Netlog Corporate Blog

Netlog - the leading European social portal - has been temporarily unavailable due to a power outage in the LCL datacenter in Diegem. Unfortunately the backup power supplies were overloaded and failed as well.

Netlog has more than 1.000 servers, spread across different datacentres around Brussels. The power outage problem is now solved, however the databases have been damaged because of this unanticipated event. Netlog expects them to be recovered tonight by 8pm (CET).

Netlog has no control over the power supplies in the LCL datacentre. Nevertheless, they decided to call for a mobile generator, powered by Power Solutions (based in Wilrijk) that arrived around midnight (31st March/1st April). Sadly, LCL datacentre is still unable to provide backup power supplies. The power is only temporarily fixed.
Netlog would like to apologize to its 34 million European, in particular the 2 million Belgian and 1 million Dutch members who had to wait the most. ‘The technical team has been working around the clock and is doing everything in their power to bring the site back online in its best shape as soon as possible’, says Lorenz Bogaert, Netlog’s CEO. ‘We will do all that is necessary to prevent such situations in the future, but we want to stress that this outage was out of our control.’
Netlog wasn’t the only unavailable website during this time. Nevertheless its absence has definitely been the most significant as, with 25 million pageviews per day, Netlog is the most visited internet webpage in Belgium.

To help kick off 2008, we are thrilled to announce that different European media have picked up Netlog this week.

Yesterday the Belgian Radio and Television Network, VRT featured Netlog in the news. The topic included an interview with the founders, Toon Coppens and Lorenz Bogaert, and also two enthusiastic Netlog sisters, who motivate why they are so fond of our social network.

Earlier this week, the German television ZDF and newspaper Handelsblatt highlighted Netlog. The bimonthly paper for internet professionals ‘Internet World Business’ included Netlog in a piece on social networking site statistics.

Even more, Netlog won an award issued by the renomated Mashable!, the world’s largest blog on social networking. The ceremony is tonight and will take place in San Francisco.

During the last days of 2007, Netlog was also awarded the ‘Web Site of the Year Award‘ as best community site in Italy, the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

Over a quarter of a million readers from 30 renowned blog sites such as Mashable!, Blognation, Alarm:Clock and Social Networking Watch have nominated and voted Netlog as winner of the Open Web Award in the category Mainstream and Large Social Networks. The award ceremony will take place in San Francisco on January 10th. The first ever Open Web Awards were organized by Mashable!, the world’s largest blog on social networking and sponsored by Wired, the world’s leading technology and innovation magazine.
Earlier this month Netlog also was awarded the Web Site of the Year Award as best community site in Italy, the UK, France, Germany and Spain.

The winners of the European competition ‘Site of the Year 2007’ - the most important election of public and professional websites – were revealed yesterday. Every year this survey is organized by Metrixlab in 9 European countries, and contestants are reviewed on content, navigation and design. Netlog won the award for Community of the Year in no less than 5 countries: Germany, France, Spain, UK and in Italy (more details below)!

It is highly unique for a community site to win in as many European countries. We can proudly say this demonstrates the flexiblity in which Netlog leaps language barriers. And even more important in the end, it shows how 30 million happy Netlog members recognize our efforts. These awards highlight the growing importance of social communities in the day-to-day life of youngsters in Europe and the rest of the world.

• UK: Best Community Site
• Germany: Beliebteste Communities Seite
• France: Meilleur site communautaire
• Spain: Mejor página de Comunidades
• Italy: Il sito più popolare per le comunità

We are very pleased to announce that on the first of November the Wall Street Journal published an article solely dedicated to Netlog. The article highlights Netlog’s unprecedented ability to adapt globally. The original article can be found here. The Wall Street Journal is the world’s leading business publication, read across the globe.

Wow! Today our stats page announced that we’ve hit the 25 million user milestone. Actually we already hit it 3 days earlier, as we didn’t add the 300.000 Scandinavian users who joined us over the last couple of weeks. Since we’ve launched in the Nordics, Netlog is available in 13 different languages over the European continent. Our users are generating almost 4 billion pageviews and over 150 million visits a month.
Congratulations to our team and to all of our users all over Europe!