REDLANDS, CA — (Marketwire) — 02/14/12 — Wikifamilies, Inc. (OTCQB: WFAM) (PINKSHEETS: WFAM), a developer of patented social media technologies and the online community Wikifamilies.com, issued today a letter to shareholders to discuss its current position and future growth strategies.
Dear Fellow Shareholders:
I-d like to start off with a brief overview of our launch of Wikifamilies.com. We released our “beta 1” version of the site in October 2011 to a limited number of users (beta testers). Once we received their valuable feedback, we knew we needed to make our platform more accessible on mobile devices and faster to download for daily use. The primary concern in beta 1 was that it was not accessible from a number of platforms, specifically the iPhone® and iPad ®.
To solve this issue, we decided to switch formats from MS Silverlight to ASP.net. ASP.net provides full HTML5 functionality as well as maintains our high levels of data security, transmission and scalability. Our decision to adopt the new ASP.net format subsequently delayed our “going live” date. The upside to this is we now have a service that runs on all platform, including Google Android, iPhone® and iPad®. We also redesigned the site in the process, and now have a much better “beta 2” version.
With Facebook-s IPO fast approaching, we decided to launch our “beta 2” site with a few basic features that offers an alternative to Facebook and its mandatory introduction of a timeline approach. Through their timeline, in the opinion of many users we spoke with, Facebook gathers and sells just too much information about their users including: date of birth, wedding anniversary, birth dates of children, different jobs held and so on. This change by Facebook further emphasises our competitive advantage in the social media space. We believe users want more confidentiality, privacy of stored data and closer user groups — be they family or colleagues, church members or sports teams. We believe that sharing privileged information should be user-defined, not company-controlled.
The primary difference between Wikifamilies and Facebook is that under the terms of the user agreement, Facebook owns all content of its users, while Wikifamilies users always own 100% of their content, ensuring the utmost privacy of their data at any given time. Wikifamilies users can rest assured that whether they delete or save content, it will never be released to the public.
While we are a Facebook in terms of social media, we are also a DropBox in terms of secure storage and a YouTube in terms of sharing videos (but within a closed user group). So although Facebook-s activities are interesting and a stimulus for user recruitment, we believe we have enough in our own right to be extremely attractive.
Over the past few months, we have been in discussions with a number of major banks, institutional investors and other investors who have an interest in Wikifamilies- future. Through our discussions and their advice and ongoing interest in our company, we have changed our business model and are now providing a free service to those users who have no problem with receiving advertising through disclosing their demographic details (although we will never mine their content), and provide a subscription-based service based on level of usage to those users who want complete privacy. In that way, our users have a choice, which we believe is everyone-s right. In addition, our users have the choice to be open to advertising, but still subscribe for specific privacy services, such as storage of their identity, travel documents, wills, etc.
We have now reached the stage where we have no alternative as a consequence of demand but to rapidly expand so as to fully implement the platform and expand into new territories. This will be achieved through a combination of organic growth (recruitment) and select acquisition of talent. We are now actively recruiting computer programming and business development staff.
We have some incredibly talented and experienced candidates lined up already to complement our existing highly talented staff and announcements on such will be progressively made over the next couple of months. We have started at the Board of Directors level to recruit extremely talented and experienced people and that will now cascade down to other positions.
So far, with limited features, we have attracted not only families, but businesses, church congregations, sporting clubs, school communities, individuals and numerous others way beyond our original intention. We are seeking to raise significant funds to grow to the next level, and believe we can achieve critical mass with additional funding.
Our users may still use Facebook for one need, LinkedIn for another need and DropBox and YouTube for other needs. Wikifamilies is the one people will turn to for their core private correspondence and storage of data, and communication of secure videos, photos and documents within close knit communities. As a shareholder in WFAM, you are a part of our exciting near-term growth and potential. Thank you for your continued support and interest in our Company.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Hutchinson
CEO, Wikifamilies, Inc.
Wikifamilies, Inc. has designed and developed the Internet-based social media website, Wikifamilies.com, with a unique emphasis on families and new technologies. This web-based platform, presently in beta testing, is intended to enhance the ability of families to communicate and share family heritage and events while providing a secure location to transact family-related business matters. Wikifamilies has designed its site with multiple revenue streams and a rich user experience to offer users both entertainment and functionality while being affordable and providing real value.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements about the business plan and prospective financial condition of Wikifamilies. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including that the parties may not complete the transaction or that when completed, the transaction might be different than presently contemplated. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Wikifamilies does not undertake any obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. In addition, any forward-looking statements regarding expected industry patterns and other financial and business results that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: whether Wikifamilies can successfully execute its operating plan; its ability to integrate acquired companies and technology; its ability to retain key employees; its ability to successfully combine product offerings and customer acceptance of combined products; general market conditions; and whether Wikifamilies can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release.
Contact:
Wikifamilies, Inc.
Malcolm Hutchinson
(909) 708-3708
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