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Social Network Bans 5,000 for Being Fat

January 5, 2010 · 4 Comments

By Erik Qualman

As reported by Robin Wauters of TechCrunch social network  BeautifulPeople.com indicates it has kicked out 5,000 users for becoming too chubby over the Holidays.

The network which is based on not letting “ugly” people in said some photos revealed that some of its members indulged in a little too much eggnog and cookies.  In Trendspotting’s 2010 Social Media Influencers review, Chris Brogan, author of Trust Agents, predicted that in 2010 we’d see more “gate-keeper” type communities.  Well at least in this case it appears that prediction has already come true.

My personal take is that it is a great marketing ploy by BeautifulPeople.com while at the same time it’s a sad reflection on society.

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4 responses so far ↓

  • Mary Ann Halford // January 5, 2010 at 2:56 pm | Reply

    Erik, I agree with your assessment. This is clearly a marketing ploy given their significant press coverage on a GLOBAL basis [n.b. Copenhagen-based service went GLOBAL in fall 2009[ – all the way from the Detroit Free Press to the Toronto Sun to the Huffington Post to the BBC and more. I also love the fact that the largest number of the 5,000 fatties kicked off were from English language countries – US (1,520), UK (832) and Canada (533).

  • Tammy Hart // January 5, 2010 at 2:06 pm | Reply

    Apparently they are telling fibs while they filter through your profile to see if you match:

    Dear member,

    BeautifulPeople.com has launched globally.
    The launch is being extensively covered by the global media.

    The huge media coverage is currently generating so much traffic on our servers that we have had to limit some users from using the site.
    We are sorry for the inconvenience.

    We’re excited to welcome you, so please check back later.

    Thanks
    The BeautifulPeople Team

    Note:
    If you just created a new profile and was forwarded to this page, your profile was registered correctly and you will be notified when the site is again accessible.

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