R.I.P Polyvore

I'm shook!

Here I am opening my laptop ready to have a quick browse through Pinterest and Polyvore for some much-needed outfit inspiration. As I type Polyvore.com into my search bar I'm baffled when I'm redirected to ssense.com.What on earth is happening? Where is Polyvore? Do I have some sort of bug on my laptop? did I press the wrong key somehow? I try again and am instantly redirected to ssense.com. This time I take a second to read what is presented to me... Polyvore is now SSENSE?????? what? why? when? why?

ssense.com

ssense.com

I immediately decided to put my panic to rest, this was clearly an error in judgment, Polyvore must have simply rebranded. As I attempt to navigate the site I soon realise my faith in Polyvore was clearly misguided. Ssense is purely a shopping site, not a community-based platform that allows people to create their own sets and share and communicate with others. So where and when did Polyvore go?

Polyvore was founded in 2007, Yahoo acquired the company in 2015 for $200 million. Last year Yahoo was quired by Verizon who merged with AOL to form Oath, Still with me? From here we're not entirely sure what happened if the site or simply the domain name was acquired by another company or if Oath is the parent company of ssense and simply decided to shut Polyvore down. 

It looks as though Polyvore and the mood board making community within is gone for good. After facing a backlash from the Polyvore community SSense has allowed users to log back in and download their content, messages, and mood boards. However, some Polyvore users are finding their mood boards being used in Sense advertisement with no acknowledgment to Polyvore or the original creator. Is this another case of not reading the fine print of the terms and conditions, or in fact illegal, misrepresentation and false advertisement?

As a Polyvore user, I can confirm that no email, warning or information about the closing, take over or rebranding of the site was issued to its users. It's extremely disappointing, unprofessional and rather worrying, that a company is able to do this. I would like to know what is happening to everyone's data, their information and messages, and how that information will be used? 

With this and the Facebook data scandal, it's reinforced people's worries about their safety on social media sites. A site that is made to be a friendly environment where you are able to create and share your work is misleading, what sites can we trust? what if this were to happen to another one of our beloved and popular sites? Which will be next to go? Where will our data and information go?

shoplook.io

urstyle.com

Some companies were quick off the mark, spotting a now open gap in the market and swopping in to 'save the day'. A lot of the sites and app offer a community-based shopping and mood board creating. ShopLook and Urstyle have seen an increase in users since the Polyvore fiasco. Villoid, GlamOutfit, Trendme, Niice, Chicvore, and iqon.jp , are also alternatives that some of the Polyvore community have turned to. 

Were you part of the Polyvore community? How has this change affected you? Are you going to try an alternative?

Thanks for Reading 

XO