Type of business Public Traded as NASDAQ: MEET | Type of site Social network service | |
Available in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Turkish, Malay, Indonesian. Founded April 2005; 11 years ago (2005-04) (as MyYearbook) Headquarters New Hope, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||
MeetMe (formerly myYearbook) is a social networking service founded in 2005. In 2011, myYearbook merged with Quepasa Corporation (QPSA: NYSE Amex). In June 2012, the combined company was renamed MeetMe, Inc. In April 2014, MeetMe's shares started trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol "MEET."
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MeetMe focuses on helping users discover new people to chat with on mobile devices. Approximately 90 percent of MeetMe's traffic comes from mobile. The service has more than one million total daily active users.
MeetMe is headquartered in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The MeetMe service is available on the web and as an app on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows.
History
Two high school students, Dave and Catherine Cook, created myYearbook during their Spring Break of 2005. They persuaded their older brother Geoff, who had founded EssayEdge.com and ResumeEdge.com from his Harvard dorm room, to invest in their project. At the launch of the site, Dave was a junior and Catherine was a sophomore; the project was initially activated at Montgomery High School, in suburban New Jersey where they attended. The site was created entirely by developers in India.
In 2008, myYearbook partnered with casual game developer Arkadium to bring Flash based games to the site. The games incorporated Lunch Money, the myYearbook virtual currency. Lunch Money earned playing games was usable elsewhere on the site.
In April 2009, the site added the Meebo instant messaging client to the site in order to provide real time chat. In November 2009, myYearbook launched Chatter, a real-time stream that incorporated media sharing and gaming to help bring members together. Games playable inside the stream included Ask Me, Rate Me and 2 Truths and a Lie. These games incorporated mechanics to help myYearbook members meet each other. By April 2010 the site reported the Chatter feature surpassed one million posts per day.
In January 2010, myYearbook rolled out a new site design aimed to appeal to an older demographic. myYearbook chose the final site design by crowdsourcing its members. In May 2010, myYearbook launched an iPhone/iPod Touch and Android application designed to bring the Chatter real time feed to mobile devices.
In July 2011, myYearbook announced it had agreed to be acquired by Latino social networking site Quepasa. The purchase was finalized on November 11, 2011. In December 2011, myYearbook launched an iPad app in an attempt to reach the tablet market.
In June 2012, the company formed from the combination of myYearbook and Quepasa was renamed MeetMe. This change is because "Yearbook" means more about meeting friends from the past while "MeetMe" would convey the meaning of users making new friends, which is what the website is intended for. The rebranding of the site proved to be successful.
In June 2016, MeetMe announced that it would acquire Skout, a global mobile app for meeting new people. The Skout deal closed in October 2016.
On Mar 6, 2017, MeetMe announced that it would acquire If(we) for $60 million in cash.
Revenue model
myYearbook derives its revenue from three sources: advertising, virtual-currency sales and monthly subscriptions. Advertising makes up two-thirds of its revenue, with the other sources making up the rest. It has an established sales office based in New York City and Los Angeles.
In February 2010, myYearbook reported the company ended 2009 with a $20 million run rate. In December 2010, myYearbook partnered with Viximo service to provide better gaming opportunities for users.
Financing
In 2006, myYearbook raised $4.1 million from US Venture Partners and First Round Capital. In 2008, myYearbook raised $13 million in a Series B round.