Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | Social Networking |
Headquarters | 20 Duncan Street,
Toronto, Ontario , Canada |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | Visual China Group |
Founder(s) |
Oleg Gutsol Evgeny Tchebotarev |
Employees | 35 [1] |
URL |
500px |
Launched | October 31, 2009 |
Current status | Active |
500px (pronounced "five hundred px") is a global online photo-sharing platform that is a subsidiary of Visual China Group. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [2] [3] It was co-founded by Oleg Gutsol and Evgeny Tchebotarev on October 31, 2009. [4]
Evgeny Tchebotarev started 500px in 2003 on the social blogging website LiveJournal [5] as a hobby, while he completed a business degree at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). [6] At the time, 500 pixels was considered a good size for web display [7] and was therefore the limit placed on photos submitted to the community for review. [6] Once photographers submitted their photos, they were moderated, and only those of high quality would make it past the community's curators and be published on the site. [5]
Tchebotarev joined forces with Oleg Gutsol and in early 2009, [6] they began work on the mostly automated incarnation of 500px. Image size grew to 900 pixels but the name remained. The two launched the official site on October 31, 2009. [5]
In 2009, the site had 1000 users, purely through word of mouth. [8] By late November 2012, the site had more than 1,500,000 users. [9]
500px's blog was named one of the best blogs of 2012, by Time magazine. [10]
In July 2015, the company raised $13 million in Series B funding [11] led by a strategic investor, the Visual China Group, and included participation from existing backers of the company. [12]
In August 2015, the company launched a new version of its iOS app. [13]
In November 2016, the company launched 500px Studio, which allows brands to access custom and on-demand photography from 500px's photographers after their launch of a global photographer directory. [14]
In August 2017, 500px announced support for wide-gamut images. [15]
In November 2017, 500px was the recipient of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award, which recognizes Canadian companies for their innovation, rapid revenue growth, and entrepreneurial spirit. [16]
On February 26, 2018, 500px was acquired by Visual China Group. [17]
On July 1, 2018, Getty Images became 500px's exclusive distribution partner for licensing outside China, as per its existing agreements with VCG. [18] As a result, 500px Marketplace was shut down on June 30, 2018. The service also discontinued support for publicly-licensed images (such as Creative Commons), citing that the function was underused. [19]
On July 5, 2018, 14.8 million accounts had "partial user data" (including e-mails, personal information, and hashed passwords) leaked via security breaches. 500px reported the breach in February 2019. [20]
500px has an algorithm in place to evaluate recently uploaded photos that takes views, likes and comments into account and results in a photo's rating or 'Pulse'. [21] The higher the Pulse, the more likely a photo is to reach the site's Popular page, giving it a higher chance of being seen by other users. [22] The algorithm allows all users, not just those with a following, a chance to get their work to the front page of the Popular photos, increasing exposure. [23] This results in the Popular page always displaying fresh content and motivates users to regularly upload new images. [24]
Each user also has an overall rating titled "Affection". Taking into account the likes and favorites they have received across all photos, it is a reliable indication of how popular a photographer is within the community. [21]
Apps for iPhone, [25] [26] iPad, [27] Android, [28] [29] were also made for the site. Versions for Windows Phone 8 [30] and Windows 8 [31] were shut down by the end of April 2015. [32]
On April 12, 2012, 500px's Terms of Service rose to the top of popular site Hacker News, garnering attention for legalese on the left-hand side of the page and summing up the legalese into basic points on the right-hand side. The resulting discussion on the Terms was mixed, with positive feedback such as "awesome" [33] and "one of the cleanest in the industry" [34] alongside negative feedback that believes 500px may have put themselves at undue risk. [35]
On January 21, 2013, Apple removed 500px's iPad app from its store, citing concerns of nudity available via the app. [36] Apple restored the app on January 29, following the release of a new version with a "Mature 17+ rating" and a report button. [37]
Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | Social Networking |
Headquarters | 20 Duncan Street,
Toronto, Ontario , Canada |
Area served | Worldwide |
Owner | Visual China Group |
Founder(s) |
Oleg Gutsol Evgeny Tchebotarev |
Employees | 35 [1] |
URL |
500px |
Launched | October 31, 2009 |
Current status | Active |
500px (pronounced "five hundred px") is a global online photo-sharing platform that is a subsidiary of Visual China Group. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [2] [3] It was co-founded by Oleg Gutsol and Evgeny Tchebotarev on October 31, 2009. [4]
Evgeny Tchebotarev started 500px in 2003 on the social blogging website LiveJournal [5] as a hobby, while he completed a business degree at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). [6] At the time, 500 pixels was considered a good size for web display [7] and was therefore the limit placed on photos submitted to the community for review. [6] Once photographers submitted their photos, they were moderated, and only those of high quality would make it past the community's curators and be published on the site. [5]
Tchebotarev joined forces with Oleg Gutsol and in early 2009, [6] they began work on the mostly automated incarnation of 500px. Image size grew to 900 pixels but the name remained. The two launched the official site on October 31, 2009. [5]
In 2009, the site had 1000 users, purely through word of mouth. [8] By late November 2012, the site had more than 1,500,000 users. [9]
500px's blog was named one of the best blogs of 2012, by Time magazine. [10]
In July 2015, the company raised $13 million in Series B funding [11] led by a strategic investor, the Visual China Group, and included participation from existing backers of the company. [12]
In August 2015, the company launched a new version of its iOS app. [13]
In November 2016, the company launched 500px Studio, which allows brands to access custom and on-demand photography from 500px's photographers after their launch of a global photographer directory. [14]
In August 2017, 500px announced support for wide-gamut images. [15]
In November 2017, 500px was the recipient of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award, which recognizes Canadian companies for their innovation, rapid revenue growth, and entrepreneurial spirit. [16]
On February 26, 2018, 500px was acquired by Visual China Group. [17]
On July 1, 2018, Getty Images became 500px's exclusive distribution partner for licensing outside China, as per its existing agreements with VCG. [18] As a result, 500px Marketplace was shut down on June 30, 2018. The service also discontinued support for publicly-licensed images (such as Creative Commons), citing that the function was underused. [19]
On July 5, 2018, 14.8 million accounts had "partial user data" (including e-mails, personal information, and hashed passwords) leaked via security breaches. 500px reported the breach in February 2019. [20]
500px has an algorithm in place to evaluate recently uploaded photos that takes views, likes and comments into account and results in a photo's rating or 'Pulse'. [21] The higher the Pulse, the more likely a photo is to reach the site's Popular page, giving it a higher chance of being seen by other users. [22] The algorithm allows all users, not just those with a following, a chance to get their work to the front page of the Popular photos, increasing exposure. [23] This results in the Popular page always displaying fresh content and motivates users to regularly upload new images. [24]
Each user also has an overall rating titled "Affection". Taking into account the likes and favorites they have received across all photos, it is a reliable indication of how popular a photographer is within the community. [21]
Apps for iPhone, [25] [26] iPad, [27] Android, [28] [29] were also made for the site. Versions for Windows Phone 8 [30] and Windows 8 [31] were shut down by the end of April 2015. [32]
On April 12, 2012, 500px's Terms of Service rose to the top of popular site Hacker News, garnering attention for legalese on the left-hand side of the page and summing up the legalese into basic points on the right-hand side. The resulting discussion on the Terms was mixed, with positive feedback such as "awesome" [33] and "one of the cleanest in the industry" [34] alongside negative feedback that believes 500px may have put themselves at undue risk. [35]
On January 21, 2013, Apple removed 500px's iPad app from its store, citing concerns of nudity available via the app. [36] Apple restored the app on January 29, following the release of a new version with a "Mature 17+ rating" and a report button. [37]