More than 700,000 Danes have created a profile on the digital community platform Boblberg. Not to scroll, not to be seen, but to find, for instance, someone to go for a walk with. The platform is built on a deliberate rejection of the logic that drives major social media: Boblberg has no algorithms designed to keep users hooked and no advertisers competing for their attention. Instead, users create what is called a ‘bobl’, Boblberg’s own term for a post, and the whole point is to get people offline and meeting in person. This has led Danish Red Cross to acquire the platform, and from 1 July 2026, Boblberg is part of the organisation:

‘First and foremost, we could see the potential for Boblberg, together with Danish Red Cross, to act as a counterweight to loneliness and social isolation,’ explains Bjørn Borup, CIO at Danish Red Cross and part of IT-Branchens CIO Transformation Board.

A long-term relationship

Danish Red Cross has worked closely with Boblberg since 2019, and watched the platform grow steadily, but with a business model under strain, because Boblberg’s primary customers were the municipalities:

‘Municipalities as customers are difficult, because they’re constantly cutting their budgets. So, it’s a difficult business model to build from. But our long-standing partnership convinced us that the way Boblberg runs these communities is the right approach for Danish Red Cross. It fits well with our DNA and is a key part of Danish Red Cross’s digital strategy, precisely because there’s an opportunity to grow it into more of a people’s movement.’

But what exactly are you buying when you buy a social platform? For Danish Red Cross, it was not the technology, but the philosophy behind it:

‘We have no intention of using algorithms to keep people on the platform. Our foremost goal with the platform is to get people out and meeting each other in the real world.’

BOBLBERG is a Danish social platform for finding friendships and communities based on shared interests. Users write personal posts, called bobls, and connect through private messages. Founded 12 years ago by Rasmus Stæhr, Nikolaj Stæhr and Anders Stæhr, Boblberg has more than 700,000 registered users and partnerships with over 50 Danish municipalities. From 1 July 2026 they are now part of Danish Red Cross.

Human moderation is still the key

And they do: in 2025, 1.4 million bobl posts were sent on the platform, and the figures show that three out of four users actually go on to meet in person:

‘So, our key measure of success isn’t time spent on the platform, but time spent away from it: that people go out and build relationships and communities in the real world. And that’s what almost three quarters of our users do. They start out on the platform, but end up going for a walk, or to the cinema, or for a coffee.’

But when more than 700,000 users are meeting and activity is rising, the demands on moderation rise too. Here, Danish Red Cross has made a choice that runs against the grain of the industry: no automation of the core process:

‘Unlike other online platforms, we have no intention of cutting back on our moderation.’

AI is now beginning to play a supporting role as volume grows, but the principle of human moderation isn’t shifting:

‘Because the volume is so high, we’re working on giving the people who moderate some AI support. But it’s still real people who moderate and check the bobl posts. We’re very conscious that the platform’s entire legitimacy, the trust among our users, and our brand are all at stake here.’

DANISH RED CROSS is part of the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, with around 13 million volunteers in 192 countries. In Denmark, Danish Red Cross has nearly 44,000 volunteers. Danish Red Cross works strategically with digitalisation on three levels: strengthening humanitarian relief efforts, optimising charity shops and emergency response, and improving the organisation’s internal IT infrastructure and volunteer platforms.

Hosted in Denmark on Danish servers

The acquisition also gives Danish Red Cross something they didn’t have under the previous partnership: full control over data, and a clear narrative to the outside world:

‘When Boblberg was an independent startup with the municipalities as customers, ownership was somewhat unclear to potential international partners. That’s no longer the case. Now we own it, which makes for a much cleaner story. It’s Danish Red Cross’s platform, so we own 100 per cent of the data. Our data is hosted in Denmark, on Danish servers, in a Danish data centre.’

The clear lines also open doors internationally: Danish Red Cross is already in dialogue with sister organisations in Norway and Sweden, and a pilot project with the French Red Cross is under way:

‘There’s a real, substantial international interest in the platform. Anything that can build digital trust and cohesion within the European Union right now is of interest, so in that context too, there’s a lot of attention on platforms like Boblberg.’

A different kind of acquisition

Back in Denmark, Danish Red Cross has also chosen a different organisational model for Boblberg than a standard acquisition would imply.:

‘Boblberg is up and running and working well, which is why its 9 employees are staying in their own offices in Bagsværd. They report to Danish Red Cross’s Chief Innovation Officer, not to the larger digitalisation department of 45 people. The three founders are joining too, but retain some of their existing autonomy, even though they’re now formally Danish Red Cross employees. This way, we avoid them being pulled into all sorts of other matters, while still being a full part of Danish Red Cross.’

The acquisition also carries a longer-term ambition to connect Boblberg’s users with Danish Red Cross’s wider volunteer ecosystem:

’We see significant potential here, because we’ve seen how Boblberg attracts a new type of volunteer that Danish Red Cross doesn’t usually reach. They typically have a different skill set and age profile than our usual volunteers. This group tend to be younger, and they engage easily and naturally in the online world. So that’s a form of volunteering we’d very much like to cultivate too.’

Danish Red Cross is well aware of the recruitment potential on Boblberg, but is proceeding with caution:

‘Recruiting is certainly an ambition of ours, but it’s something that must be tested with respect for the users, their preferences, and what they feel is right. They shouldn’t be flooded with spam and recruitment attempts. It must be done with care.’

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