The founder of Skyrock radio announced it last June in a post: “Skyblogs go down in history”. It’s done Monday August 21, 2023, Skyblog is no more. The exchange platform, very popular with French teenagers since its creation in 2002, ceases to operate “to bring ourselves into compliance with personal data legislation, to keep the platform and the skyblogs in their candid and eruptive presentation, we need to freeze it and remove it from public access”as recalled by the president of the Skyrock group.
Skyblogs have left their mark on a whole generation of teenagers who have been able to share their moods and pour out their thoughts on anything and everything, with anyone, to the point of speaking of the “Skyblog generation”. “Millions of you have been in the early 2000s to embark on the creation of a skyblog, to publish texts, photos, to comment… You have contributed to creating one of the first social networks in the world. You Were the pioneers of a mode of communication and collective exchange that would change our societies. You invented shared intimacy”wrote Pierre Bellanger in his June post.
Skyblogs became the 17th site in the world in 2007, likes to recall the founder of Skyrock. And like its successors, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and other Instagrams, skyblogs have had to fight against trolls, harassment, moderation difficulties…
The National Library of France (BNF) and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) will be responsible for archiving some of the 19 million blogs still in existence. The two institutions want to collect 12 million and 1.6 million respectively. The Skyblog teams invite Internet users who still have content to also download it locally, on their computer.
“We lived together these exceptional moments, so strong. A magical freedom of expression, which no longer exists. Here T Libre!”writes Pierre Bellanger again.