DOWSER – June 12 – A recently-launched dating site Clique is using social networks to match singles living in New York City. Users can look at the profile of a friend they trust, and see who that friend suggests for them. If they're not single, they can be on the site as a wingman to help their friends get matched.
by Rachel Singer
The full article was originally published at Dowser, but is no longer available.
TECH CRUNCH – May 4 – Where Facebook concentrated on linking up with existing friends and friends of friends, Badoo was oriented towards you meeting new people all the time, and for others to push themselves out there. That gave it an obvious flirtatious feel. Currently on 150M users, Badoo is one of the top five social networks globally according to comScore, and its growth is being significantly powered by mobile (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and WAP worldwide). In the U.S. market it’s seeing more new registrations on mobile than on Web, with 68% of new users coming to the site via mobile over the past six months. Mobile usage has grown by 100% since November 2011, and Badoo says is it more than doubling mobile revenues. Badoo has seen over 60% growth YOY with 35M active users per month worldwide, adding 150K new users a day. Badoo is still in profit and has an annual run rate of $150M.
by Mike Butcher
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK – Apr 18 -The poll of 1,899 people found that 72% of respondents used both online dating sites and social networks while 19% used social networks alone to find a partner. Just 9% said they solely used dating sites. People mainly preferred social networks because they believe them to be safer and enabled them to meet people through mutual friends. This trend has led to social networks based dating services such as Fancy My Friend in Australia and Zoosk in which others help to hook up those searching for romance. The poll was conducted by myvouchercodes.co.uk.
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 18 - Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) has just launched in NYC. After signing in through Facebook, CMB will match users with one person every day at noon. This person isn’t just some rando, but a friend of a friend. Users have two options: like or pass. If they pass, it’s over. If they click like they will be immediately connected through a text message sent from a private company phone line. Once they’re connected, CMB will hook them up with free gifts from dating spots in NYC for their first date. The company has plans to roll the service out in four other cities by the end of the year.
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 16 – TheComplete.me launched a Facebook app in March that pulls in and analyzes data from Facebook and other social sites to figure out who you might be a good fit with. Led by Brian Bowman, the former VP of product at Match.com, it’s also announcing $1.22M seed round from Intel Capital, psuedo-rival dating site PlentyofFish, the CrunchFund, and a list of prominent angels. The app goes further than Facebook, too. Once you’re logged in, you can also connect with LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Photobucket, Flickr, Foursquare, GoodReads, and Instagram. It then pulls in unique data about you from each service to figure out even richer matches. In private beta testing so far, it has amassed ~1.5M profiles of users and their friends, which is already helping to shape recommendations. At the same time, theComplete.me preserves anonymity. Users only see each others first names initially, and nothing gets posted to Facebook for others to see (unless you manually enable it to do that).
by Eric Eldon
See full article at Tech Crunch
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CBS LOCAL – Mar 30 – A number of new, online services are helping people connect offline for unique face to face experiences such as sushi rolling, beer brewing or yoga. Some sites, like Meet-Up and Group-O-Matic, allow users to create their own local circles for free. Other sites, like Lifecrowd, Grubwithus, and Urban Girl Squad partner with restaurants, retailers, experts and more for a slew of unique, curated activities.
INC – Mar 29 – Joel Simkhai founded the company behind an incredibly popular app called Grindr. Blendr began as an idea as early as 2010, just right around when Grindr really started to gain popularity. Blendr officially launched in September 2011, about two years after Grindr went live. Both companies are self-financed and through premium services and advertising revenue, though Simkhai is reluctant to offer revenue numbers. He says the company has spent no money on marketing, and downloads are completely driven by word of mouth. He does not plan on taking outside funding.
FORBES – Mar 23 - Badoo.com is launching a new marketing campaign in New York. Forbes spoke to Jessica Powell, the chief marketing officer of Badoo, to learn more about the start-up, her marketing initiatives, and the purpose of The Badoo Project.
Q: What’s Badoo.com?
A: Badoo is the world’s largest social network for meeting new people. It first launched in 2006, and we now have ~140M registered users worldwide and~125K new users signing up every day.
Q: How is it different than Facebook and LinkedIn?
A: It is all about meeting new people. People use the site for making new friends, chatting, flirting, and dating.
Q: Do you even consider Facebook a competitor?
A: Wonderfully for us, we view them as very separate.
Q: Tell me about your marketing strategy. How do you recruit new users?
A: To date, we’ve benefited from viral and word-of-mouth organic growth. Now, however, we’re at a stage in our company growth where certain more formal marketing strategies start to make sense for our international footprint. That’s how we’ve come to the launch of The Badoo Project, which is our first U.S. campaign.
Q: Explain The Badoo Project
A: To mark Badoo’s official U.S. launch, we’re holding a massive three-day photo shoot in New York to give people the ultimate online profile picture. Based on personality, energy and individuality, a final 24 will then get the chance to say hello to the city they love, by starring in a mixed media campaign, including billboards, banners and other media, across New York throughout the month of May. Judges will choose 22 finalists, and the final two will be crowned “People’s Choice” winners, voted for by the public with Facebook “likes.”
by Jacquelyn Smith
See full article at Forbes
VENTURE BEAT – Mar 20 – Founded five years ago, Zoosk started to make a name for itself in online dating through Facebook and other social networks. Last year, it generated revenue of more than $90M and was named in the top 50 venture-backed companies by the Wall Street Journal. Now the company is working to integrate gamification into its online dating platform.
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK – Mar 19 – Badoo is one of Britain's biggest online success stories and has amassed 140M users a month. Badoo is essentially a dating site that also allows users to pretend they're only looking to make new friends. Most people use the site just to chat, with 20% going on to date. An average user will speak to between six and 10 people a month and meet between two and four of them. The idea has proved more popular in Latin countries than in Britain or the United States – only 1 million or so of the monthly users are based in the UK (60% are male and one third are over 35).