Last week there was some buzz about Oregon Trail being acquired by SpeedDate and replacing it with their own application. It looks like that acquisition was only first in a series of acquisitions to come. Last night, users of “Who’s Online”, received the following message:
This email was sent by Who’s Online. You can disable emails here
<http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications=&block=5952993979&h=0410b8f&t=1225351638&l=t>.
—
Thanks for using Who is Online. We are excited to announce that, as of
next week, Who is Online’s name and functionality will be changed to
SpeedDate. Data entered into the original app won’t be used anymore.
Soon you’ll be able to try SpeedDate, the fastest way to meet new
people, so stay tuned!
Thanks,
Who is OnlineP.S. If you want to opt-out of this app, instructions can be found here
<http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=25>.
While the method is controversial, it has appeared to work for the company. Over the past month, the SpeedDate application has increased in popularity. Additionally, other acquire and switch applications including “Have You Ever???”, “Romantic Gifts”, and “Would You Rather?” have all grown in popularity.
While there hasn’t been enough time to track the impact on the Oregon Trail application, it appears that this strategy has been working for SpeedDate as they continue to grow in size. It’s pretty clear that the company is being transparent with the application switching so the move may not necessarily violate Facebook’s terms of service.
It will be interesting to see if this strategy continues to work for SpeedDate as the dating space on Facebook is most definitely a competitive one. Thanks to Martin Weigert for the heads up!
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What a ridiculous user acquisition strategy. I have no idea what Speed Date's end-game plan is, with a dozen distinct apps and isolated installs. What do you think the long run play is here for them?
Comment by Jamie Scheu — October 30, 2008 @ 5:40 am
I imagine that it's virtually impossible to get people to click on dating ads, so they'd be paying very high CPCs to get the traffic. So instead they acquire current apps and switch them, knowing that a fair percentage of the users will at least try the application, and some may stick.
Comment by David — October 30, 2008 @ 6:20 am
Well freaking wonderful. This application changed without me knowing it, now I am in all kinds of trouble with my girlfriend for having a dating application on my FB.
Comment by Bill — December 10, 2008 @ 6:12 am
Google VAT number in Ireland. ,
Comment by Miss40 — October 22, 2009 @ 5:24 pm