Just because entrepreneurs have an unending well of inspiration for intimate social networks doesn’t mean that users—or revenues—follow. Proust, the social diary service launched by IAC back in July, told users via email today that the site will close on January 31. The company, which tried to emphasize sharing deep, personal memories with close friends and family, offered a data export tool for any content that may have been uploaded, reports AllThingsD.
Proust started in beta in 2010. Since then, however, features like the ability to visualize one’s life history as a timeline, have been adopted by another social network you may have heard something about one time.
In a statement, IAC wrote:
“Since its launch in 2010, Proust slowly gained users but did not result in an associated revenue substantial enough to maintain operations. We explored several strategic options for Proust, but decided that the best option was to fold its assets into IAC.”
In an email to AllThingsD, co-founder and CEO Tom Cortese said he was “totally bummed.”
Oh c’mon, that’s not very Proustian. How about something more like, “It is not because other people are dead that our affection for them grows faint, it is because we ourselves are dying.”
