“We would like to see 2pad as the service to strengthen personal relationships instead of seeking new friends online,” says CEO Aaron Boublil.It’s always amazing how much people will reveal about themselves on media sharing sites like Facebook or Flickr. From the light-hearted – what TV programs they like or what books they prefer to curl up in bed with, to the more serious – pictures of their family, or snapshots or their latest antics at a nightclub.

“People think sharing is a lot of fun until they realize that a picture of their child in the bath has been viewed hundreds of times by strangers, or when a college turns down an applicant after searching the net and finding dozens of pictures of the student lying drunk on the floor,” explains Susi Doring, marketing manager at Israeli media sharing site 2pad.

“Many users don’t check their privacy and it’s causing great alarm. Sharing has hit a critical point when it gets out of hand. Pictures are viewable not just by friends but strangers as well,” she adds.

The dangers of posting ‘too much’ to ‘too many’ have been documented by the US Ad-Council which recently launched a campaign ‘Think before you Post’ to increase awareness of the dangers of posting online.

2pad has the answer – private media sharing. The company, which launched its beta site in October, aims to counter the trend of excessive publishing with a site that allows participants to keep personal photos and videos private.

Users send their pictures and videos by e-mail to the company, which creates a free media mailbox with unlimited space to collect all your media attachments in one place.

You then decide which photos or videos you want to share with whom, select the contacts and send them out. The pictures go directly to your friends’ or family member’s 2pad accounts.

“This way you can send a nice picture of yourself at a wedding to your mom and dad, and send the picture of yourself dancing on a table to friends,” Doring told ISRAEL21c. “It’s a lot more private and it keeps things organized.”

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“We would like to see 2pad as the service to strengthen personal relationships instead of seeking new friends online,” says Aaron Boublil, CEO of 2pad. “2pad is the precise tool needed to bring the privacy back to the Internet.”

Unlike existing media sharing sites, the founders of 2pad think users will be predominantly in their middle age – especially women who might want to share recipes or pictures with friends. “The older generation is more aware of privacy issues and want to keep their lives private,” says Doring.

Ra’anana-based 2pad was founded in early 2006 by three French entrepreneurs who emigrated to Israel, Aaron Boublil, Ary Tebeka, and Philippe Lumbroso. All three men are experienced in the industry. Boublil founded Mediaquest in 1995, which he later sold to marketing giant Ogilvy. He worked there until 2005, heading Ogilvy’s dot.com marketing division in France.

Tebeka and Lumbroso co-founded Aplio, a VoIP hardware manufacturer sold to IDT/Net2Phone in 2000 for $50 million. 2pad is self-funded.

“We aren’t competition to Facebook, we’re an alternative – an anti-Facebook service,” explains Doring. “Many people prefer more intimate online relationships.”



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