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Badoo

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Badoo
badoo logo
Type of site
Social networking service
Available inDutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian,Ukraine, Spanish, Swedish, Slovak, Czech, Indonesian, Turkish, Hungarian, Hebrew
Owner332 Agiou Andreou Street, "Patrician Chambers", 3035 Limassol, Cyprus.[1]
URLbadoo.com
Commercialfree, but with a charge for higher prominence
Registrationrequired

Badoo is a dating-focused[3] social networking service, founded in 2006,[4] which uses deceptive tactics to attract new users. It is managed out of its Soho, London headquarters[5] but owned by a company based in Cyprus, which is ultimately owned by Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev.[1][6][7]

The site operates in 180 countries[8] and is most popular in Latin America, Spain, Italy and France.[9] Badoo ranks as the 136th most popular website in the world, according to Alexa Internet.[10]

However, a Cambridge University study laments the website's lax privacy practices.[11] A Finnish newspaper has reported that numerous Badoo profiles have been created without people's consent.[12] And Daniel Stuckey warns about the website's contact-scraping practices. He explains that, in certain cases, "the site sends messages to all email addresses it can find through your accounts, with minimal consent, promising that a message from you awaited them at the other end."[13]

History

Badoo was founded by the Russian entrepreneur Andrey Andreev and launched in London in November 2006.[14]

In January 2008, the Russian investor Finam Capital paid US$30 million for a 10% stake in Badoo. The funding will be used to build Badoo in Russia, where the market for social networking is beginning to grow.[15] As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.[14]

In September 2011, The Economist published an article that explained how Badoo had a shot at becoming "one of Europe’s leading internet firms" and that Badoo seems to have discovered a large new market.[16] That month, Blendr, "powered by" Badoo, appeared in the iTunes app store.

As of November 2011 Badoo claimed to have over 130 million registered users [17] of which 6 million are from the US.[18] According to their website FAQ, Badoo claims to employ over 200 people internationally.[19] In April 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook with an audit and potential removal if it didn't make its Facebook app less viral.[20] According to Insidefacebook.com, during the week of January 11, Badoo was ranked 17th in growing Facebook apps.[21]

The official Badoo USA launch was on March 23, 2012 with Nick Cannon introducing the service in the US.[22]

In April 2012, the company entered into a marketing agreement with the site Hot or Not to display its members in the companies service.[23] It is unclear if that led to Hot or Not profiles becoming Badoo profiles, and if original Hot or Not contributors had given consent for their images to be resold.

On April 19, 2012, Badoo announced it had appointed long-time Google executive Benjamin Ling as Chief Operating Officer to push its mobile and web platforms and US growth.[24]

However, in October 2012, Badoo's COO Benjamin Ling left the company after a short tenure in the position.[25]

In May 2012, the company claimed in a press release it had exceeded 150 million registered users.[3]

Badoo is claimed to be the world’s fourth-largest social network with users spread across 180 countries. According to a Badoo press release reported by London Loves Business, it is growing by 125,000 new users a day. According to the article, in both Spain and Brazil, roughly one in eight people who use the internet are Badoo members.[26]

Website & features

Users must register with the site after which they create a personal profile. Users can register using a third-party log-in such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, VK.com or odnoklassniki.ru. Users may also create an account directly with Badoo.

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[27], upload photos and videos. Users can see and contact people who live in their area using the 'People Nearby' feature[28] or in a different city or part of the world using the 'Search' feature [29]. Another free feature is the 'Encounters' game where users click a yes, no, or maybe option on other users' photos and if there is a match then the two users are notified[30].

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[31]. 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[32].

Deceptive bulk email

Badoo draws many users into its contact-scraping practices by offering them extra functionality in return. In a 2012 article, Daniel Stuckey writes: "What data will you give away to join the party? Will it be your Gmail account? Yahoo? Facebook? MSN? If you have a contact list somewhere on the web ... Badoo wants to source it ... and get your friends hooked too. The site sends messages to all email addresses it can find through your accounts, with minimal consent, promising that a message from you awaited them at the other end."[13] Badoo tells these people that they must join the website in order to see the promised "message". However, in truth, the "message" never existed at all.[33]

Additionally Badoo generates users by harvesting information posted by users on other social networking sites, without these users consent. Many users of Okcupid will find their profiles have been cloned on Badoo without their consent and are freely accessible through an internet search.[34]

Users who have never signed up for a profile report difficulty or impossibility of deleting that profile from Badoo.[35]

Other criticism

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.[12] The same article states there are images of women in hospital just after giving birth, raising suspicions about whether one would willingly upload such images to a dating service.[12] It also states that Badoo may use several Facebook applications to automatically gather Facebook users' personal information.[12]

In a peer-reviewed study conducted and published by Cambridge University in 2009,[36] it was given the lowest score for privacy among 45 social networking sites examined.[11]

Opinions of Badoo.com on TrustPilot, which are based on user reviews, rather than press releases, rate the site as 'Very low',[37] with a current score of 1.3 out of 10 (as of 20 March 2013). Complaints included fake profiles, and spamming of email accounts of signed-up users.

