Badoo is a dating-focused social networking service, founded in 2006 and headquarters
in Soho, London.
The site operates in 180 countries and is most popular in Latin America, Spain, Italy
and France.
Badoo ranks as the 157th most popular website in the world, according to Alexa Internet
as of April, 2014.
The site operates on a freemium model.
To gain extra features, a user has two options: to pay a fee, or to let Badoo email all his/her
friends.
History Badoo was founded by the Russian entrepreneur
Andrey Andreev and launched in London in November 2006.
In 2007 it raised $30 million in funding.
In January 2008, the Russian investor Finam Capital paid US$30 million for a 10% stake
in Badoo for expansion in Russia.
As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.
In September 2009, Blendr, "powered by" Badoo, appeared in the iTunes app store.
In April 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook with an audit and potential removal if it
didn't make its Facebook app less viral.
According to Insidefacebook.com, during the week of January 11, Badoo was ranked 17th
in growing Facebook apps.
The official Badoo USA launch was on March 23, 2012, with Nick Cannon introducing the
service in the United States.
In April 2012, the company entered into a marketing agreement with the site Hot or Not
to display its members in the companies service.
Website and features Badoo is a freemium service where the basic
service is free for everyone but users have an option to pay for premium features.
As soon as members sign up they can chat, upload photos and videos.
Users can see and contact people who live in their area using the "People Nearby" feature
or in a different city or part of the world using the "Search" feature.
Another free feature is the "Encounters" game where users click yes or no on other users'
photos and if there is a match then the two users are notified.
For a fee, users can use the "Rise Up" feature which allows users to pay to give their profile
more visibility on the site for a limited time.
According to Badoo's communications director, Lucy George, as of late 2007, 20% of Badoo's
22 million users were paying for heightened visibility at least once a month.
However, according to The Economist, by 2011 only 5% of members were paying for the premium
services.
There are several premium services that users can pay to use including the "rise up" feature
to promote oneself higher in the search results and so attract greater attention.
Users can also pay to their your profile photo more widely visible across the site.
Users can also buy "Super Powers" to see more search results, who wants to meet them, and
see which of their messages have been read.
According to CNET, the website is intended to introduce users to people nearby that share
similar interests.
Deceptive bulk email Badoo offers users extra functionality if
they will give away all their friends' contact information.
Badoo aims to "get your friends hooked too".
The website emails each of them, "promising that a message from you awaits them at the
other end."
However, in truth, the "message" never existed at all.
Other criticisms and controversies In a peer-reviewed study conducted and published
by Cambridge University in 2009, it was given the lowest score for privacy among the 45
social networking sites examined.
Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that numerous Badoo profiles have been created
without people's consent, and that people have reported Badoo's actions to the police.
Reception A review in CNET said the reporter's first
impression of the site was that it was "creepy".
He said that though the site was advertised as a way to meet local friends with shared
interests, it was more like a photo-based dating site.
He also said the way it matches users was "obscure".
References
External links Official website