Silicon Valley based Tagged was a young-teen focused social network that, like Piczo, focused on security of its users first. It is part of a vague second-tier of social networks that assemble under the MySpace/Facebook giants and includes Hi5 (which is fast becoming a first tier player), Bebo, Piczo, Orkut and Friendster. They’ve raised two rounds of financing – $1.5 from angel investors in September 2005, and $7 million from Mayfield three months later.
Co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng told me today that the company has reached profitability on $600,000 in monthly revenues, and that user growth has spiked to 350,000 new users per day. That’s well ahead of MySpace, which is currently growing by 250,000 – 300,000 users per day.
Comscore shows Tagged spiking nicely compared to the copetitors (the last time we compared the networks was September 2005). Click the image for a large view.
There are at least a couple of reasons for the growth. In October 2006 Tagged went from an under-18 site, to allowing users of any age to join. Tagged still has tight security in place for users under 18. For example, profiles for 13 and 14 year olds cannot be viewed by the public or registered users over 16, and profiles for 15-16 year olds are private to non users and users over 18. Older users can still add these youngsters as friends, but they must know their email address or last name to request the friendship, and the younger user must also accept them.
Tagged is also very aggressive with signing up new users. At registration users are strongly encouraged to invite their entire address book as friends. It’s a highly viral, albeit controversial, way to quickly add lots of new users.
Lots of these new users are sticking around, too. Tseng says that half of their 40 million users are active and have signed in over the last month. Tagged is now generating 1 billion monthly page views (about half of what MySpace does in a day).
Tagged is getting serious about revenue growth. The $600k/month they currently generate comes mostly from a search deal with Ask.com and low CPM display ads. The Ask.com partnership may be on the rocks, however. Tseng says the deal is “not performing.”
Greg is a kind and decent soul who wants nothing but puppies and kittens for all of you.
The next time you receive a Tagged invite, reach down, grab your shrinking emo nutsack, and click the unsub link.
Problem solved.
These guys are dirty dirty spammers. Their signup tactics are ugly, and they shouldn’t be rewarded or complimented for them.
I find their user & traffic claims very hard to believe. I don’t know anyone that’s even heard of this site.
Stop blaming these websites. Members still have the option to select (uncheck) who they want to invite. Blame your friends for being lazy!!
Hi all, this is Greg Tseng from Tagged. Thanks for posting so many comments and please allow me to respond. To the straight haters, I’m not going to engage in a flame war. To our fans and users, thanks so much for your continued support. And to everyone else, let me set the record straight on our new user process:
After registration, we allow you to check your email address book to see which of your friends are already on Tagged. You are not required to do this but many people choose to because it’s a quick way to connect to existing friends. If you do enter your credentials (note: we don’t store any passwords), then you’ll see your email contacts grouped by “On Tagged” and “Not On Tagged” with a checkbox next to each name. Any checkbox can be unchecked individually or en masse by clicking the clear all buttons at the top and bottom of the page. When you click the “Add to Friends” button we send friend requests to the checked names who are “On Tagged” and we send invites to the checked names who are “Not On Tagged” — this is explained in the blue bubble callout next to the button. Unchecked names do not receive any emails. Now, if you do receive an email invite then you can click to join Tagged and connect with your friend but if you are not interested then you can click the “Unsubscribe” link and you’ll never receive another Tagged email ever again (just 1-click, can’t get any easier
.
I hope this clarifies our new user process. I was a bit surprised by the reaction since address book importing and email invites are fairly standard features among social networking and other Web 2.0 sites. They are designed to help you create a friends list quickly which is the whole point of social networking. I can understand some reflexive skepticism since we are not yet a household name and just ‘burst on the scene’ in a big way after opening our userbase to all ages and countries in October. But I assure you that Tagged is real, we have millions of happy users, and we have a great team working hard every day to become one of the top social networking sites in the world. That said, the reaction shows that there definitely is some confusion and I will personally commit to reviewing and revising our process to minimize such confusion in the future – perhaps the subject of a future TechCrunch post?
