Badoo
Encyclopedia
Badoo is a multi-lingual social networking website, managed out of its Soho
, London
headquarters, but owned by a company in Cyprus
and ultimately by Russian entrepreneur
Andrey Andreev
. In September 2011, The Economist
wrote an article explaining how Badoo has a shot at becoming "one of Europe’s leading internet firms" and that Badoo seems to have discovered a large new market.
Although available in most of the world, the site is most active in Latin America, Spain, Italy and France. Badoo ranks as the 52nd most popular site in France and the 117th globally, according to Alexa Internet
. In July 2011, Badoo.com ranked as the 59th most visited website in the world with 46 million Unique Visitors per month, ahead of CNN.com in 60th position.
In a peer-reviewed study, it was given the lowest score for privacy among 45 social networking sites examined.
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 social networking market is beginning to grow. As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.
In November 2010, Forbes reported a rumour that the site may float in 2011.
As of September 2011 Badoo claims to have over 125 million registered users. According to their website faq, Badoo claims to employ over 200 people internationally. In April of 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook
with an audit and potential removal if it didn't make its Facebook app less viral..
Now Badoo send a lot of spam. Do you receipt the spam messages ?
.
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.
As of April 2011 it 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.
Web of trust
, the community-based website reputation ratings
tool rated the site as trustworthy but with a risk of spam
and phishing
.
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. 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. It also states that Badoo may use several Facebook applications to automatically gather Facebook users' personal information.
In April 2011 Wired magazine carried a feature on the website and its founder.
real time statistics server, and the Blitz template engine.
Michelle Kennedy, Head of Legal for Badoo, stated "Over the next six to 12 months the changes in cookies will be big for us, and we've also had a geo-location facility set up. Facebook did a check-in facility which allowed you to work out people's behavioural patterns, but we're more concerned about the safety of our users."
Lloyd Price, Director of Marketing for Badoo, stated "We expect to hit 140 million users by the end of 2011, continue to generate USD $100m + in gross consumer spend per year and expand worldwide."
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
headquarters, but owned by a company in Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and ultimately by Russian entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
Andrey Andreev
Andrey Andreev
Andrey Andreev, with real name Andrey Ogandzhanyants is a Russian businessman who founded the internet social networking and dating site Badoo as well as other Russian internet businesses: SpyLog, Begun and Mamba .-Family and personal life:He spent his childhood in Moscow and studied at the...
. In September 2011, The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
wrote an article explaining how Badoo has a shot at becoming "one of Europe’s leading internet firms" and that Badoo seems to have discovered a large new market.
Although available in most of the world, the site is most active in Latin America, Spain, Italy and France. Badoo ranks as the 52nd most popular site in France and the 117th globally, according to Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
. In July 2011, Badoo.com ranked as the 59th most visited website in the world with 46 million Unique Visitors per month, ahead of CNN.com in 60th position.
In a peer-reviewed study, it was given the lowest score for privacy among 45 social networking sites examined.
History
The site was founded by serial entrepreneur Andrey Andreev and launched in London in November 2006.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
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where the social networking market is beginning to grow. As of 2009, Finam now has 20% ownership of Badoo.
In November 2010, Forbes reported a rumour that the site may float in 2011.
As of September 2011 Badoo claims to have over 125 million registered users. According to their website faq, Badoo claims to employ over 200 people internationally. In April of 2011 Badoo was threatened by Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
with an audit and potential removal if it didn't make its Facebook app less viral..
Now Badoo send a lot of spam. Do you receipt the spam messages ?
Media reception
In 2008, Badoo was profiled in the PDA blog of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
According to TopTenReviews
TopTenReviews
TopTenReviews is a website which aggregates reviews for software, hardware, web services, music, movies and video games from other sites and publications. Founded by Jerry Ropelato in 2003, TTR is, as of May 2008, one of the most popular sites of its kind by size and traffic, with the largest...
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.
As of April 2011 it is censored in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
and elsewhere. Techcrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
reports that as of January 2010, access to Badoo in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
is blocked by the Iranian government.
Web of trust
Web of trust
In cryptography, a web of trust is a concept used in PGP, GnuPG, and other OpenPGP-compatible systems to establish the authenticity of the binding between a public key and its owner. Its decentralized trust model is an alternative to the centralized trust model of a public key infrastructure ,...
, the community-based website reputation ratings
Website Reputation Ratings
A Website Reputation Rating Program warns the user what website is good, may be good or bad, or green, yellow, red. These programs are usually installed as an Add-on and is used and displayed while using a search engine...
tool rated the site as trustworthy but with a risk of spam
Spam
Spam may refer to:* Spam , a canned pork meat product* Spam , unsolicited or undesired electronic messages* E-mail spam, unsolicited or undesired email messages* "Spam" , a comedy sketch...
and phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
.
Finnish newspaper Iltalehti
Iltalehti
Iltalehti is a daily tabloid newspaper and the third largest newspaper in Finland. Of tabloid newspapers, Iltalehti has a market share of 40% and its biggest rival Ilta-Sanomat has a market share of 60%...
reported that numerous Badoo profiles have been created without people's consent, and that people have reported Badoo's actions to the police. 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. It also states that Badoo may use several Facebook applications to automatically gather Facebook users' personal information.
In April 2011 Wired magazine carried a feature on the website and its founder.
Open source
Badoo has released several pieces of software under an open source licence, including various improvements to the PHP scripting language, the PinbaPinba
Pinba is the free high-performance real-time statistic and monitoring server for PHP with MySQL read-only interface developed for highloaded websites by Badoo Development. Available for download under GNU GPL license....
real time statistics server, and the Blitz template engine.
Michelle Kennedy, Head of Legal for Badoo, stated "Over the next six to 12 months the changes in cookies will be big for us, and we've also had a geo-location facility set up. Facebook did a check-in facility which allowed you to work out people's behavioural patterns, but we're more concerned about the safety of our users."
Revenue
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 then 22 million users accessed this function once a month.Lloyd Price, Director of Marketing for Badoo, stated "We expect to hit 140 million users by the end of 2011, continue to generate USD $100m + in gross consumer spend per year and expand worldwide."