User:Lucspook/sandbox

Badoo is an online social networking service whose mission is to provide the world’s easiest, fastest and most fun way for people to meet each other locally and globally. Badoo is not only the largest, but also the fastest growing social network for meeting new people globally.

The social discovery, dating-oriented social network, was founded in Spain in November 2006 by Andrey Andreev and a small group of international programmers and tech entrepreneurs. Badoo was originally a basic photo sharing website but evolved into a social networking and dating website in 2008. As Badoo is a meeting place for adults, nobody under the age of 18 is eligible to sign up for the service.

Users must register before using Badoo. They can then create an account and instantly upload photos, videos and chat to other users. Additionally, Badoo offers a premium service where users can pay to customise and increase viewings of their profile as well as play games.

Just one year after it’s launch Badoo had 12 million members and as of 2013 had over 183 million members worldwide with more than 125,000 new users joining everyday and over 35 million active users per month, uploading over 3 million photos daily.

In 2008 Finam Capital injected $30m into Badoo and the company now has an annual run rate of $150 million, from around 1 million paying users every month. Badoo has an office in London, UK.

Jimmy Wales, Co-Founder of Wikipedia, nominated Badoo CEO and Founder Andreev as one of ‘50 People Who Will Change The World 2012,’ in Wired Magazine’s Smart List 2012. Wales said he was “intrigued by Badoo's growth to over 120 million users in an under-the-radar way,” and that Andreev seemed “a smart, serious, interesting tech geek on a mission to create something that people like”.

In June 2013 Alexa.com rated Badoo's global ranking as 129.

History
Badoo was launched in Spain in November 2006 by Andrey Andreev and a group of young, forward thinking programmers and tech entrepreneurs. Originally the site was a conventional photo sharing website but in 2008 the focus changed to social networking. The vision was to use the most advanced technologies available to create an elegantly modern, fast and easy way for people to meet new people in their area - and have fun doing it. The scope would be global, but adapted to local needs.

Andrey Andreev founded three companies prior to Badoo. The first, SpyLOG, a web-tracking business founded in 1999, helped webmasters track visits to their sites as well as tracking users’ habits on the web. The company ran until April 2010, when it’s service was bought by Openstat.

He went on to launch Begun in 2002, a contextual advertising firm often described as an earlier version of Google AdWords. A majority share of the company was purchased by Russian investment firm FINAM in 2004. Google tried to purchase Begun for $140 million in 2008.

Mamba was then launched in 2004 and has gone on to become one of the most popular dating sites in Russia with roughly 8 million users (or 13% of Russia’s Internet population) using its service. A majority share was sold in 2006 to FINAM and Mail.ru.

In 2008 Finam Capital injected $30m in the then two-year-old Badoo. Since then no further investment has been needed as Badoo has been profitable.

Growth
Following Badoo’s launch, it’s strongest markets were Southern Europe and Latin America. Its popularity grew rapidly and in 2012 it was achieving 60% growth and adding more than 125,000 new users year on year, according to Techcrunch.

Badoo was officially launched in the USA on 23rd March 2012 with a campaign led by Nick Cannon, an American actor, comedian, rapper, TV and radio personailty. The launch was a three day project involving four fashion photograpers taking new online profile pictures for 1,000 New Yorkers. The 24 best pictures were chosen through a Facebook ‘likes’ campaign and used on billboards and taxi advertising to promote Badoo’s launch.

Since November 2011 mobile usage has increased by 100%. Badoo’s Facebook page, as of June 2013, has over 8.7 million likes.

Corporate Affairs
Badoo employs around 70 people in London and 200 worldwide. In June 2011 Business Insider featured a picture tour of the new offices. Badoo’s other offices are located in Moscow, San Francisco, Cyprus and Malta.

