Deep Inside Zivity: What Kind Of Porn Site Does $7 Million Buy?

Lux Alptraum — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:30:07 EDT

We've been itching for a chance to peek inside the members' section of Zivity ever since we heard about their $7 million in funding, since nothing gets us more worked up than a throbbing, swollen seven figure price tag. Okay, actually we've been itching for a chance to peek inside since we heard that there would be naked models there too ... but all that cold hard capital made things all the more intriguing. Just what kind of porn site can you make with $7 million anyway? What kind of masturbatory wonders does that kind of money buy?

Well, eight months after it first started making headlines we finally managed to score an invite to the Zivity beta site, and now we can tell you: not very much.

After all the hype it's received, we expected ... well, something we hadn't seen before, or at least something pretty special. You know, something slightly more than just an opportunity to set up a profile page and look at some pictures of ~~naked chicks~~ female beauty.

Granted, Zivity has entered the market at more than a bit of disadvantage. With megaporn site (excuse us, modern pinup showcase) SuicideGirls setting a certain standard for adult communities online, it can be pretty hard for any new kid on the block to compete. Still, given that Zivity is clearly aware of SG (Missy Suicide is one of their photographers), you'd think they'd at least try to have a site that's more impressive.

No such luck, though: aside from the photos and their totally original voting system, there's not much there there Does anyone really need yet another website where they can set up yet another profile? Sure, the pictures are pretty hot (if a bit tame) ... but why do you have to have one more profile to keep track of just to look at them?

Sample model page

Sample Photo Set

Photo Upload Page (note: no nudity for nonmodels!)

To be fair, Zivity is in beta, so maybe they have some other features in the works that will be in place before their public launch. If not ... well, we sure hope at least a chunk of that $7 million is winding up in their models' pockets. We hate to see good money going to waste.

· Zivity

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Previously: Zivity's Big Score: Good Money After Bad?, Porn 2.0: Haven't We Been Here Before?, The New Porn.com: When Bad Things Happen To Good Domains

Porn 2.0: Haven't We Been Here Before?

Dashiell Bennett — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:18:08 EDT

Teh internets are buzzing today with news about Zivity, a porny social networking site that's been likened to everything from MySpace to Playboy to Digg to Suicide Girls. If you're a regular reader of this site, you might be saying "Why is that news?" There must be half a dozen or more sites out there that have already tried to build a smuty website around the basic principles of Web 2.0—user-generated content, web-socializing, and community voting. So what makes this one special? It might have something to do with the $1 million it managed to sweet talk away from some high-powered Silicon Valley venture capitalists. You've got to have money to make money, and that's one advantage most of other earlier entires didn't have. Zivity is still in "beta" (aren't we all?) so we can't really tell you if its "innovative, patent-pending voting system" is really all that unique or if it will be worth ponying up the subscription fees to join, but if all goes according to plan, everyone involved will become filthy rich. (We'll settle for just filthy.) Fortunately, in the internet economy all you need is wild dreams and a big bank account and everything always turns a-ok. Right?

· Zivity, a "HotorNot" for user-generated porn (Valleywag)
· Zivity: Silicon Valley Elite Dabble in Adult Content (techcrunch.com)
· Zivity (zivity.com)

Fleshbot: straight, the skin trade

Deep Inside Zivity: What Kind Of Porn Site Does $7 Million Buy?

Porn 2.0: Haven't We Been Here Before?