OKCupid.com has been one of the fastest-growing and best-liked dating sites on the web for the last few years. As recently as yesterday, it was profiled on switch.com under the headline: The Magic of OKCupid: Algorithms and Sex Appeal Attract the Hipsters.
Later in the day, billionaire mogul-dude Barry Diller’s IAC, the owner of Match.com, announced it had bought OKC for $50 million. While not a Facebookian deal, it's not a bad payday for the Harvard geeks who launched OKC in 2004.
Predictably, the cool kids on OKCupid are less than thrilled. The idea of the deal seems to be that the cool kids will grow up and want all the features of Match.com and will be willing to pay for them, so OKC will be a sort of feeder site for Match.com. Among the problems with this idea is that OKC has a lot of wonderful features that Match.com does not have, and older singles, increasingly, have been flocking to OKC.
Want to know what users think? Read the OKCupid forums:
Match.com acquires OKCupid for $50 million+ ... or here, or here.
I'd tell you to read the Match.com forums but ... ummm. Oh, yeah. There aren't any.
Later in the day, billionaire mogul-dude Barry Diller’s IAC, the owner of Match.com, announced it had bought OKC for $50 million. While not a Facebookian deal, it's not a bad payday for the Harvard geeks who launched OKC in 2004.
Predictably, the cool kids on OKCupid are less than thrilled. The idea of the deal seems to be that the cool kids will grow up and want all the features of Match.com and will be willing to pay for them, so OKC will be a sort of feeder site for Match.com. Among the problems with this idea is that OKC has a lot of wonderful features that Match.com does not have, and older singles, increasingly, have been flocking to OKC.
Want to know what users think? Read the OKCupid forums:
Match.com acquires OKCupid for $50 million+ ... or here, or here.
I'd tell you to read the Match.com forums but ... ummm. Oh, yeah. There aren't any.
Ha! That explains a lot. Their #1 staff test, the "5 Variable Dating Style" test, used to contain a link to Match.com, with the instructions to go to that site if you have an STD. Now they instruct people with STDs to go to PlentyOfFish.com. Perhaps that's why Match.com bought them, to end the bad rep!
@The Nerd: Interesting accusation, did you (or anyone else) get a screen cap of this? I would love to see it.
I have heard so many bad things about OKCupid. I'm not surprised they were bought out by another company. I really don't know how I feel about dating sites in general, I'm romantic and like the idea of just bumping into the person you're supposed to be with.