Hello,
last 3 days I had some connection problems … my profile is still there, but every time when i try to connect I get the answer : that mail is not valid… i cant use my password and I cant do anything to open my profile.
I wrote some mails to Tagged team, but nobody was so polite to answer.
I want a solution for that..and at least to see that somebody care about… I send them the question how can they validate my email adress…and the computer sent me the answer… follow the link and get a new password ???????? ….I dont need answers from an computer…that is a server problem .
how is possible to dont get any answer from Tagged Team ???? are they serious??? are they proffesional ???
Anyone that puts that “Content Link” crap on their pages obviously does not give a shit about their community in the long term. Ramp up uniques via spam, capture some revenue via those dirty links and all the graphical ads, sell it and run.
By the way, I have never got any e-mails from myspace, bobo, friendster and the like. Add liars to the list.
reply to Anon, well, as long as there is free services, there is always got people abuse it. I don’t think Tagged is the only one… you shall take into account yahoo mail users, gmail users etc… I believe there are much more spammer there.
“After registration, we allow you to check your email address book to see which of your friends are already on Tagged. You are not required to do this but many people choose to because it’s a quick way to connect to existing friends.”
Really? It’s not optional – post registration, I am required to enter the password for the mail id i provided during registration and see who in my address book is already on tagged. There is no link or button saying Skip this for now.
Your unsubscribe link doesnt work – I got so sick of trying to unsubscribe that I finally set up a filter to send all emails with tagged.com’s classic content to trash.
Most sites make harvesting contacts from existing address books optional – Tagged does not. It’s so supremely annpoying to receive spam from people who have been tricked by a system designed to fool people.
I am not too sure on the numbers. I use myspace and find a lot of duplicated sites. Who knows what is the actual number compared to the inflated numbers by duplicates.
I’ve used Tag for over a year now and LOVE it. Yes, it did ask if I wanted to import my address book but easily allowed me to uncheck those contacts that I didn’t want to invite.
I think people just go through the registration process too fast and click that ‘next’ button before reading EVERYTHING. Hasn’t anyone ever told you to read the directions before you proceed?
Anyways, Tagged has helped me keep in contact with my family and friends from all over the country.
Recently, I was mailed an invite to “bestof.hotornot.com from a person…I did not know this person, but I used to know someone by that name. Against better judgement I went and joined up. It took me about two hours to “find” this person that had supposedly invited me. I emailed the person saying I finally found you… His reply was: who the F*** are you?
My conclusion is: the company uses people that have already joined to send out invites in THEIR names. Fraudulent spam emails…Sounds like this Tagged site is about the same. Off to write my next computer articles for everyone to read about these sites! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA At least I have a way to deal with these thing!
Looking at Alexa, you can see that magical day when they turned on their little spam factory:
http://tinyurl.com/2892kj
September 9th, what a glorious day!
Also check out the country distribution – obviously hitting a lot of international lists…
Marat Bruk / Marc Bruk Quebec
> bright_marc@hotmail.com
Mr. Marat Bruk “Marc”
1560 Victoria #102
Greenfield Park Quebec, CA j4v1m2
Mr. Marat Bruk “Marc” of 1560 Victoria #102 Greenfield Park Quebec, CA j4v1m2 reminds me of the little twerp who cut me off on the way to work this morning. The little shit acts so brave behind the wheel where he thinks he has protection behind a locked car door. Gratuitous key. wo.. rds here:
Marat Bruk believes the only way to achieve success is to ignore ethics…
Marat Bruk aka Marc Bruk convicted of…
Marat Bruk aka Marc Bruk Quebec sentenced to …
Marat Bruk will surely appreciate the lack of ethics involved in the process of some 16 – 30 year old smashing his window, and stuffing some ethicality down his throat (wrapped around a fist).
