Old Friends - About Us page
ABOUT US
A difference you'll appreciate! (more bang for the buck!)
- Old-Friends was created to be different than most of those other alumni sites. Why pay a monthly subscription for a service you use now and then?.
- Lowest price! By staying lean and not running expensive advertising campaigns, we've kept our costs down. Just like you did, thousands find us every day.
- Huge amount of records, and getting bigger every day! Since 2010, our content has grown to over 200 million student records in almost 2 million class lists, representing over 30,000 US and Canadian high schools.
- Lots of cool stuff! From online reunions and yearbook pages, to class rings lost and found, we continue to innovate ways for you to satisfy all your needs and interests. And we're not done yet. Many new, expanded and improved features are in the works!.
- Permanent home for you and your class. We've been serving you since 2010 and intend to be around a long, long time. Social media sites come and go, chasing the "next big idea". RIP MySpace.com, long live Old-Friends!
- We don't spam you. We only email you to notify you of recent significant activity in your class (death notices, new members, Sticky Notes, etc.) and major new changes to the services. Even then, we try to keep it to no more than every six weeks Of course, we also forward messages to you as they are left.
- Safe and trustworthy. Other sites have policies that favor their shareholders over their users. We collect only as much information as we need to serve your needs, and protect it carefully. (We don't even store your actual password, so it can never be stolen.) While we might (rarely) contact you about new projects, we will never sell your email address or other information. We don't give out contact information. Messages are forwarded to you and we do not reveal whether you have received them or not. If your name has changed since high school, we do not publish or share it.
- Pretty darn good customer service. For those occasional times when assistance is needed, our "Contact Us" support system will generally respond within a few hours. (To keep costs down, and pricing low, we only provide help through the "Contact Us" link or the chat window.)
- Safe and easy payment processing. We use Paypal's credit card processing widget, one of the world's most trusted processors. (You don't need a Paypal account, use *any* credit card.) To provide you the most options, we are working to add additional credit card processing services.
All are welcome!
Old-Friends isn't just for classmates. Many messages are left by those searching for military buddies, former co-workers, ex-neighbors, and even birth parents.
Current Features:
- Receive messages left for you.
- Send messages to members, leave messages for those who haven't discovered us yet. (members only)
- Browse profiles, photos and yearbook pages, when available. (members only)
- Remember classmates who have passed on.
- Participate in online reunions.(members only)
- Browse teacher lists.
- Report lost rings and found rings.
- Receive notifications of class reunions.
- Watch videos of past online reunions. (members only)
Upcoming Features:
Many new, expanded and improved features are in the works, which will include:
- Expanding to the rest of the world, including all colleges/universities and primary schools.
- Greater activity with reunions, both online and regular.
- Increasing the amount of uploaded yearbook pages.
- Increasing the amount of classmate biographies (profiles) and photos.
- Expanding the teachers and staff content.
- Increasing the reporting of deceased classmates and adding the ability to leave tributes.
- Increased capacity to share memories about classmates, teachers and school experiences.
How we started...
Old-Friends is the first project of Birchwood Media a US-based web publisher that began in 2010 when we dreamed of a better way to connect with classmates.
Our Vision:
Old-Friends implements that vision by providing lifetime access to the entire website for a one-time low membership fee, instead of the monthly subscriptions used on other alumni sites.
What makes us different?
Unlike those other sites, we do not use deceptive tactics to squeeze revenue from our members, nor do we spam you every week or sell your information to third parties.
Old FriendsMeet our crew!
"For over eight years, Old-Friends." has been connecting former classmates, co-workers, neighbors and biological families. The next eight years promise to expand on these services at an affordable lifetime membership price. - Cindy Holz, CEO
"It's exciting to be involved in such a popular and useful resource. We all lose track of people that are important to us in this crazy world. To be able to help people reconnect to each other and to their memories of school, which are such important and formative years of our lives, is so rewarding to myself and all the staff here at Old-Friends." - Burch Holz, Project manager
"Old Friends is a great place to begin your search for connecting with high school classmates and long lost friends.
I am thankful to be a part of this organization's future and really enjoy working with my co-workers and friends." - Luke Gray , Web Developer