Reception
Badoo has received numerous awards for its innovation and technology including: –	Nominated for Best International Startup – Crunchies 2011. –	Nominated for Best Social Network at the 5th Annual Mashable Awards 2011. –	Nominated in the Social Networking & Collaboration category at the 2011. [footnote] –	Daily Telegraph’s Start-Up 100 Awards. –	Nominated as Highly Recommended for the The Europas Hero Award at the European Tech Startup Awards 2011. –	One of the Top Most Innovative Companies 2012 by FastCompany.

Demographics
According to Wired magazine, the top three countries that use Badoo the most, as of 2012, are Brazil with 14.1 million members, Mexico with 9 million and France with 8.2 million. Overall 45% of Badoo users are female and 55% male.

According to London Loves Business, in both Spain and Brazil roughly one in eight people who use the internet are Badoo members.

Badoo Apps
Badoo is present on almost every mobile platform. The first App to be released by Badoo was for the iPhone 3 in December 2010. This was followed by the Android App in February 2011, Blackberry App in December 2011, Windows in August 2012   and HTML 5 in 2013 along with the new iPad app. The iPad app has been well received and currently has a user rating of 4.5 out of 5 in the iTunes store. In 2013 Badoo’s android app was featured as one of PC Magazine's ‘100 best Android Apps of 2013’. Badoo has just released a Firefox version of Badoo, which is present on the Firefox marketplace.

In 2011 Badoo’s Facebook app broke into the ‘Top 3 Facebook Apps in the World,’according to appdata.com.

As of June 2013 the Badoo app has been rated: –	Google Play – average of 4.5 out of 5 with (over 500,000) 490,297 reviews and over 350K 5 star reviews. –	Blackberry app store – 4 out of 5. –	Androidpit - 4.5 out of 5 with (over 500,000) 489,359 reviews. –	iTunes App Store – 4.5 out of 5 from 468 (404) reviewers.

Apps supported by Badoo
Blendr Badoo supports Blendr as a white lable app. Blendr is powered by Badoo Trading Ltd and users are subject to the same terms and conditions and privacy policy as Badoo users. Blendr was launched by Joel Simkhai CEO of Grindr in September 2011.

Website & features
Users must register with the site after which they create a personal profile. Users can register using a third-party log-in such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, VK.com or odnoklassniki.ru. Users may also create an account directly with Badoo.

Badoo is a freemium service. The basic service is extensive and free for everyone. As soon as members sign up they can chat, upload photos and videos and see and contact people who live in their area — or even a different city or part of the world. Some of Badoo’s free features include:

Ice Breaker
This feature offers example conversation starters for users who need a helping hand introducing themselves to other users.

Interests
Users can create a self-generated list of hobbies instead of pre-defined ones.

Anonymous Chat
The anonymous chat game is part of Badoo's Chat feature. Badoo finds someone random for user to chat to and they have three minutes before deciding if they would like to see each other's picture and if they would like to keep chatting, or chat to someone new.

People Nearby
The People Nearby section shows members in the user’s area and other cities, whilst the search lets users find people according to their interests.

Encounters
Encounters allows users to see photos of other users who match their interests. Users can increase how often they appear in Encounters when other Badoo users are looking at it for 100 credits.

Visitors
Users get to see who visited their profile.

Matches
Playing encounters or visiting profiles enables users to build up a list of profiles they like as well as a list of people who like them.

Badoo offers premium paid options for those who wish to be seen by far more people in their area and to truly take advantage of all the possibilities available on Badoo. These premium options aim to increase user’s success in attracting and selecting the people they would like to meet and connect to. Some of Badoo’s premium features include:

Credits
The main benefits of credits are: to enable users to ‘Rise Up’ in search results, ‘step into the Spotlight’ on the search page and get more displays in Encounters.

Rise Up
Rise Up is one of Badoo's paid features. For 100 credits the users profile is boosted to the top of people’s search results in the users area, this raises user visibility and increases the chances of being contacted by other Badoo users.

SuperPowers
The Super Powers feature is subscription-based and includes a range of premium features that basic users don’t have. Super Powers can be bought for one, three, six or twelve months.