Marat Bruk believes the only way to achieve success is to ignore ethics…
“Marc” said:
“… you little pile of 16-30 webmasters… you’re just a bunch of whiny tards that can’t see that this guy’s plan WORKS, whether ethical or not…. so stuff your BS ethicality down ur own throat and get with the program here, what a bunch of whiny , blind , hating crowd.”
“hating”, yea, dont let me find you with your door unlocked.
employment background check… Mr. Marat Bruk “Marc” of 1560 Victoria #102 Greenfield Park Quebec, CA was killed today in a road rage incident just 2 miles from his place of employment… His body was found with a note stuffed in his mouth that said: “tech-crunched”.
Shame on you, Michael, for not doing even 10 seconds of research to find out what has overwhelmingly been made clear in the comments. These are spammers, plain and simple. That you would claim they are “focused on security of its users first” is irresponsible to put it very, very mildly.
I believe you owe your users an apology for lending credibility to this spam factory, and a follow-up post warning your users about these bottom feeders.
Their ToS suggest that they are simply building a giant marketing database. I’m sure they expect to be out of business shortly, but they’ll make plenty of money selling people’s information to similarly slimy types. Unfortunately, they’ll have made the Internet worse off in the process.
“One new social networking site is a poster child for the abuse of social networking.”
http://www.ewee...,2112675,00.asp
http://www.syma...ets_web_20.html
Spammed in Argentina too.
But I thin its worst… Im getting email form people wo DONT even sign in TaggFUKed. I think they are using zombies as well.
Jesus, little children. . . Are your sensibilities really so delicate that you want the Internet sanitized so that you never receive a single piece of e-mail from a marginal friend trying to connect with you?
Tagged isn’t using botz, zombies, or any other dastardly e-mail techniques; this kind of lazy conspiracy-mongering in the age of CAN-SPAM just makes you look retarded.
Here are the facts: Tagged has a full-time compliance officer with a Columbia J.D., their unsub links work great, and they aren’t interested in unhappy users.
Calm down, click unsub, and consider adding a better photo to your Nerve profile.
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!!!!!!!
Just close the browser when you are asked for your email id and password.
than restart the browser clear cookies and you can use tagged bypassing having it rape your address book. tagged should have a skip it now button for greater democracy on the signup process
If it takes spammers, who wants a job working for http://www.placetoscore.com I pay well, lol.
Many companies are realising how much potential these kind of sites have, so they’ll stop at no means to get the traffic – even if it means harassing their users with spam and even their users contact lists!
I hope people begin to realise and not encourage by signing up..
Facebook seems to be the only site which doesn’t ‘harass’ their userbase
another social network site expert in spamming is Badoo, it’s very popular in latin america , spain and italy. you really should consider taking a look outside of your english speaking world…
it claims to have around 7 500 000 registered users, and it currently its very close to catch bebo, take a look at alexa graph:
http://www.alex...issuniverse.com
This looks like an ideal scam — a legitimate-looking or actual service that takes advantage of computer users’ goodwill, naivete and/or unsophisticated computer skills to reach a far different goal with, of course, profits as the real but unstated primary purpose.
To the naive: Grow up. No one’s saying it doesn’t have great features and real uses, only that there’s a hook in with the bait. The big world is full of scams, where someone is trying to con others out of something valuable. The more legitimate it looks, the more effective it is. The complaints here are from people who are feeling the hook. The internet is a con artist’s paradise, partly because of the lack of sophistication of many of its users, and partly because of the possibilities of using advanced, mass technology to run scams on millions of people at the same time. It gets harder and harder to avoid being a victim.
The ability to make money can be an admirable thing, but it loses its shine if it’s done by preying on unsuspecting people. And the kinds of information that Tagged is apparently gathering could come around and really hurt people.