According to TopTenReviews Badoo is "like a chat room, dating site and picture rating site disguised as a social network." It was noted Badoo did not offer any group or other type of community to facilitate users meeting similar people.[38]

Web of trust, the community-based website reputation ratings tool rated the site as trustworthy but with a risk of spam and phishing.[39]

Censorship

As of April 2011, Badoo is censored in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. Techcrunch reports that as of January 2010, access to Badoo in Iran is blocked by the Iranian government.[40]

Revenue

Badoo is a Freemium web site and generates income through a "Rise Up" feature which allows users to pay to have their profile given more prominence on the site for a limited time. In the end of 2007, it was reported that 20% of Badoo's then 22 million users accessed this function once a month.[41]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Badoo – Terms of Use Accessed August 2009.
  2. ^ "Badoo.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-11-01.
  3. ^ a b http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/04/badabing-badaboom-badoo-hits-150-million-users-boosted-by-mobile/
  4. ^ http://eu.techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/hey-tagged-badoo-has-been-around-as-long-and-has-bigger-revenues/
  5. ^ "Another Russian IPO?". paidContent.org. Retrieved 2010-11-18.
  6. ^ Badoo Privacy Policy 28 Aug 2009.
  7. ^ How Badoo built a billion-pound social network... on sex by David Rowan, Wired Magazine, 6 April 11. Accessed April 2011.
  8. ^ Rooney, Ben (2012-01-24). "A Very Social Network". The Wall Street Journal.
  9. ^ "Google.com". Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  10. ^ "Alexa Internet report on Badoo". Retrieved 2012-12-02.
  11. ^ a b Social networks ‘failing users’ The Daily Telegraph 21 Jul 2009.
  12. ^ a b c d "Treffipalvelu varastaa profiilitiedot: Varo tätä sovellusta Facebookissa" (in Finnish). Iltalehti. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-01-25. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ a b Stuckey, Daniel. "Badoo is an Enigma Wrapped in a Puzzle Wrapped in Spam". Motherboard. Vice Media. Retrieved 12 September 2013. The writer adds later that he received a voicemail from his mother: "I got this thing on my email… it said, 'Daniel is trying to send you a message through Badoo' and I don't know if it's legit or not."
  14. ^ a b "Project Portfolio – Badoo". Finam Capital. 2009. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  15. ^ Butcher, Mike (21 January 2008). "UK's Badoo pulls $30m for Russian launch, ahead of a home push". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  16. ^ "Social networking: A nightclub on your smartphone". The Economist. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "World's largest meeting network passes 130m user milestone". Badoo press release. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-07.
  18. ^ http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-57383368-250/badoo-social-experiment-or-hookup-site/
  19. ^ "Badoo". Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  20. ^ www.businessinsider.com/badoo-facebook-2011-4.
  21. ^ Calderon Inés, Sara January 11, 2012. “Spotify, Yahoo, Bing, Badoo and more on this week’s top 20 growing Facebook apps by DAU.” http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/01/11/spotify-yahoo-bing-badoo-and-more-on-this-week%E2%80%99s-top-20-growing-facebook-apps-by-dau/
  22. ^ http://mashable.com/2012/03/23/badoo-us/#55251Badoo-Project-in-New-York-City
  23. ^ http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/02/has-dating-site-badoo-found-a-love-match-in-the-form-of-hotornot/
  24. ^ http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/19/badoo-hires-google-exec-as-new-coo-to-push-its-platforms-and-us-growth/
  25. ^ http://allthingsd.com/20121018/badoo-coo-ben-ling-leaves-will-the-former-googler-reunite-with-marissa-mayer/
  26. ^ Hobson, Sophie (30 April 2012). "Badoo: Can the world's fourth-largest social network break Britain?". Archived from the original on 2012-05-02.
  27. ^ Frommer, Dan. "The Biggest Startup You've Never Heard Of Is About To Hit 108 Million Members". Business Insider. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  28. ^ Fromer, Dan. "The Biggest Startup You've Never Heard Of Is About To Hit 108 Million Members". Business Insider.
  29. ^ Fromer, Dan. "The Biggest Startup You've Never Heard Of Is About To Hit 108 Million Members". Business Insider.
  30. ^ Frommer, Dan. "The Biggest Startup You've Never Heard Of Is About To Hit 108 Million Members".
  31. ^ Rowan, David. "How Badoo built a billion-pound social network... on sex". Wired. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  32. ^ Adam. "Badoo Social Networking". Affiliate Colony. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  33. ^ Motherboard user "stfual". In a comment to: Stuckey, Daniel. "Badoo is an Enigma Wrapped in a Puzzle Wrapped in Spam". Motherboard. Vice Media. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  34. ^ http://badoo-com-reviews.measuredup.com/Complaint-fake-profile-27490
  35. ^ http://raimundospark.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/badoo-doesnt-let-you-cancel-a-service-you-didnt-sign-up-for-2/
  36. ^ Bonneau, Joseph; Preibusch, Sören (2009), "The Privacy Jungle: On the Market for Privacy in Social Networks" (PDF), WEIS '09: Proceedings of the Eighth Workshop on the Economics of Information Security.
  37. ^ http://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.badoo.com
  38. ^ "Social Networking Websites Review – Badoo". TopTenREVIEWS. 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  39. ^ "WOT Reputation Scorecard". Web of Trust. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  40. ^ Butcher, Mike (January 5, 2010). "No flirting! Social network Badoo was banned in Iran". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
  41. ^ Elevator Pitch: Why Badoo wants to be the next word in social networking, Mark Sweney, The Guardian, December 24, 2007 , Accessed March 2008.

Further reading

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