Spotlight
Spotlight enables users to put their photo at the top of the page so everyone in their area can see it. The Spotlight strip is a carousel of profile pictures visible in almost every page of the website. Users can increase their visibility at the cost of 100 credits each time.

Favourites
A favourites list, as part of the Superpowers package, enables users to easily access profiles of people they like t o chat to. Users are also able to see who has added them to their favourites list.

Website & features
Users must register with the site after which they create a personal profile. Users can register using a third-party log-in such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, VK.com or odnoklassniki.ru. Users may also create an account directly with Badoo.

Badoo is a freemium service where the basic service is free for everyone but users have an option to pay for premium features. As soon as members sign up they can chat, upload photos and videos. Users can see and contact people who live in their area using the 'People Nearby' feature or in a different city or part of the world using the 'Search' feature. Another free feature is the 'Encounters' game where users click a yes, no, or maybe option on other users' photos and if there is a match then the two users are notified.

There are several premium services that users can pay to use including the "rise up" feature to promote oneself higher in the search results and so attract greater attention. Users can also pay to their your profile photo more widely visible across the site. Users can also buy "Super Powers" to see more search results, who wants to meet them, and see which of their messages have been read.

Censorship & Blocked Countries
Badoo has met with some controversy and it’s flirtatious aspect is assumed to be the reason it has been has been blocked in Iran (2010),  China and the United Arab Emirates (2011), though no official reason has been given.

Spam
Badoo has been met with criticism for allegedly spamming and scamming. There have been user complaints stating that they were signed up without their consent and that Badoo sent spam emails to their entire address book without permission telling them their friend "has left you a message." . Rather than their friend leaving them an actual message Badoo sends a template email asking your contacts to join up as well. Blogger Daniel Stuckey says, "With its shiny presentation, sexualised premise and slick startup ploys, Badoo feels like a bizarre super-collider of radical honesty and spammy fakery; that is to say, a souvenir of the Internet".

Fake Profiles
Badoo has been accused of generating fake profiles by harvesting information posted by users on other social networking sites, without these users consent. Badoo responded to the complaints by asking users to send their details, via the website feedback page, so they could look into the problems. There have been no recorded complaints to the UK Data Protection Commissioner. In 2011 the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that Badoo profiles were been created without people's consent. It also states that Badoo may use several Facebook applications to automatically gather Facebook users' personal information. According to Badoo’s website “accounts can be deleted by signing into the profile, if you can’t remember or believe you don’t have a password then you can enter your email address and a new password will be sent to you. Once in your account click the ‘Delete Profile’ button on the left hand-side of the screen and follow the instructions. Deleted profiles are immediately unsearchable on Badoo’s website but are left inactive for 30 days. If the user has not signed back on during that time the account will then be permanently deleted. When joining Badoo through Facebook or other partners, Badoo’s privacy policy states that, ‘If you have registered on one of our partner websites, such as Facebook, your Profile will be available to all users of the Badoo social network whether via our site or our partners’ websites’. .  Badoo’s Safety & Security policies were reviewed by John Carr, UK Government Advisor on Internet safety and security, in September 2011.

Opinions of Badoo.com on TrustPilot, which are based on user reviews, rather than press releases, rate the site as 'Very low', with a current score of 1.7 out of 10 (as of 26th June 2013). Complaints included fake profiles, and spamming of email accounts of signed-up users. However opinion differs and many bloggers enjoy and recommend using the site. In a peer-reviewed study conducted and published by Cambridge University in 2009, it was given the lowest score for privacy amongst the 45 social networking sites examined at that time. Whilst some scamming may exist and some members have had concerns regarding fake profiles on Badoo, any scammers found or reported to Badoo are normally removed from the site in around 15 minutes. Badoo uses an intelligent algorithm that ensures users who are not behaving appropriately are tagged and prevented from contacting other users.

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.