What’s the best way to get the word out about this wolf in sheep’s clothing? Email everyone we know and start a warning going around with websites to back it up? (Two posted by NoSpam above, and also look at
http://www.intu...te_or_what.html )
I’ll start by doing that, but is there a more effective way to get the news out?
If you’re someone who likes the networking Tagged provides, at least tell all your contacts what to watch out for and how to accomplish signing up without giving the service your address book. Please, don’t be a sap and play into the hands of a big outfit after more than pleasant friendships online. And you know, it’d be real nice if you’d ask your friends first if they want to be included in any invitation before you let any program send out anything.
social network is one of the fad under Web 2.0 . Like many technology started at beginning there are many people abuse and misuse, it takes time for these to become solid.
hey could anyone tell me whats the tagged customer care number as someone have misused my pics in a fakelesbian profile….plz give me its number….i beg you….
Dear sir,
i have problem in browse website http://www.tagged.com
that appear this Service Unavailable
please i need help
thanks
najib
i am from syria i have problem i cant open tagged i dont now what is the problim i tray to see my massage all not open what i doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Why not send the owner of tagged.com a little spam yourself.
His name is Greg Tseng http://www.gregtseng.com
The information displayed here is current as of “SEP 26, 2008″ and is updated weekly. It is not a complete or certified record of the Corporation.
——————————————————————————–
Corporation
TAGGED, INC.
Number: C2813353 Date Filed: 12/16/2005 Status: active
Jurisdiction: DELAWARE
Address
840 BATTERY STREET 2ND FLOOR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111
Agent for Service of Process
GREG TSENG
840 BATTERY STREET 2ND FLOOR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111
hello my this padita ok adn okfaitaa
how to comfirm code on tagged,i cant open plss..help me
why is it that Nigerians can’t access Tagged.com nowadays, every time we try to access the page it shows a “Service Unavailable” message. Please do something about this because we love this website so much!!!
tagged is the best chat room ever
toni_24
I think shud come out with a type off site thats available for the iphone n ipod.
if you got spamed by “tagged” and want to partisapate in class action lawsuit, write to rotncolo@aol.com
Well what can I say about Tagged I joined and had over 500 friends and then without warning was removed no explanation or reason just you have been removed ??? .
After over 50 requests for a reason still no reply I think that it says it all
waaaaaaaaaaaay tagged cansl my Email ??????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????? ?????????????????? ??????????????????? ???????????
I LIKE TAGGED ITS A FUN SITE
i really like tagged cause its so much to do on the website
Our Real Estate agent in an effort to learn about social networking joined this Tagged site. He is not that knowledgeable on the Internet. So, without his understanding about what he was doing this Tagged company went into his computer and took his entire email list and spammed all of his friends, family and business acquaintances. My wife’s email was on that list and in her effort to be polite and help our nice agent she signed in. What happened next it appalling, I got an email from that my wife was sending me some private photos! And, what is even worse, her entire email list was spammed with the same message! She, being a professional in the community was embarrassed, I and because I have websites and work on the Internet too am embarrassed by this terrible business practice. I received a 2nd email this morning. I hope that someone can and will do something to this company AND the people responsible for these actions ASAP.
Hello Greg,
Sorry to say this what so wrong i did that your customer service had cancelled my account and made me helpless to contact my friends who i met in Tagged, is this fair and is this right ??? why cant you just remove what ever you think is wrong and warned me. I have seen even worse image and words plus pictures but all those excaped your CS. Just wonder does your CS really care and do they know what it means by Service Oriented “” i am your customer and do you think that customer are always right or the other way. All i need is to reactivate my account. Despite of many mails i wrote till today no RESPONDor REPLY from your side. What do you look down on Asian or you just dont like Asian. I will keep writing this matter in the web and hope i will get more comment and feeb back that i will send to the media if i am not allowed
Thank you
munakumar
fdf
Tagged is terrible. Is full of stalkers and hackers. I was once a member, I reported a stalker and the next morning my account was canceled. They sent an e-mail saying I posted illicit content, which was not truth. I assumed my account was hacked, something now I know is very common on tagged because they don’t have enough security offered. I warn you of this site, especially if you are a woman.
