1 hour Ago
A Look Back at Hyves' Rise and Fall
Hyves wasn't always a footnote in internet history. Back in 2010 and 2011, at the height of its popularity, the site had pulled in more than 10 million users in a country where the total population is only around 16 million. That's a staggering share of the Netherlands logging on regularly. That same year, Telegraaf Media Group, known as TMG, saw enough value in the platform to buy it for 43.7 million euros. But the good times didn't last. Facebook began overtaking Hyves in the Dutch market by 2011, and the momentum never swung back. By late 2013, TMG made the call to shut the network down entirely, choosing to redirect its energy toward gaming instead. Anyone who wanted to keep their old posts and photos had a deadline of mid-November 2013 to download their content before it disappeared for good.
What the New Hyves Will Look Like
So what happens now, over a decade later? According to the people behind the relaunch, the new Hyves will feel surprisingly familiar to anyone who used it back in the day. That nostalgic design choice was intentional, not an oversight. Old-school features are making a comeback too, things like leaving notes on someone's page, sharing glitter graphics, and yes, even those dancing banana animations people used to love. The team behind the site summed up their philosophy simply: a social network needs to actually be social first. Their goal is less noise and clutter, more genuine overview, and more space for the connections that actually matter to users.
It's also worth noting that this launch isn't the finished product. The company has been upfront that this first version is just a starting point, with more features, including private messaging, expected to roll out over time. They're planning to shape future updates around what actual users tell them they want. On the technical side, Hyves says it's been built using European infrastructure and will be hosted within Europe, with a promise that user data won't be handed over to third parties.
