Uber.com has announced it is shuttering its website, with management blaming a "crisis in the economy" for the closure.
According to a message on Uber's home page (see below) "our investors have decided to stop supporting Uber" but adds "it's no fault of theirs that this happened." The site will become inactive today.
What was Uber? PaidContent.org described the site as a "web publishing and social networking firm" but Uber's statement claims the site was "an art project in the form of a for-profit corporation." Whatever Uber was, it remains unclear what will happen to the content created by users -- Ning-like communities built around personal blogs. One of the most popular sites on the Uber network is the one belonging to Lisa Ling, who noted just one day before the Uber announcement that "our years of greed and gross excess seem to be catching up with us." Another user, Tenari, penned this ode to Uber under a blog post titled "Last Uber Blog In Existence":
"This website had meant a lot to me, it was truly a great experience. I don't know if anything this great will ever come by again. I mean, this was the new myspace, so where to now? Do I reside back to myspace? The site that addicts people, gets people raped, and is full of underaged whores and sluts? NO! Something else will come, patience is key... "
Uber is not the first of the small social networks to go under. Earlier this month, The Industry Standard reported the demise of eCirkit, a social network for "artists, speed- and thrill-seekers, non-conformists, [and] extremophiles of every variety."
Update: Uber has gotten a temporary lifeline from Sharenow.
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