Open source
Badoo has released several pieces of software under an open source licence, including various improvements to the PHP scripting language, the Pinba real time statistics server, and the Blitz template engine. Michelle Kennedy, Head of Legal for Badoo, was interviewed for The Lawyer magazine in September 2011 regarding open source material. Badoo has also opened a blog in the popular Russian community habrahabr and often publishes articles sharing best practices with the developer community.

=Entirely new Badoo Features Section=== New Section: Website & Features ==

I propose the neutral and factual section on Website & Features. These are all neutral & factual and in perfect keeping with the presentation of site features on wikipedia pages describing other sites and services.


 * == Website & features ==
 * Users must register with the site after which they create a personal profile. Users can register using a third-party log-in such as Facebook, Yahoo, Google, VK.com or odnoklassniki.ru. Users may also create an account directly with Badoo.
 * Badoo is a freemium service. The basic service is extensive and free for everyone. As soon as members sign up they can chat, upload photos and videos and see and contact people who live in their area — or even a different city or part of the world. Some of Badoo’s free features include:
 * ==== Ice Breaker ====
 * This feature offers example conversation starters for users who need a helping hand introducing themselves to other users.
 * ==== Interests ====
 * Users can create a self-generated list of hobbies instead of pre-defined ones.
 * ==== Anonymous Chat ====
 * The anonymous chat game is part of Badoo's Chat feature. Badoo finds someone random for user to chat to and they have three minutes before deciding if they would like to see each other's picture and if they would like to keep chatting, or chat to someone new.
 * ==== People Nearby ====
 * The People Nearby section shows members in the user’s area and other cities, whilst the search lets users find people according to their interests.
 * ==== Encounters ====
 * Encounters allows users to see photos of other users who match their interests. Users can increase how often they appear in Encounters when other Badoo users are looking at it for 100 credits.
 * ==== Visitors ====
 * Users get to see who visited their profile.
 * ==== Matches ====
 * Playing encounters or visiting profiles enables users to build up a list of profiles they like as well as a list of people who like them.
 * Badoo offers premium paid options for those who wish to be seen by far more people in their area and to truly take advantage of all the possibilities available on Badoo. These premium options aim to increase user’s success in attracting and selecting the people they would like to meet and connect to. Some of Badoo’s premium features include:
 * ==== Credits ====
 * The main benefits of credits are: to enable users to ‘Rise Up’ in search results, ‘step into the Spotlight’ on the search page and get more displays in Encounters.
 * ==== Rise Up ====
 * Rise Up is one of Badoo's paid features. For 100 credits the users profile is boosted to the top of people’s search results in the users area, this raises user visibility and increases the chances of being contacted by other Badoo users.
 * ==== SuperPowers ====
 * The Super Powers feature is subscription-based and includes a range of premium features that basic users don’t have. Super Powers can be bought for one, three, six or twelve months.
 * ==== Spotlight ====
 * Spotlight enables users to put their photo at the top of the page so everyone in their area can see it. The Spotlight strip is a carousel of profile pictures visible in almost every page of the website. Users can increase their visibility at the cost of 100 credits each time.
 * ==== Favourites ====
 * A favourites list, as part of the Superpowers package, enables users to easily access profiles of people they like t
 * o chat to. Users are also able to see who has added them to their favourites list.
 * Spotlight enables users to put their photo at the top of the page so everyone in their area can see it. The Spotlight strip is a carousel of profile pictures visible in almost every page of the website. Users can increase their visibility at the cost of 100 credits each time.
 * ==== Favourites ====
 * A favourites list, as part of the Superpowers package, enables users to easily access profiles of people they like t
 * o chat to. Users are also able to see who has added them to their favourites list.

Newest Badoo App Section
Badoo Apps Badoo is present on almost every mobile platform. The first App to be released by Badoo was for the iPhone the summer 2010, followed by Android in March 2011 , Blackberry in December 2011 , Windows Mobile in July 2012 , and HTML 5 in 2013 along with an iPad app.

In 2011 Badoo’s Facebook app broke into the ‘Top 3 Facebook Apps in the World’ according to appdata.com and in 2013 Badoo’s android app was featured as one of PC Magazine's ‘100 best Android Apps of 2013’.

