Badoo: New Challenger To Facebook’s Crown?
Through the daily newsletter from SFN Blog I came across, what they think might be a challengers to Facebook, Badoo. It’s an ad free social network which already has over 12 million members and was labelled as second ‘fastest rising’ company by Google, even ahead of Facebook. According to Alexa stats they are in the top 100 most visited sites.
So far so good, but what are the pros and cons of their business model to the user and can they actually challenge Facebook?
No advertising? How do they make money?
You pay to become popular. Where most social networks rely heavily on giving away their services and earn their income through selling eyeballs to advertisers, Badoo turns their customers into advertisers. The user can pay to get their profile shown on the front page.
Neil Bryant on why they decided against advertising on their website:
“We wanted to be advertising free in order to have a clean site so our users weren’t subject to adverts which we know can be a turnoff. With Badoo users don’t have to add friends – they have immediate access to get their profile in front of the site’s entire online community”
What else
For the true voyeurs out there who love to check people’s profiles this network might be offputting, as people can see who have watched their profile. Would it be unrealistic to say everyone has at least once looked up an ex or potentia ‘target’ on one of these sites, so this could be deemed too intrusive by many.
The site comes in 7 different languages, which gives Badoo an advantage over Facebook who are still working on a multiple language platform to launch in Europe. With Badoo looking to expand their business beyond the UK and into Europe, this should give them the upperhand for now – although it won’t be long before Facebook will add various languages too.
Badoo also has a hot or not like voting style. Members can upload photo’s (uber fast according to Badoo) and other members can rate them. Facebook has a similar feature, although it’s an application they did not launch themselves.
So, can they really challenge?
I don’t think they can. Although Facebook faced the backlash of its users over Beacon and their arrogance seems to start to drive away users, I don’t think Badoo offers the next best thing. The whole site seems more geared towards a dating site, than a social network.
It’s great they have no ads, but having users pay for popularity doesn’t strike me as being the solution. It’s seems like a great place for posers, people who need to get a professional photo done and pay Badoo to look cool. Great for a dating site (especially as you can track who is following you), but not so much for a social network.
Besides, are people really that bothered about adverts? Ofcourse, everyone hates pop ups – but most sites carry banners or at least some form of advertising and people still visit them. The problem so far has been that companies have failed to come up with an advertising system which actually benefits the users, rather than be an annoyance.
I won’t stop using Facebook because of an ad. People will stop using Facebook because of their arrogance towards users and them screwing up once too many. They faced a backlash against the news feed (although that turned out to be a master stroke and is now one of the most popular features) and it happened again when they introduced Beacon , so it could be a case of three strikes and you’re out. The blogosphere is already turning against them, so they need to be careful with how they proceed into the new year.
So will Badoo challenge Facebook? I doubt it. I’m a big fan of Facebook (for all their flaws) and I can’t see them stumble just yet. There may be others out there who can give them a run for their money, but Badoo is not it. In fact, I think Badoo will evolve into a dating site. So they might challenge MySpace for being the best place to pick up women online.
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Looks like a smart way to earn money… seems there is more to explore than advertising Dollars in social media and social networks
Membership fee’s, sponsorships, transaction fee’s, listing fee’s, gold and premium memberships, extra functionalities and amazing apps..
What will be next in 2008? Looking forward to the new year already…
I completely agree there is more than just advertising as a way to monetize a social network.
However, I’m not convinced as a popularity contest. People want to meet friends/peers on social networks, I’m not convinced they are about who’s popular.
That’s why I can see this being great as a dating site, there is much more of an element of populariy.
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let me tell you when we met
hoy con miedo vi que al ingresar a badoo habia una pajina en ruso por mas que qyuse entrar no pude trate de eliminarla y tampoco que hago amigos tengo miedo de que me descompongan mi compu heeeeelp¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
Badoo is better to meet new people facebook is to speak with your friends
Nonononono…lol. What people don’t understand is that Badoo is not actually a social network. Far from it. And every move your make on that site is geared towards making your fork over $$$. Why would people leave Facebook for that? When there is a better and cheaper option (Cheaper being free).