Long before Instagram emerged and became a fever, the 2000s had other social networks of photos popular with Brazilians, such as VibeFlog, FlogĂŁo and Fotolog. This last one, in particular, was the most successful, passing the mark of 22 million active accounts in 2018. However, its limit of daily registrations made people resort to alternative platforms that offered previously innovative customization options.
Among them, there was the inclusion of a soundtrack, background customization and even the use of animated images instead of the title. If you were a fan of one of these networks, remember how they worked below.
Instagram or Snapchat: see features copied between rivals
Social networks that (almost) everyone has used
Fotolog.net (which later became Fotolog.com) was the most famous photo sharing network in the world in the 2000s. However, being part of this community of fotologuers was not easy: in the beginning, the service offered only 500 new free users per day in each country. This number, however, became unlimited as of August 2016.
Those who used the service for free could only post one photo per day and the number of comments was limited to ten (and later increased to 20). Supporters of “Gold Camera patrons” were able to publish up to six images every day, which were able to receive up to 200 comments each.
Fotolog can still be accessed – Photo: Reproduction / Taysa Coelho
According to Wikipedia, in September 2008 Chile had the largest number of accounts in the network (4,827,387), followed by Argentina (4,225,209 accounts) and Brazil, with 1,443,474 users. That same year, Fotolog declared that it had 22 million registered users and 19.1 million unique visits per month. In February 2016, those who accessed the site viewed a message stating that the service would be discontinued. However, the page is still live and it is still possible to access the profiles and check the images of the accounts.
Flogão appeared in Brazil as an alternative for those who never managed to be one of Fotolog’s 500 free daily users. The social network even has the name of the rival in its slogan («The Fotolog in your way»). As well as the platform that served as inspiration, it has (until today) two versions of the service: one free and one paid.
Flogão was one of the fotolog sites that marked the time – Photo: Reproduction / Isabela Giantomaso
The «Brazilian version of Fotolog» had more resources than the original. At Flogão, users can insert animated titles, soundtracks and background images. Despite maintaining the same layout as the golden days, the site still has active users who even publish more than one photo per day. Among them, there are many profiles focused on photos of trucks, which seems to have become a trend that has won fans there.
FlogVip in 2018 – Photo: Reproduction / Taysa Coelho
FlogVip is another national alternative to Fotolog, and promised the user to be the place «where the star is you», as its slogan says. Unlike the rival, it had no limit on the number of photos per day, nor comments. The biggest novelty of the platform was the numerous possibilities for personalization, such as placing music and animations in the photos, including images in the title, changing the wallpaper, changing the mouse cursor, among others. According to the developer’s blog, the site had 85,000 active users and 15,000 unique daily visits in 2009. The social network still exists and has the same layout as in the past (which can cause strangeness these days).
Meadd also maintains an old look – Photo: Reproduction / Taysa Coelho
With a very suggestive name, Meadd was another network that emerged after the popularization of Fotolog. Its personalization features are very similar to those of FlogĂŁo and FlogVip: it allows using animated images in the title, changing the background, including soundtrack, among others.
Created in 2007, the service remains on the air and, currently, accounts honoring successful artists and series are popular. Like competitors, it also offers users free and paid subscription options.
