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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer services |
| Founded | Fremont, California, U.S. (2007) |
| Founder(s) | Alex Mehr Shayan Zadeh |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Services | Online dating service |
| Revenue | US$20 million (2011) |
| Total equity | US$40,100,000 (raised by March 2011) |
| Employees | 100 (October 2011) |
| Website | zoosk.com |
Zoosk is an online dating website with third-party applications on several social networking services.[1] Zoosk is based in San Francisco, California, and was ranked number 29 on Wall Street Journal's The Next Big Thing: Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies in March 2011, moving up from number 42 the previous year.[2]
Zoosk claims to have "registered" more than 50 million singles.[3] According to The Economist, Zoosk has had 4.8 million unique visitors to its website in November 2010, more than Match.com.[4] According to the Wall Street Journal, Zoosk had 15 million active monthly users around March 2011.[2]
Zoosk is a pay-subscription-based dating service; a non-paying member can post a profile and browse other profiles for free but can send only one message and can read only the beginning of messages unless they are very short.
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Criticisms
The system invites registered members to send messages without warning that only paying members can read all messages completely. If a person tries to send a second message, the system shows an invitation to pay to "validate the message". Additionally, users can not completely opt-out of promotional emails from Zoosk without deactivating their account on the site.
In September 2010, Zoosk began to restrict the age range of members that are searchable: people aged 18 can search for matches only under the age of 20, regardless of their personal preference.
History
The company was started in December 2007 by Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh, initially as a third-party dating application on Facebook.[5]
In May 2010, recording artists T-Pain and Flo Rida released a song inspired by Zoosk entitled "Zoosk Girl".[6]
Features
Zoosk users can access the service on Zoosk's main website or use its third-party application on their Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Tagged, or Myspace social networking platforms. [1] Zoosk also offers a mobile phone version of its service.
References
- ^ "Networking Sites Provide New Ways to Meet Potential Dates" – Washington Post, March 6, 2009
- ^ a b Debaise, Colleen; Austin, Scott (March 10, 2011). "The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies". WSJ.com (Dow Jones and Company, Inc.). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703300904576178673309577828.html. Retrieved May 6, 2011. and Debaise, Colleen (March 10, 2011). "The Next Big Thing 2011: The Top 50 Venture-Funded Companies". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703300904576178673309577828.html#project%3DVCRank_20110307%26articleTabs%3Dinteractive. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
- ^ "About Zoosk". 2011. http://www.zoosk.com/about.php. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
- ^ "Love at first byte". The Economist (San Francisco: The Economist Newspaper Limited). December 29, 2010. http://www.economist.com/node/17797424.
- ^ "Zoosk Lands Another $30 Million For Social Dating" – Washington Post, December 3, 2009
- ^ "Flo Rida to Show Range of Skills on Double Album, 'The Only One'" – Billboard, August 17, 2010
External links
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