''Nerve'', or Nerve.com, was an American
online magazine
An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...
dedicated to
sexual topics, relationships and culture. Founded by Rufus Griscom and Genevieve Field, Nerve published articles and photography on its website and several books, in partnership with
Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books is a San Francisco–based American publishing company that publishes books for both adults and children.
History
The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publish ...
and
Three Rivers Press
Three Rivers Press is the trade paperback imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. It publishes original paperback titles as well as paperback reprints of books issued initially in hardcover by the other Crown imprin ...
. It also hosted
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
s (one of the first sites to do so without fees), forums and a section for personal advertisements. Although they originated on ''Nerve'', Nerve Personals eventually became part of a larger network of over 100 websites and print publications.
In 1999, ''Nerve'' was nominated for the
Webby Award for "Print and Zines" while under the editorship of
Jack Murnighan.
In 2005, under editor-in-chief Michael Martin, ''Nerve'' was nominated for the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. The other nominees were ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
'', ''
BusinessWeek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...
'', ''
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy.
Founded ...
'' and
Style.com. Of the nomination, ''
AdAge
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...
'' said ''Nerve'' was "the only original online publication in the bunch ... The judges' write-up called Nerve 'brainy and brash' with a 'youthful spin on sexuality
ndstyle' ... It's not only redefined the model for profitable niche publishing, it's also one of the freshest editorial voices to come along in years." Under Martin's editorship, the site was nominated for a 2007 National Magazine Award for Best Interactive Feature, a 2007 Webby Award for Best Copy/Writing (alongside ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'') and another National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online in 2008 for its spinoff publication,
Babble.com.
Nerve was one of the first publications to publish photoblogs. They followed a number of young photographers daily, including Clayton James Cubitt,
[{{cite web , url=https://claytoncubitt.com/blog/2013/3/29/on-always-on , title=On Always on , date=29 March 2013 ] Naughty James, Ryan Pfluger and Cate & Camilia.
In January 2014, ''Nerve'' was acquired by
HowAboutWe
Match Group, Inc. is an American internet and technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It owns and operates the largest global portfolio of popular online dating services including Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, Plenty ...
, which was in turn purchased by InterActiveCorp (IAC) less than six months later.
[{{cite web, last=Roberts, first=Daniel, website=Fortune, title=HowAboutWe buys Nerve.com, url=http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/01/29/howaboutwe-buys-nerve-com/, date=January 29, 2014, access-date=February 19, 2018][{{cite news, last=Isaac, first=Mike, newspaper=The New York Times, title="Digital Love, Consolidated: IAC Buys HowAboutWe Dating Site", url=https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/14/digital-love-consolidated-iac-buys-howaboutwe-dating-site/, date=July 14, 2014, access-date=February 19, 2018] After a long period without updates, the Nerve.com archives were taken offline on January 9, 2018, and the domain began redirecting to www.datehookup.com.
[{{cite web , title=Wayback Machine: www.nerve.com , url=http://www.nerve.com , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505212615/https://www.nerve.com/, access-date=May 27, 2022 , archive-date=5 May 2022 , url-status=dead]
References
{{Reflist
{{IAC
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1997
Magazines disestablished in 2018
Online magazines published in the United States
Erotica magazines published in the United States