LINKEDIN – The Meet Group organized a hackathon event called HACKD, led by Gal Blank, Director of Engineering. The event, based in the NewHope office in the US, was the first hybrid format post-Covid and resulted in 50 project ideas. Over 80 participants from countries like the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Poland, and Bulgaria brainstormed on the latest tech trends. Activities included brainstorming sessions, meals, and even a Ping Pong tournament. The event culminated in presentations of 24 projects, from back-office tools to Apple Virtual Reality streaming. Participants voted on their favorites, with winners selecting team activities as prizes. Due to its success, another HACKD event is scheduled for next spring.
Category: The Meet Group
Geoff Cook Steps in as New CEO of Noom
WALL STREET JOURNAL – Digital-health platform Noom has appointed veteran tech executive Geoff Cook as its new CEO, replacing co-founder Saeju Jeong, who will transition to executive chairman. Cook was previously the co-founder and CEO of The Meet Group, a company operating online dating and social media apps. Founded in 2008, Noom is known for its online coaching and health plans for weight management and chronic conditions.
Geoff Cook Takes a Bow, Leaves The Meet Group
OPW – After an 18-year journey, Geoff Cook is bowing out of the CEO role of The Meet Group.
MeetMe grew from nothing to millions of active users. Tagged was acquired and turned into a livestreaming video success. Livebox, is a successful Creator Economy service powering top social apps. Tagged, LOVOO, Skout, and GROWLr were acquired. Parship Group and The Meet Group merged 2.5 years ago as ParshipMeet Group, and emerged as a dating and video leader.
See Geoff's post on Linkedin here
Mark Brooks: Our hats off to Geoff, a luminary in the dating industry, for his foresight, innovation, and leadership.
How The Meet Group Employs Data to Better Understand Its Competitors
DATA.AI – Live video streaming is creating a new economy – providing opportunities for live entertainment and direct creator compensation. The market's top 25 live video streaming apps supported a $3.8B economy in 2021. The Meet Group is a leading player. Its Livebox connects brands with ~1M creators and a potential audience network of ~30M global users every month. The company says it produces more minutes of video per day than Netflix has in its entire catalog. The Meet Group is active in both the B2C and B2B app spaces. The Meet Group relies heavily on in-app and industry-wide data insights to stay on top of its strategy in such fast-moving markets. The company works closely with data.ai. "Understanding how we compare in terms of retention, visibility, downloads, active users, ratings, and creativity is the best way to grow, innovate and meet emerging customer needs," says Catherine Connelly, co-founder and SVP of Marketing at The Meet Group.
The Meet Group Joins the Tech Coalition Combat Online Abuse
BUSINESSWIRE – The Meet Group, a top provider of live-streaming video and creator economy solutions, joins the Tech Coalition, a global alliance working to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse online. Members include major tech companies like Google, Apple, Bumble, and Pinterest. Tech Coalition members collaborate to adopt best practices for keeping children safe online.
Tumblr Chooses Livebox to Power Its Livestreaming Video & Creator Economy
BUSINESSWIRE – Today's announcement coincides with the official launch of the Livebox (formerly known as vPaaS) brand.
The Meet Group, a top provider of livestreaming video and creator economy solutions, announced Tumblr has chosen Livebox as its video livestreaming and content provider. Live has been rolled out to Tumblr's U.S. users, with a global rollout planned. More minutes of video content are produced through Livebox per day than Netflix has in its catalog. Livebox has become a leader in integrated livestreaming video and creator economy solutions. Livebox enables livestreaming video for 7 of the top grossing 25 social networking apps in the US, along with The Meet Group's portfolio of owned and operated mobile apps and services. The Meet Group represents the Video segment of ParshipMeet Group, an international leader in Dating and Video. "We're curious to see how Tumblr's overflowing creativity will blossom now that users have access to native live streaming. Our creators are multi-modal and this is a new color in their palette," said Matt Mullenweg, founder and CEO of Tumblr's parent company Automattic. Geoff Cook, CEO and co-founder of The Meet Group said "With everything needed to launch livestreaming video and new creator economy solutions all in one 'box', Livebox gives brands the power to create new chances for connection while also providing opportunities for quantifiable business impact."
Livebox offers partners:
- A turnkey, white label, live video solution
- An integrated monetization solution for brands and creators
- An industry-leading safety framework that combines AI technology and 500+ human moderators
- Dedicated talent support to find, recruit, and promote content creators
- Livebox's business model allows app users to give and receive virtual gifts
See full article at Businesswire
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How Innovation Really Works Based on Lessons From Nature
OPW – Goal-seeking is the surest way to create nothing interesting. By executing a 5-year plan to pursue a fixed, innovative goal, the chance of success becomes near zero. 600m years ago, humans shared an ancestor with an octopus. Evolution got from a worm to a human and from the same worm to an octopus. If evolution had a "goal," the diversity of such forms could never have emerged. Evolution optimizes to escape competition through novelty. Successful species avoid reproductive competition and fill a niche. That's what life does and what businesses try to do. Facebook didn't try to outcompete Myspace. It established itself as a closed network for college students. The smart entrepreneur does not run toward an established player, she runs away from it. A novelty search can take years, where one interesting idea is a stepping stone to another, none of which is commercially viable, until, voila, it is. Innovation is a combination of features at the right time, connections made across disciplines and arranged in some novel way, which creates something different AND that could only have been arrived at by the failure of all previous incarnations.
My siblings and I started myYearbook, then a live video gaming platform which failed, and mobile apps, all of which failed. Critically, our team earned the right to keep building the next thing, because we had built myYearbook / MeetMe. I saw livestreaming video on YY and MOMO in 2016, and we built it for a Western audience, and bet the company on it, an all-in bet. We acquired Tagged, Skout, & Growlr, adding our video solution, it grew there too. We built livestreaming for the video & creator economy in a box, vPaaS, on rev share, and signed up 6 of the top 50 social apps in the world and a dozen others. Follow the novelty and keep following it, and eventually, you'll arrive in a unique place. You'll know it by the large moat surrounding it, because all those stepping stones you crossed, they're now covered by the tide. And to all of you goal seekers: the future does not turn out as you plan. – Geoff Cook
Forging Connections Inside “The Fourth Place”
Calling Mom Every Day is a Plus for People Dating in New Jersey
BUSINESSWIRE – The Meet Group, a leading provider of interactive dating solutions, has announced the results of a recent summer survey. With ~3K respondents, this year's survey focused on dating activity and perceptions. ~80% of respondents from New Jersey agreed they would want to be with someone who called their mother every day. In addition to the proclivity to love their mothers, people from New Jersey have a healthy dose of confidence. They ranked themselves in the top 5 for most attractive. Residents of the state also rated the New Jersey accent as the sexiest (the New York accent was second).
Podcast: the Power of Connection With The Meet Group’s Catherine Connelly
MARKETING TODAY PODCAST – Starting her first company at age 15, Catherine Connelly is all about meeting new people. She is the SVP of Marketing for The Meet Group, the top provider of live streaming video and creator economy solutions for a number of the world's top social apps. In this episode, Alan and Catherine discuss her career path, iOS changes, The Meet Group's differentiating model for monetization, and the importance of storytelling.