Tagged

Tagged is a amusing networking armpit based in San Francisco, California, United States, founded in 2004. Tagged allows associates to browse the profiles of added members, comedy games,3 and allotment tags and basic gifts. Tagged says it has 100 actor members.4 As of 28 September 2011, Quantcast letters Tagged account different users at 5.9 actor U.S., and 18.6 actor globally.5 Tagged has acquired the amusing and burning messaging applicant Digsby6 and the gaming appliance WeGame.7 Michael Arrington wrote in April 2011 that Tagged is best notable for the adeptness to abound profitably during the era of Facebook.6

In 2009, Tagged was criticized for sending ambiguous aggregate mail8910 and paid $1.4 actor dollars in acknowledged settlements apropos those practices.11 The aggregation has back adopted aloofness reforms and afflicted its allurement processes.12 The New York State Attorney General Cuomo has additionally criticized Tagged for its declared abortion to acknowledge promptly to complaints about adolescent pornography.131415

Tagged is an Inc. 500 aggregation baronial #476 on the 2010 Inc. account of fastest growing absolute U.S. clandestine companies.16

Company history

Tagged Inc. was co-founded in mid 2004 by entrepreneurs Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith, who capital to body a "Teen Yahoo or the abutting MTV".17 The brace had aforetime co-founded internet incubator Jumpstart Technologies,18 which was after fined $900,000 for declared violations of the CAN-SPAM Act, again the better anytime amends for spam.19 In March 2008, Microsoft appear a bartering affiliation with amusing networking sites Tagged, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, and hi5 apropos email contacts APIs2021 which has back been implemented.22 Other Tagged partnerships accommodate Slide, RockYou, PhotoBucket, Meebo,23 Razz24 and Jangl.25 In February 2009, afterward complaints from the accessible Tagged was blocked in Qatar by the alone ISP, Qtel, due to inappropriate agreeable that Qtel could not selectively filter.26 Tagged.com had been one of the 10 best visited sites in Qatar.27

In January 2010, in acknowledgment to the convulsion in Haiti, Tagged appear that it was altruistic $50,000 to the Yéle Haiti Convulsion Fund, partly stemming from user donations.28 In the aforementioned month, Tagged won a $200,000 acumen adjoin spammer Erik Voegler, who was sending spam to users on Tagged.29 In May 2010, Tagged was alleged in Lead411's "2010 Hottest San Francisco Companies", a account of the fastest-growing companies in the software, wireless, internet, and media industries,30 and in October 2010, Tagged ranked #100 on Deloitte's account of the top 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, activity sciences and apple-pie technology companies in North America.31

In April 2011, Tagged acquired Digsby, a multi-protocol burning agent and amusing arrangement notification applicant for Windows with 3 actor registered users.326 In September 2011, Tagged fabricated a additional acquisition, WeGame, an appliance for gamers.7

As of October 2011, Tagged has abutting to 150 employees, accepting developed from 55 at the alpha of 2011. Despite the company's growth, they are authoritative efforts to advance a acceptable aggregation culture, and Greg Tseng, CEO, is still interviewing employees, accouterment cafeteria and banquet and captivation officewide affairs every Friday to accumulate the aggregation in the know.1 Tagged is a affiliate of the Amusing Media Announcement Consortium, a barter industry affiliation that aims to access announcement acquirement and to facilitate accord amid amusing networking sites, advertisers and business researchers.33 It has been articular as a accessible applicant for an IPO by 2013.34

Bulk email invitations

Between April and June 2009, Tagged beatific tens of millions of ambiguous spam emails like this one, which falsely states that a acquaintance beatific photographs to the recipient.3536

In June 2009, Time annual columnist Sean Gregory alleged Tagged "The world's best annoying website".10 Tagged had asked users for their email username and password, retrieved email addresses from their abode books, and again beatific email invitations to bodies who were not registered on Tagged, falsely advertence that they accept been "added as a friend" or that the inviter had beatific them photos on Tagged. This activity has been labelled an "e-mail scam" by customer anti-fraud advocates37 and fatigued criticism in the technology press83839 and from users.40 The emails were discussed as accessible spam by Black Web 2.041 and the affinity to a virus was acclaimed by burghal fable armpit Snopes.com.36 The New York Times referred to the convenance as "contact scraping".9

In July 2009 New York Accompaniment Attorney General Andrew Cuomo appear his ambition to sue Tagged for "deceptive email business and aggression of privacy".35 Tagged accomplished a adjustment in which Tagged agreed to pay $500,000 and to adapt its promotional practices.42 Simultaneously, Tagged acclimatized an administration activity by the accompaniment of Texas, accordant to pay $250,000 in penalties and fees. Conditions of the adjustment included "clear and conspicuous" acknowledgment of the use of advice in the user's email abode book, accouterment a bright adjustment to skip the footfall and affectation to users the specific emails to be sent.43 Tagged has adopted these reforms and afflicted its allurement processes.44

In February 2010, Tagged acclimatized a chic activity accusation about its above allotment activity with California association Miriam Slater and Sara Golden and awarded them $10,000 each.45 Tagged additionally agreed to abort email addresses that were calm from users amid April and June 2009, if those users did not beggarly to allure their contacts to the site.45

In April 2010, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris appear that Tagged agreed to pay $650,000 to achieve claims of ambiguous emails.46 This adjustment accompanying to emails beatific from April 2009 through June 2009.

