Wetpaint was an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Function(X). Founded in 2005, Wetpaint both published the website Wetpaint Entertainment, focused on entertainment news, and developed a proprietary technology platform, the Social Distribution System, that was used to provide analytics for its own website as well as other online publishers. Wetpaint began as a

wiki farm A wiki hosting service, or wiki farm, is a server or an array of servers that offers users tools to simplify the creation and development of individual, independent wikis. Wiki farms are not to be confused with wiki "families", a more generic ...

, hosting

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...

s using its own proprietary software, before moving into hosting of professional content in 2010. Wetpaint's wiki-hosting component was spun off completely in 2013 after being purchased by Wikifoundry. Wikifoundry ceased operations in June 2021, decommissioning the original Wetpaint wiki-farm after 15 years

History

Wetpaint was originally called Wikisphere, and begun as a

, hosting

s using proprietary software. It was co-founded in October 2005 by Ben Elowitz, who had previously co-founded the online jewelry retailer Blue Nile Inc. In December 2005, the company and site were renamed to Wetpaint. In October 2005, the company received its initial A round of venture capital funding of US$5.25 million from Trinity Ventures and Frazier Technology Ventures. Wetpaint closed a US$9.5 million 'B' round of funding in January 2007, adding

Accel Partners Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional ...

to the list of investors. Wetpaint closed a Series C round of venture capital funding of US$25 million in May 2008. Investors included Accel Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Frazier Technology Ventures. Wetpaint was named by ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' as one of the 50 Best Websites of 2007. In March 2008, Wetpaint added

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 ...

features. In July 2009, Wetpaint laid off 15 of their 56 employees. An additional 9 employees, including co-founders Kevin Flaherty and Alex Berg, were laid off in December. The company also decided to refocus the website on professionally created content. Both steps were taken as a result of declining online ad revenue. During late 2009, Wetpaint re-launched its main homepage, at wetpaint.com, as the Wetpaint Entertainment platform, a set of new online TV fan destination sites, geared toward the female 18-34 demographic. The wiki farm was renamed "Wikis by Wetpaint", and was moved to the domain wetpaintcentral.com. In December 2010, the company announced the Wetpaint Social Distribution System. In December 2012, Wetpaint was acquired by Viggle, an entertainment rewards platform, which was shortly renamed to its former name, Function(X). Updates to wetpaint.com stopped in 2018, leaving the site stagnant until it finally went defunct in mid-2020.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20180214115902/http://www.wetpaint.com/ (Archived) American entertainment websites Infotainment Online mass media companies of the United States Companies established in 2005 Private equity portfolio companies Social media companies Wiki farms