using user data
- all the usual social tools along with a blog section, live chat
- no third party applications phishing user data
- online gaming section with user-controlled championships
- business opportunities for advertisers
- free access 24/7
The site includes mechanisms for the reporting of unwanted or illegal
content and a user blocking system to remove unwelcome contacts to aid
the security of its users.
We're happy to see you've found our site! Now the
fun can begin. We've put together a secure site with all the features
you're used to on a social platform - comment walls, groups, live chat,
blogs - but now with rock-solid privacy controls that you control.
You decide who gets to see what you want to include, not us. You can
even use a preset avatar as your profile picture.
Your details remain your own and even when shown
to more than just you will never become fodder for targeted advertising
campaigns. Search for old friends, search for new ones, upload pictures,
write your own blog... whatever you want to do and wherever you are.
When logged in, the key icon
indicates privacy controls. You can set-up
custom friend groups and in fact show nobody anything if you so desire! Contact
us with any questions - enjoy the site!