Website

After registering a free account, Tagged users can customize their profile page, to which they can post a biography about themselves and their interests, post status updates to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions, upload photos and albums, and send and receive messages from other users. Users can see which other users have recently viewed their profile. They can also sort videos by most viewed, top rated and most liked, and send send virtual gifts to their friends. Virtual gifts are bought with "gold" which users buy with actual money or receive by completing special offers or tasks. There are chat rooms where users engage in real time online chat according to their age and mood. Designed to facilitate relationships and dating, Tagged allows users to send and receive notifications for "Luv", "Winks" and "Meet Me", a rating engine that allows users to rate the attractiveness of photos submitted by others. On October 30, 2009, Tagged announced a simpler signup process.[47]
Mobile versions

Tagged developed a mobile version of its site in April 2011, making Tagged more usable by smartphones with a mobile internet browser. This version allows users to send and receive friend requests, play games, and send messages.[48] This mobile launch will also offer location-based, real-time chat for users.[49] Tagged began offering an iPhone application from July 2010, which was downloaded more than 100,000 times in its first week.[50] Tagged's Android application became available in March 2011. In April 2011 it had slightly more users than the iPhone application,[48] and in May 2011 it was the number three social networking application on the Android.[51] In June 2011 Tagged launched its first BlackBerry application.[52] Being a native application, it runs on a mixture of HTML and the device systems.[53]
Social games
A screen shot of Farm.
Tagged's Farm game

Social games on Tagged differ from those on other social networking services, because players are encouraged to make new friends through the games.[54] In May 2010 Tagged opened its own in-house gaming division.[55] Leading the division is Andrew Pedersen, former vice president of the Pogo division of Electronic Arts. Tagged plans to create more social games, several of which are already in development.[56] Together with its acquisition of Digsby, Tagged's focus on social games signals an attempt to add more social communication options to its platform.[55]

Launched in 2008, Pets was Tagged's first game and, as of May 2011, remains the most popular.[57][55] Similar to a fantasy sports league, players earn virtual cash to "own", "buy" and "sell" other players as pets. Virtual cash can be earned by players in several ways, such as frequently logging in to Tagged or by converting Tagged gold at the Pets Cash Bar into Pets Cash.

Farm was introduced in May 2011. Unlike Zynga's Farmville on Facebook there is no animation or farmer. Advancement is based on virtual money earned by harvesting plants and animals in the game.[54] Other games on Tagged include Zynga games such as Poker and Crowdstar's Happy Aquarium.

Child safety

Initially targeted at US teens, Tagged was opened to users common age-old 13 and earlier in October 2006 and still maintains aegis measures for users beneath 18.58 Users over 16 and the attainable cannot appearance the profiles of 13 and 14 year olds, and profiles for 15–16 year olds are clandestine to the attainable and to users over 18. The alone way to add adolescence as accompany is by alive the email abode or surnames to appeal the friendship, and the adolescent user charge acquire the accord request. However, the aegis measures are not absolutely successful. In February 2009, a aerial academy abecedary was arrested afterwards accepting sex with a 14 year old babe he met on Tagged. The 32 year old, who was not listed on either accompaniment or civic sex blackmailer websites, had over 100 changeable accompany beneath the age of 17.59

In December 2009 New York Accompaniment Attorney General Andrew Cuomo appear that Tagged and 13 added amusing networking sites agreed to abolish registered sex offenders beneath the New York Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act.60 Nevertheless, a 2010 clandestine analysis begin that clear images of accouchement actuality sexually abused are readily attainable on Tagged.13 Cuomo's board registered accounts at Tagged and appear inappropriate agreeable to Tagged administrators afterward procedures declared on the site. They begin "significant lapses" in Tagged's acknowledgment to these reports. For example, a accelerate appearance with images of accouchement affianced in sex acts with added accouchement was appear in April 2010 and remained online about two months later; some of the accouchement in this accelerate appearance appeared to be beneath 5 years old.13 Cuomo has declared his appointment will sue Tagged if these issues are not bound aural bristles days.61 At a account conference, Cuomo referred to Tagged as "one of the affliction amusing networking sites that we've encountered."62

User demographics and site traffic

As of April 2011, Alexa rankings advance the acceptance of Tagged ailing in aboriginal 2009 and has been crumbling since.2 Each ages Tagged is visited by 5.9 actor US users and 18.6 actor users worldwide.5 Hitwise abstracts shows that amid December 2008 and December 2009 Facebook collection class growth, and the alone added armpit to abound in bazaar allotment during that aeon was Tagged, which added its allotment by 35%.63 In September 2009, Tagged had a 2.38% allotment of the United States amusing networking armpit market, based on annual visits.64

Originally launched as a teen-only site, Tagged now has added associates in the 35–49 year old accumulation than in any other; adolescence in the US now annual for 10% of its members. Sixty-four percent of users acquire beneath $60,000 per year and 60% accept beneath than a academy education.5 In the US, users of Tagged are added acceptable than internet users in accepted to be changeable or African American.5

Eighty percent of Tagged users additionally use Facebook.1 According to ComScore December 2009 data, users spent 2 account best on boilerplate on Tagged than Facebook users do on Facebook.65

In May 2010, ComScore appear that Tagged entered the top 10 U.S. Online Display Ad Publishers for the aboriginal time. Tagged.com was ranked at cardinal 10 with a 0.6% allotment of the absolute market, accepting served 6.8 billion ads in the U.S. in the aboriginal division 2010.66

In September 2010, Tagged surpassed 100 actor registered associates of which one division to one third are alive monthly.67 Acquirement has developed to over $30 million, and 2011 acquirement is predicted by Tseng to be over $50 million.