Until a rebranding in 2013, it was known as Formspring, a question-and-answer-based social network launched in 2009 by Ade Olonoh, the founder of online form builder Formstack.
He noticed that most of their users were using the service to create "ask me anything" forms and decided to launch a separate site to make this easier.
Formspring.me gained 1 million registered users in its first 45 days, so the original Formspring website was renamed to avoid confusion between the two sites.
[1][2] Due to its sudden popularity, a number of websites quickly implemented similar features, such as ASKfm, Tumblr, and MyYearbook's "Ask Me" services.
[11] Since its inception, Formspring garnered controversies, especially among teenagers, as it opened doors for harassment and cyberbullying due to the anonymity of the entries.
[15][16] On 12 March 2010, a news article, which later turned out to be a hoax, reported Formspring creators planning to release personal information about its users via Twitter and other social networking sites.
[18] On 22 March 2010, Alexis Pilkington, a 17-year-old New York high school graduate, committed suicide,[19] reportedly after several insulting comments targeting her had been posted on Formspring in the days leading up to her death.
[20] In February 2011, an incident allegedly prompted by bullying on Formspring led to the death of 15-year-old Natasha MacBryde from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, United Kingdom.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Det Sgt Shanie Erwin told the inquest that Natasha was known to have received a short anonymous message containing personal abuse via the Formspring networking site on February 13.
At the conference, Formspring announced that it was working with The MIT Media Lab to develop new approaches in detecting cyberbullying, and to design interfaces that would help prevent or mitigate when it occurs.
[24][25] In January 2012, Formspring also announced that it was a sponsor of the Great American NO BULL Challenge, a nationwide video contest that encourages teenagers to stand up to bullying.
[26] The concept of Formspring was copied by the creators of Ask.fm, who used the same format of allowing anonymous questioning by people who knew each other offline, which some experts believe is a toxic mix that will inevitably lead to trouble for some users.