James Hong, on selling HotOrNot

James Hong, on selling HotOrNot

Iconic dating site HotOrNot has sold to a little-known media company called Avid Life Media, HotOrNot cofounder James Hong tells me.

HotOrNot was a standout success when it began in 2000, when many web entrepreneurs were nursing wounds from when the dot-com bubble burst. Its simplicity,… Continue Reading

Crunchyroll, for pirated anime content

Crunchyroll, for pirated anime content

Crunchyroll, a sharing site primarily for anime, is attracting attention — not only for its content and fast-growing popularity, but also for its revenue model.

Rather than just putting up ads, Crunchyroll accepts “donations” in return for providing users with higher video quality. The site makes… Continue Reading

Surprise: Facebook apps may help grow home sites

Surprise: Facebook apps may help grow home sites

Slide, Rockyou and HotorNot, three companies with the largest number of users on Facebook, are showing continued traffic growth on their own sites.

The finding, reported by Quantcast, a service that tracks traffic trends for Web sites, suggests that sites failing to embrace Facebook may be… Continue Reading

LinkedIn lets you see who is viewing your profile — sort of

LinkedIn lets you see who is viewing your profile — sort of

updated

LinkedIn, the Mountain View Calif. business social networking site, has created a new feature that lets you see who is viewing your profile.

The feature was frequently requested by LinkedIn’s users. The company has tried to balance transparency with privacy concerns, with the result that… Continue Reading