Draugiem (''For Friends'') is a

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

website launched in 2004. It is the largest social networking website in Latvia with approximately 2.6 million registered users. The Draugiem social network operates under the Draugiem Group, an umbrella organisation that owns other IT-related companies which have developed as suppliers of technology to the social network. The English-language version of Draugiem is known as Frype.com.

History

The Draugiem.lv social network was founded in 2004 by Lauris Liberts and Agris Tamanis. In 2007, the company reported it had reached 1,000,000 users. By 2017 the company had opened offices and facilities in

Cēsis Cēsis (), (german: Wenden, liv, Venden, et, Võnnu, pl, Kieś) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Vidzeme Upland, Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja, Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges ...

, Barcelona, Los Angeles,

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

and

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

, as well as relocating their Rīga headquarters to a bigger building in the neighborhood of

Torņakalns Torņakalns is a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia located on the western bank of the Daugava River (neighbourhoods along this shore are collectively known as Pārdaugava). The name Torņakalns (''English: Tower Hill'') derives from a fortified t ...

. In 2019, Mapon (part of Draugiem Group) opened offices in Estonia and Finland. On the

2018 Latvian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Latvia on 6 October 2018. Following the elections, a coalition government was formed by Who owns the state?, the New Conservative Party, Development/For!, the National Alliance and New Unity. Despite being fr ...

on October 6 the main page of Draugiem.lv was hacked and replaced with an image of a

Russian flag The national flag of Russia (russian: Флаг России, Flag Rossii), also known as the ''State Flag of the Russian Federation'' (russian: Государственный флаг Российской Федерации, Gosudarstvenny fla ...

Russian president The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

and

Russian army The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...

, as well as text in Russian saying "Latvian comrades, this is for you. Russia's borders are boundless. Russian world can and needs to unite everyone who values Russian culture no matter where they live – in Russia or outside its borders. We recommend using the phrase ‘Russian world’ more often", while the

Russian national anthem The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with ...

played in the background. The website was taken offline and re-opened a few hours later.

Brands

Road Games

In 2019 the company created Roadgames, an adventure travel game, with an investment of EUR 100,000. The game requires participants to take part in tasks outside, and is intended as a team building activity for organizations.

Mapon

The Mapon brand was launched in 2006 to provide GPS tracking services for businesses, and is the second largest brand in the Draugiem company with 54 employees and offices in Finland.

Fast Brands

Fast Brands was launched in 2018 and provides companies with the opportunity to sell products online.

References

External links

*
The Baltic Course article about Draugiem.lv
Internet properties established in 2004 Latvian social networking websites 2004 establishments in Latvia {{socialnetwork-stub