Gruner + Jahr. Bfriends Social Network

Develop a concept and design for Bfriends the social network for women on Brigitte.de. With its 100,000 registered users, the Brigitte community is one of the largest and most active communication platforms.  Topic specific forums should be developed into valuable social networks and the possibility to exchange knowledge should be expanded.

Personal touch
Bfriends has a clear and unique focus: the linking of users by location and interests. Internet users can meet like-minded women near them thanks to location-based technologies such as Google Maps. Bfriends is therefore not merely a virtual network but also a community to meet friends in real life.

Involving structure
Bfriends is closely related to Brigitte.de. Content from the community is shown on Brigitte where contextually appropriate. This allows users to spring back and forth easily between professional and user generated content, appropriating the content they want and possibly developing it further.

Creative possibilities
The social network gives users the opportunity to present themselves and add their own content. Bfriends users can maintain a blog, write articles, upload photos, and get together with other users can form a group. The much loved forum community is linked to the new content and integrated into this new social network.

The main idea is “Double Play”, which is the linking of professional and user generated content. While developing the site, writers, concept developers, information architects and community managers worked closely together. Social media experts also assisted Neue Digitale in putting together a social network that works and that provides a platform for exchanging knowledge with virtual and real life friends.