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Partyflock is a Dutch
virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who connect through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals. Some of the most pervasive virtual communi ...
for people interested in
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
and other electronic dance music. Since 2001, Partyflock has evolved into the biggest online community for the dance scene in the Netherlands, with over 400 thousand members and 500 million page views a month.
History
In 2001 Partyflock was started by Thomas van Gulick, then a student at the
University of Twente
The University of Twente (Dutch: ''Universiteit Twente''; , abbr. ) is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands.
The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...
. The University of Twente and Studenten Net Twente stimulated the growth of the site by allowing it to generate large amounts of
web traffic
Web traffic is the data sent and received by visitors to a website. Since the mid-1990s, web traffic has been the largest portion of Internet traffic. Sites monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic to see which parts or pages of their site are ...
as long as the site had no commercial goals. After Thomas’s graduation, Partyflock left the campus grounds and became an independent website.
Until March 2005 Partyflock was run entirely by volunteers. All computer hardware was paid for by member donations.
In February 2006 Partyflock counted 403,754 active members and on a monthly basis around one and a half million people visit the site. The site generates around 500 million page views per month.
In February 2007 Partyflock hosted a large indoor dance festival in the
Gelredome
The GelreDome () is a football stadium in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. It is one of the largest and most modern stadiums in the country, built from 1996 to 1998 at a cost equivalent to €75 million, that opened on 25 March 1998. The stadium ...
in
Arnhem
Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...
to celebrate its fifth anniversary. Over 19,000 members attended "Flockers," as the festival was called.
Important elements of the website are the news section, a calendar with party dates for over 23,500 artists, 4,525 locations and 2,200 organizations; a photo section with over 400,000 party pictures, and an interactive forum on which a variety of topics are discussed that are of interest to Partyflock’s members. Subjects include music, new releases, parties, artists and clubs; and also sports, health, relationships and current affairs. Partyflock also has a sub-forum where English speaking members can post.
VPRO
The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...