WeeWorld
WeeWorld was an online game and messaging website, originally created in 2002 with a company that was based in Glasgow, Scotland, with a few offices in London and Boston, as well as other cities in the USA. The company created WeeWorld.com, a social networking site, to which was mostly geared towards teens and tweens. The website was also known for its brand of instant messaging and chat-based avatars, known as “WeeMees”, which were also released on a variety of digital platforms and services. There were approximately 180 million WeeMees created worldwide. The company was run by Celia Francis and went into liquidation in 2014. It was then sold to Opinurate, who closed the website down in 2017. WeeMees
A WeeMee was an avatar that could be exported to Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. WeeMees appeared primarily on WeeWorld.com. WeeMees could be used to chat in a virtual world, play in games and participate in forums. Users customized their WeeMees with trendy clothing, accessories and interests to make their WeeMee unique. By June 2005 nearly 5 million users had created a personal WeeMee,  In October 2006 Iain Bruce of the Sunday Herald reported a new WeeMee being created every 5 seconds, and by April 2008 more than 21 million had been created with more than 600,000 new ones created each month. As of 2012, there were 50 million WeeMees and thousands were being created each day through the main website and the mobile app "WeeMee Avatar Creator". Background
The avatars were created in 1999 by the then CEO and Founder of Saw-You.com, Mike Kinsella, in Glasgow, Scotland, Saw-You.com was founded in 1999. In 2003 Microsoft began offering the avatars for use to Hotmail customers. The new service attracted 150,000 users during its first day, totaling 1.5 million hits daily. In 2004 the UK's largest social network, Friendsreunited.com, introduced the WeeMee to their user base. In December 2008 the virtual technology firm DA agreed to develop a 3-D version of the avatar. Celebrity WeeMees
Along with using their own custom WeeMee on Weeworld.com, users could interact with celebrities who had official WeeMees. In addition to official Celebrity WeeMees, which were WeeMees created in association with a particular celebrity, there were "Fan Club" Celebrity WeeMees. "Fan Club" Celebrity WeeMees were run through WeeWorld without association with a celebrity and allowed users to interact with other fans of particular celebrity figures. Popular celebrity WeeMees included Justin Bieber, Cody Simpson, Jason Derulo, Greyson Chance, Willow Smith, Maroon 5, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton and the Jonas Brothers. Many celebrities had their own clothing lines on WeeWorld as well. Users could dress their WeeMees in their favorite celebrity's clothing line. Promotions and partnership
WeeWorld partnered with corporations such as AOL, MSN and Skype. Through a partnership with RCA, it promoted artists such as Alicia Keys and Avril Lavigne through virtual merchandise sales and WeeMees of the respective artists. WeeWorld has also promoted artists such as the Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, Jason Derulo, Raven-Symoné, the Pussycat Dolls, Justin Bieber, and Taylor Swift. Microsoft began offering the avatars for use to their Hotmail customers via the MSN chat service. The new service attracted 150,000 users during the first day of the avatars being launched, with the WeeMee website attracting 1.5 million hits daily. In 2004 the UK's then-largest social network, Friendsreunited.com, also introduced the WeeMee to their user base. In December 2008 the virtual technology firm DA agreed to develop a 3-D version of the avatar. References

Companies established in 2000
Companies based in Glasgow
Entertainment companies of the United Kingdom
Internet properties disestablished in 2017
American social networking websites
Defunct social networking services
Virtual world communities