SpeedDate.com
SpeedDate.com is a paid online speed dating site. The site was started by two Stanford graduates, Simon Tisminezky and Dan Abelon after they took an entrepreneurship class at Stanford Business School co-taught by Eric Schmidt. The domain was acquired in 2007 and since its launch in late 2007, SpeedDate.com has hosted several million online speed dates. Within an hour, users meet up to 15 people using live video and instant messaging. SpeedDate.com also has applications on Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Meebo. SpeedDate.com as of Oct 2008, is a paid service but future revenue models are likely to be based on premium features.
Criticisms
Several tech blogs have criticized SpeedDate.com for their aggressive advertising on social networks such as Facebook. In some cases, they acquired existing applications that people had already installed, and replaced the entire code base with advertisements for their dating site.
References
- Does This Webcam Make Me Look Fat?, New York Times, Oct 5 2007
- Super Tuesday Speed Dating, The Huffington Post, Feb 6 2008
- Web Scout: Spinning through online entertainment and connected culture, LA Times, Feb 12 2008
- SpeedDate is Just That. With Webcams., Mashable, Oct 29 2007
- SpeedDate Hijacks Facebook Users With A Bait And Switch, TechCrunch, September 12, 2008
- Oregon Trail Facebook app to be replaced with dating service, CNet, October 23, 2008