I belong to some of the services listed, including ASW and BOAW and haven't logged on in forever because they're boring. Despite all the hype, these services are ultimately no different from other social clubs and most people have sufficient avenues for socializing with and keeping in touch with people on diverse bases (interest/activity, work, school, family, etc).
They proclaim exclusivity but are often trying to grow their user base (including stealth advertising via article mentions/placement) and monetize. When they focus on the latter is when they realize that their service isn't that useful because their members clearly aren't interested in paying. Exclusivity or not, a network is useless without X critical mass of users and Y minimum activity level.
>including stealth advertising via article mentions
Yes, like the convenient timing of this Verge article coming out mere weeks before BOAW releases a new iOS app, and the founder's availability for multiple comments despite their focus on discretion...
They proclaim exclusivity but are often trying to grow their user base (including stealth advertising via article mentions/placement) and monetize. When they focus on the latter is when they realize that their service isn't that useful because their members clearly aren't interested in paying. Exclusivity or not, a network is useless without X critical mass of users and Y minimum activity level.