2. Began in 2003 as part of new company, Humor Rainbow, Inc. Revitalized in 2007 through marketing experiment CrazyBlindDate.com (Chafkin) 2.5 million “active users” and highest search ranking (“About OkTrends”) (Businessweek)
3. Now available in several countries, including the Netherlands, Brazil, and Israel, and is multilingual Every day about 500 people cancel their account and state as their reason that they found a relationship on OkCupid.” – Sam Yagan (Lin) Nearly equal in men vs. women, college vs. no college Nearly all white young people between the ages of 18-34 who make under $30k per year (Data from Quantcast)
4.
5. Novel Features and Uniquities: Unique matching algorithm from user-generated tests and questions OkTrends blog full of data and self-studies with detailed graphs Iphone app, Facebook widget, and Mozilla Firefox toolbar Free How Your Race Affects The Messages You Get The Case For An Older Woman
6. “About OkTrends.” (2010). OkCupid. http://blog.okcupid.com/ Chafkin, M. (2008, May 1). “Their Online Dating Site was Struggling; Was a blind-date stunt really the answer?” Inc. Magazine. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080501/their-online-dating-site-was-struggling.html “Internet and Software Services: Humor Rainbow, Inc.” (2010, March 20). Businessweek[Stock Report]. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=31139525. Linc, C. (2010, March 12). “Love, Electrodigital.” The Tech (MIT). http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N12/okcupid.html. Quantcast. (2010, March 12). “Audience Profile: OkCupid.” www.quantcast.com/okcupid.com
Editor's Notes
Started by several Harvard graduates with extensive website industry experience and a commitment to providing free services online in a commercial capacity – Sam Yagan = primary founder – cultivated Sparknotes and eDOnkey, music-sharing site of substance for some time before suffering the fate of all music-sharing sites in copyright infringement suitSite grew but leveled out just as the website had generated $7 million – being beat out by Canadian free oline dating site, Plentyoffish.com – embarked on a new strategy to create a website with a more specific, flashier purpose (CrazyBlindDate.com = speed dating online, find blind dates fast) and market it through Okcupid (requires okc registration) – launch was not immediately successul, but as group experimented with new advertising techniques, CrazyBlindDate drew more positive attention, and for people who were attracted to sensationalism of site but were interested in more traditional online dating, Okcupid became a popular site to register with Now one of the most popular online dating sites, if not the most popular free online dating site – boasts 3.5 million active users, whatever that means, and is now the top-ranked free online dating site when searched on Google
Methods of InteractionScreen shot of typical page - messages, winks, favorites, IM, search feature, journals - OKC helps you find people with Quickmatch and IcebreakersBlock people easily – also always lets you know who has looked at your profile
Novel features - - Matching algorithm through user generated tests and questionsblog - critical studies that are receiving a lot of praise - matching uniquenessI phone App and Mozilla ToolbarUniqueness on marketFind okc page about thisfree