As of October 2013 the Badoo app has been rated: Google Play – average of 4.5 out of 5, Blackberry app store – 4 out of 5 , Androidpit - 4.5 out of 5 , iTunes App Store – 4.5 out of 5.

Newsest Features Section

 * I've been doing rather a lot of reading on how to deal with the criticisms and accusations levelled at badoo. As was pointed out to me  WP:CRITICISM is completely against "Criticism" sections and that criticism need to be balanced and neutral. The current 'deceptive bulk email' and 'Other criticisms' section clearly fall foul of the same guidelines. With this in mind I have drafted the below section on 'Reception'.

Reception
I've been doing rather a lot of reading on how to deal with the criticisms and accusations levelled at badoo. As was pointed out to me  WP:CRITICISM is completely against "Criticism" sections and that criticism need to be balanced and neutral and run throughout the content of the piece, rather than having a dedicated section to it. The current 'deceptive bulk email' and 'Other criticisms' section clearly fall foul of the same guidelines. With this in mind I have drafted the below section on 'Reception' which I have drafted below.

Reception
Growth

Following Badoo’s launch, it grew rapidly gaining millions of monthly active users. In September 2011, The Economist published an article that explained how Badoo had a shot at becoming "one of Europe’s leading internet firms" and that Badoo seems to have discovered a large new market. .

Badoo was officially launched in the USA on 23rd March 2012 with a campaign led by celebrity Nick Cannon. The launch was a three day project involving four fashion photograpers taking new online profile pictures for 1,000 New Yorkers. The 24 best pictures were chosen through a Facebook ‘likes’ campaign and used on billboards and taxi advertising to promote Badoo’s launch.

Badoo is claimed to be the world’s fourth-largest social network with users spread across 180 countries. According to a Badoo press release reported by London Loves Business, it is growing by 125,000 new users a day. According to the article, in both Spain and Brazil, roughly one in eight people who use the internet are Badoo members.

Spam & Fake Profiles

Some of Badoo's early growth has been attributed to spamming and scamming. There have been user complaints stating that they were signed up without their consent and that Badoo sent spam emails to their entire address book without permission, telling them their friend "has left you a message." . Blogger Daniel Stuckey complains that "The site sends messages to all email addresses it can find through your accounts, with minimal consent, promising that a message from you awaited them at the other end". Rather than their friend leaving them an actual message Badoo sent a template email asking their contacts to join up as well.

Other reported complaints from 2011 accuse Badoo of scraping their profile data from other social networks or dating services and creating fake profiles without their consent. Badoo responded to the complaints by asking users to send their details, via the website feedback page, so they could look into the problems. There have been no recorded complaints to the UK Data Protection Commissioner.

Reviews

Despite the high rating of Badoo's mobile applications, opinions of Badoo.com on TrustPilot, which are based on user reviews, rate the site as 'Very low', with a current score of 1.7 out of 10. Complaints included fake profiles, and spamming of email accounts of signed-up users. However opinion differs and many bloggers enjoy and recommend using the site. In a peer-reviewed study conducted and published by Cambridge University in 2009, it was given the lowest score for privacy amongst the 45 social networking sites examined at that time.

Awards


 * Badoo has received or been nominated for numerous awards including:
 * Nominated for Best International Startup – Crunchies 2011.
 * Nominated for Best Social Network at the 5th Annual Mashable Awards 2011.
 * Nominated in the Social Networking & Collaboration category at the 2011. [footnote]
 * –[Daily Telegraph]]’s Start-Up 100 Awards.
 * Nominated as Highly Recommended for the The Europas Hero Award at the European Tech Startup Awards 2011.
 * One of the Top Most Innovative Companies 2012 by FastCompany.

Censorship & Blocked Countries
Badoo has met with some controversy and it’s flirtatious aspect is assumed to be the reason it has been has been blocked in Iran (2010),  China and the United Arab Emirates (2011), though no official reason has been given.