THE NEXT WEB - July 17 - For microblogging, there’s Twitter, whilst Facebook is where you keep in touch with friends. LinkedIn is best kept for business acquaintances. Google+ seems to straddle a line somewhere between Facebook and LinkedIn and it’s too early to say on which side it will eventually fall. What about SNS for people you don’t know? This is where the story of Badoo begins. Badoo was launched in London in 2006 by Russian serial entrepreneur Andrei Andreyev. His other ventures include SpyLog, Begun and Mamba. There’s a good chance you associate Badoo with dating, but this is an image the company is feverishly attempting to rid itself of. There’s two reasons. Online dating still has some negative associations. And secondly, not everyone is necessarily interested in dating – some people simply want to meet new people. You go to Badoo and connect with others in the area. It could be for drinks, dancing or a game. Today Badoo has 121M members in 180 countries, a turnover of ~$100M.
The term for this kind of activity is 'social dating.' Easygoing dating with no commitments, with people a couple of degrees removed from people you already know.
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Jul 19, 2011 at 05:21 AM
If only it were that easy....why are people so afraid to just talk to people? It could even be online...My friend met her bf on Facebook Video Chat Rounds for example! Just while chatting and playing games. It just so happened to be online. People have to remember that fate and putting yourself out there also can play a big role!
Posted by: Rachel | Jul 27, 2011 at 08:09 PM