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	26 May 2003 (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]

[edit] Origins

Launched in May 2006, the site now claims to have over 46 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]

[edit] Reception

TopTenReviews found the site as "like a chat room, dating site and picture rating site disguised as a social network." It found there are no groups or other types of community that allow you to meet similar people.^[7]

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Badoo - Terms of Use Accessed August 2009/
2. ^ ^{a b} Social networks ‘failing users’ The Daily Telegraph 21 Jul 2009
3. ^ Badoo Privacy Policy 28 Aug 2009
4. ^ "Alexa Internet report on Badoo". http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/badoo.com. Retrieved 2009-09-22. 
5. ^ Elevator Pitch: Why Badoo wants to be the next word in social networking, Mark Sweney , The Guardian, December 24 2007 , Accessed March 2008.
6. ^ 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. 
7. ^ "Social Networking Websites Review - Badoo". TopTenREVIEWS. 2009. http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/badoo-review.html. Retrieved 2009-08-29.