Pitched as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter, an Eagle-based company’s social network looked like it started to gain traction.
Then, it disappeared.
But not before the company alluded to a potential cyber breach – and then abruptly went offline for maintenance.
AllSocial builds from Eagle
AllSocial filed to do business in the State of Idaho in 2018, according to filings with the state. The state documents listed the president as Mark Weimer, and a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission listed Ken Eldred and William Brock as director and executive officer, respectively.
Eldred is also the found of the Living Stones Foundation, a faith-based non profit that says it provides resources to “projects that lead to self-sustaining kingdom-building ministries.”
The company set up an office in Eagle, and according to Crunchbase, hired somewhere between 11 and 50 people, many of whom list their work at AllSocial on their LinkedIn pages.
‘No censorship,’ lots of cash
AllSocial proudly noted on its Twitter profile that it was “A social media platform with 100% reach and no viewpoint censorship.”
In an April news release announcing its debut, AllSocial touted it wouldn’t be the same as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
“The problem faced today with current social media platforms is that social posts often reach less than 5 percent of friends and followers… AllSocial does not filter or elevate content based on any particular ideology or interest, empowering all users to get the maximum reach for all posts and shared content.”
The company said at the time it racked up more than 1.6 million users. It had apps in the Apple and Google Play stores. It’s splashy homepage featured an Instagram-style grid of happy smiling faces.
The company said it hoped to offer an alternative.
“AllSocial is solving an ever increasing need to eliminate the frustration of flooded feeds filled with content that users are not interested in viewing,” AllSocial’s Chief Communications Officer Logan Kimball said in the release. “Over the past year, we’ve solicited a vast array of feedback. We’ve built our platform based on this input and our user experience is all the better for it.”
The Idaho Technology Council’s Deal Flow Report indicated the company raised $11.1 million in fuding a year ago this week. The Deal Flow Report said the funding came through “angel funding from undisclosed investors.” It was one of the largest funding rounds listed in the report last year.
The tabloid turn
Just a few days after the launch annoncement, AllSocial said it landed a deal with former Bachelor contestant Colton Underwood for a web series. The program even notched write-up in Us Magazine and People.
“It’s been so cool. This has been a project of mine that I’ve been working on for a long time, and to see it come to life has been amazing,” Underwood said of the AllSocial show to People.
He interviewed a variety of people – including his Bachelor co-star/girlfriend Cassie Randolph. The reality TV pair later landed on TMZ for restraining orders and dropping of those orders.
AllSocial hoped to land more influencers and celebrities. In an interview Kimball gave to an apparent Hollywood-focused site, he pitched it as a place to go for the Internet famous.
“AllSocial is putting the power and control back into the hands of brands, influencers, and users with its 100% reach for each post,” he said. “For influencers, this creates a more consistent, meaningful connection to their fan base.”
One of those influencers was Alex Jones – the Infowars host who had been kicked off platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for pushing false information.
Kimball said they hoped to get to “near 10 million users” by Christmas.
AllSocial falls apart
But after the debut, problems crept in.
On June 8th, the company posted an update to another social network – Twitter. It made an alarming warning: “There is a developer who claims he has our AllSocial source code.”
The Tweet, which is no longer publicly available, but available in the Internet Archive, played down the possible breach.
“We do not believe it is true. If it is true, it is an old version. It will not have an impact on AllSocial’s security or application.”
Eleven days later, AllSocial went dark.
On June 19th, a post said the site and apps would go offline for a “maintenance update.”
“Our Allsocial.com website and our AllSocial app are being taken offline today for a maintainence update. We apologize for any inconveience this may cause. We thank you so much for being users of AllSocial.”
The site never returned.
In the days and weeks after the shutdown, users asked on Twitter when it would come back up.
Last week, the company filed with the State of Idaho to formally terminate the business.
It turns out, that June 19th social post wasn’t a temporary maintenance move at alll. According to an August filing with the State of Idaho, AllSocial’s board of directors held a meeting that same day.
“The corporation’s board of directors, by unanimous vote at a meeting held on June 19, 2020, authorized dissolution of the corporation.”
The formal dissolution was approved by a majority of shareholders on July 23, according to the filing.
The company’s LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube pages have been removed. The website itself forwards to a page noting the domain is for sale. The AllSocial offices in Eagle is available for lease.
Requests for comment from AllSocial principals were not immediately returned.
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