Skout
Skout is a location-based social networking mobile app and a website.
Skout uses a cellphone’s global positioning system to help users to find like-minded people within a walkable radius of one another. (For safety reasons, Skout does not identify a user’s precise location.) Those who sign up for the application create basic profiles with photographs and then use an instant message feature to communicate when they are within range of each other. Then, they can arrange a mutual meeting spot.”[1]
The service is available to users with position-sensing (GPS, WiFi, etc.) mobile devices such as smartphones.
Origins
The service was created in 2007 by Christian Wiklund and Niklas Lindstrom, currently the CEO and CTO of the company. The first iteration of Skout was more similar to FourSquare but the application was re-launched in February 2009 at the DEMO conference as a location-based dating service, winning the Demo God award.[2] In 2011, the application expanded beyond dating and flirting to include making friends and other social activities.
As of April 2011, the company reported it had five million registered users[3] Skout is the largest location-based flirting app; BoyAhoy, also a Skout property, is second to Grindr for gay men.
Skout has been funded by early-stage investors including Janice Brandt, former Vice Chair of AOL; Jarl Mohn, founding president/CEO of Liberty Media; and Hans Akerblom, founder and chair of Scandinavian Leadership AB. The board of directors includes, in addition to the founders, Herbert S. Madan; Andreas Weigend; chair Robin Wolaner.
Investors
In April 2012, the company raised $22 million from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.[4]
Controversy
In June 2012, Skout suspended its service for minors, after three separate incidents in which minors were allegedly raped by adults posing as teenagers.[5] It later resumed its services for teenagers in July 2012 with some safety measures in place.[6]
In May 2013, a privacy vulnerability in the Skout service was disclosed by independent security consultant Aldo Cortesi, demonstrating that the service exposed sensitive user data such a date of birth, and user geolocation. [7]
References
- ^ Rosenbloom, Stephanie (21 July 2010). "The New Dating Tools: A Card and a Wink". The New York Times.
- ^ http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2009/03/demo_2009_wraps_up.html
- ^ http://www.bostonherald.com/jobfind/news/technology/view/20110524these_dating_apps_are_all_about_location/
- ^ http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/03/skout-funding/
- ^ Perlroth, Nicole (12 June 2012). "After Rapes Involving Children, Skout, a Flirting App, Bans Minors". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
- ^ "Blog update".
- ^ http://corte.si/posts/security/skout/