Amanda Blain (born 1980) is a business owner, journalist, speaker, and

Internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

from

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. She is best known for being the founder, owner and web developer of Girlfriend Social, a women-only friendship making website. She is also known for her activity relating to

Google Plus Google+ (sometimes written as Google Plus, stylized as G+ or g+) was a social network owned and operated by Google until it ceased operations in 2019. The network was launched on June 28, 2011, in an attempt to challenge other social networks, ...

, where she acquired 5 million followers, was the 20th most followed person in the world and the number 1 most followed Canadian before Google Plus shut down.

Early life

Blain was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, Canada. She studied Archaeology and Museum Studies. She was not a fan of math and science, but ended up becoming full stack

web developer A web developer is a programmer who develops World Wide Web applications using a client–server model. The applications typically use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the client, and any general-purpose programming language in the server. is used ...

, starting when she was 14.

Professional career

Girlfriend social

In 2009, Blain designed, developed, and launched Girlfriend Social, a female friendship website, stating, "Although there are many social networks online, most are designed to deal with business networking, dating, or connecting with people you already know, but there are very few sites that connect new friends." Blain came up with the idea following a move to a new city and starting a new job with mostly male co-workers. The site is designed to allow women around the world to make new friends, does not charge users and has over 500,000 members making it the largest female friendship-only social site in the world. Girlfriend Social was voted "Favorite Website for Meeting New Friends" by

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

readers in their Readers' Choice Awards in 2012.

Google plus

Blain joined Google Plus on its first day of the official beta, June 29, 2011, and was placed on Google's Suggested User List under the technology category on December 15, 2011. Blain was known for speaking about and promoting the platform, calling it "a true Social Media platform." A frequent user of the hangouts feature on the Google Plus platform, Blain was voted by the community as "Number 1 Hangout User". Blain states that she has met thousands of people in real life after meeting virtually in

Google hangouts Google Hangouts was a cross-platform instant messaging (IM) service developed by Google. It originally was a feature of Google+, becoming a standalone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Googl ...

first. She spoke publicly about the closing of Google Plus on April 1, 2019, saying it was "Amazing. Life changing experience"

Journalist

Blain started a personal blog and multiple technology-focused websites in 2012. She covers topics like pop culture, video games, social media, and virtual reality on these sites and others.

References

External links

Amanda Blain Official Blog

Girlfriend Social
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blain, Amanda Living people 1980 births Canadian Internet celebrities Canadian motivational speakers Businesspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Businesspeople from Toronto Journalists from Toronto Mass media people from Hamilton, Ontario Women motivational speakers