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|
|---|---|
| URL | www.badoo.com |
| Commercial? | free, but with a charge for higher prominence |
| Type of site | Social network service |
| Registration | yes |
| Available language(s) | Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish |
| Owner | Badoo Services Limited, Naousis 1, Karapatakis Building, P.C 6018, Larnaca, Cyprus [1] |
| Launched | ? (relaunched September 2007) |
| Current status | active |
Badoo is a multi-lingual social networking website, often referred to as British based,[2] but actually owned by an offshore company in Cyprus.[1][3] In a Cambridge University report, it was given the lowest score for privacy among 45 social networking sites examined.[2]
Origins
Launched in May 2006, the site now claims to have over 50 million registered users and is one of the top 200 most-visited sites on the internet, according to Alexa Internet.[4]
Unlike other social networking services, Badoo does not incorporate advertising in any part of the site, thus a user's profile contains only user-generated content. Badoo 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 22 million users accessed this function once a month.[5]
In January 2008, the Russian investor Finam paid US$30M for a 10% stake in Badoo. The money will be used to build Badoo in Russia where the social networking market is beginning to grow.[6]
Reception
According to TopTenReviews Badoo is "like a chat room, dating site and picture rating site disguised as a social network." They also noted that Badoo didn't offer any group or other type of community that allow users to meet similar people.[7]
As of January 2010, access to Badoo in Iran is blocked by the Iranian government.[8]
References
- ^ a b Badoo - Terms of Use Accessed August 2009/
- ^ a b Social networks ‘failing users’ The Daily Telegraph 21 Jul 2009
- ^ Badoo Privacy Policy 28 Aug 2009
- ^ "Alexa Internet report on Badoo". http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/badoo.com. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
- ^ Elevator Pitch: Why Badoo wants to be the next word in social networking, Mark Sweney , The Guardian, December 24 2007 , Accessed March 2008.
- ^ Butcher, Mike (January 21, 2008). "UK’s Badoo pulls $30m for Russian launch, ahead of a home push". Techcrunch. http://uk.techcrunch.com/2008/01/21/uks-badoo-pulls-30m-for-russian-launch-ahead-of-a-home-push/. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ "Social Networking Websites Review - Badoo". TopTenREVIEWS. 2009. http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/badoo-review.html. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ Butcher, Mike (January 05, 2010). "No flirting! Social network Badoo is banned in Iran". Techcrunch. http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/01/05/social-network-badoo-is-banned-in-iran/. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
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