Lifehacker

History

Gina Trapani founded Lifehacker and was the site's sole blogger until September 2005, when two associate editors joined her, Erica Sadun and D. Keith Robinson. Other former associate editors include Wendy Boswell, Rick Broida, Jason Fitzpatrick, Kevin Purdy, and Jackson West. Former contributing editors include The How-To Geek and Tamar Weinberg. Lifehacker launched in January 2005 with an exclusive sponsorship by Sony. The highly publicized ad campaign was rumored to have cost $75,000 for three months. Lifehacker Australia launched in 2007, and Lifehacker Japan launched in 2008.

Since its founding, a variety of tech-oriented advertisers have appeared on the site. *Lifehacker'''s frequent guest posts have included articles by Joe Anderson, Eszter Hargittai, Matt Haughey, Meg Hourihan, and Jeff Jarvis. On 16 January 2009, Trapani resigned as Lifehackers lead editor and Adam Pash assumed the position. On 7 February 2011, Lifehacker's website was redesigned with a cleaner, yet polarizing layout that led to readership declines. On 15 April 2013, Lifehacker redesigned their site again to match the other newly redesigned Gawker sites like Kotaku. On 7 January 2013, Adam Pash left *Lifehacker'' for a new startup, and Whitson Gordon became the new editor-in-chief. On 1 January 2016, Whitson Gordon left Lifehacker for another popular technology website, How-To Geek, replacing editor-in-chief Lowell Heddings.

In his January 2016 announcement, Gordon confirmed that Alan Henry would take over as the interim editor pending interviewing processes. Henry became the new editor-in-chief on 1 February 2016. On 3 February 2017, Henry left his position at Lifehacker. He later wrote for The New York Times. On 28 February 2017, Melissa Kirsch became the editor-in-chief. Alice Bradley was named editor-in-chief in June 2020 but left in March 2021. Former deputy editor Jordan Calhoun succeeded her as editor-in-chief.

Lifehacker was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in its acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016. On 13 March 2023, it was announced that Lifehacker had been sold from G/O Media to Ziff Davis. In November 2023, as part of a brand refocus after the acquisition, Lifehacker updated with a new logo, a new site layout, and migration away from the Kinja platform.

In July 2024, it was reported that Lifehacker Australia would shut down amid a restructuring at third-party publisher Pedestrian Group.

Accolades

Time named Lifehacker one of the "50 Coolest Web Sites" in 2005, one of the "25 Sites We Can't Live Without" in 2006, and one of the "25 Best Blogs" in 2009. CNET named Lifehacker in their "Blog 100" in October 2005. Wired presented Gina Trapani with a Rave Award in 2006 for Best Blog. In the 2007 Weblog Awards, Lifehacker was awarded Best Group Weblog. PC Magazine named Lifehacker in "Our Favorite 100 Blogs" in October 2007. US Mensa named Lifehacker as one of their top 50 sites in 2010.

References

References

1. "How Lifehacker’s Founder Gets Things Done (and Stays Sane)". Doist.
2. Mike Rundle. (February 1, 2005). "Sony Paying $25k Per Month for Lifehacker Blog Sponsorship". Business Logs.
3. "About Lifehacker Australia".
4. Trapani, Gina. (2008-07-14). "Lifehacker Japan Launches!".
5. Heddings, Lowell. (Dec 2, 2015). "With 1 Billion Views So Far, We're Moving How-To Geek Forward".
6. Richard Horgan, [http://www.adweek.com/digital/sheknows-lifehacker-melissa-kirsch/ "Incoming Lifehacker EIC Is Proud of This Amazon Product Review"], ''Adweek'', February 14, 2017. {{Webarchive. link. (2017-12-22 .)
7. Fischer, Sara. (30 March 2021). "Editors bolt from G/O Media after 2019 sale".
8. Calderone, Michael. (18 August 2016). "Gawker Media Was Saved, But Gawker.com Is Over".
9. Fischer, Sara. (13 March 2023). "Scoop: Lifehacker sold by G/O to Ziff Davis".
10. Calhoun, Jordan. (30 March 2023). "Scoop: A New Beginning for Lifehacker".
11. Calhoun, Jordan. (14 November 2023). "Welcome to the New Lifehacker".
12. Jaspan, Calum. (2024-07-08). "Pedestrian boss to depart as group slashes staff and titles".
13. Murray, Maryanne. (2005-06-20). "50 Coolest Web Sites".
14. Murray, Maryanne. (2006-08-03). "25 Sites We Can't Live Without".
15. (2009-02-13). "25 Best Blogs 2009".
16. "News.com's Blog 100". CNET News.
17. (2009-01-04). "Wired 14.06: Real Simple".
18. "Seventh Annual Weblog Awards". The 2007 Bloggies.
19. Heater, Brian. (2007-10-15). "Our 100 Favorite Blogs". PC Magazine.
20. (April 30, 2011). "American Mensa | Top 50".