Yeah for shure they are husling for members but Tagged I belive is run by a group of dictator that remove your page wen ever they feel like it,specialy if you report a scamer or someone the post porno on your page,and if you have a smale social network and you wanted to invite your friend they ban your link for no one to join your network,they are just crook and should ne baned for having any activity on the net,I belive someone should do something about them and make then pay for they greediness
TAGGED SUCKS! MY FIANCEE IS POSTING THIS TO EVERY SITE, FORUM, COMPLAINT SITES, ETC. AS WE OWE IT TO EACH OTHER TO HELP STOP TAGGED FROM WASTING SO MANY PEOPLE’S TIME. SEARCH IT IN ALL THE SEARCH ENGINES AND YOU WILL SEE TAGGED.COM IS BEING BLOCKED IN PLACES AS THEY STEAL YOUR FRIENDS AND INFORMATION THROUGH PHISHING AND SPAM AND FAKES AND FILTH.
HERE IT IS:
TAGGED PROFILES ARE MOSTLY FAKES AND GAYS PRETENDING TO BE GIRLS TO SCAM LONELY GUYS OUT OF THEIR MONEY. BEAUTIFUL FANTASY GIRL SITES OF BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, MODELS AND STARS THAT ARE FAKE AS A MILLION DOLLAR BILL. DO YOU HONESTLY THINK THEY WOULD BE ON TAGGED.COM?!?!? AHAHAHA! YOU CANNOT BE TOO CAREFUL! IF YOU SEE A GIRL THAT LOOKS KINDA LIKE SHE MAY BE A DUDE… HELLO! THAT’S EASY… BUT I’VE SEEN SOME THAT YOU COULD NOT TELL WHAT THEY ARE BECAUSE THEY HAD BREAST IMPLANTS, ETC! NEVER NEVER NEVER SEND MONEY TO THESE SCAMMERS! THAT’S WHY THEY WON’T GO AWAY BECAUSE PEOPLE FALL FOR THEIR STUPID SCAMS AND ACTUALLY SEND MONEY!
THEN YOU HAVE THE REAL PEOPLE WHO HAVE ENDLESS SOB STORIES! “MY PRESIOUS MAMA IS IN DAH HOSPITEL AND WE POOR WITTLE KIDZ KANT AFORD XOYGN TANK 4 HER 2 BREATH…HUHUHUHUHU!” AND I’M GOING TO HAVE TO DROP OUT OF COLLEGE BECAUSE MY PARENTS LOST THEIR JOBS AND CANNOT AFFORD TO SEND ME AND MY 3 SISTERS TO SCHOOL ANYMORE! I WANT TO FINISH AND GRADUATE!…HUUHUHU!” OR ONCE YOU GET TO KNOW THEM AS SEEMINGLY DECENT PEOPLE AND ARE FALLING FOR THEIR SWEETNESS THEN THEY HIT YOU WITH SOMETHING LIKE “I WENT TO GET THE MONEY YOU SENT ME FOR A WEBCAM BABY AND A STUPID DOG RAN OUT FROM THE ALLEY AND BITED ME! I HAD TO USE THE MONEY YOU SENT TO PAY FOR HOSPITAL AND DOCTOR EXPENSE AND NOW I HAVE TO GET SHOTS FOR 7 DAYS AND I DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY! I’M SO SCARRED OF DIEING! ARE YOU GONA LET YOUR BABY DIE?”
AND PEOPLE STILL SEND MONEY. UNBELIEVABLE!
OH YEAH, SUPPOSEDLY A TEEN SITE? YEAH RIGHT! AHAHA! WHATEVER! FULL OF PEDAFILES AND PERVERTS AFTER THE YOUNG TEENS IS MORE ACCURATE! AND THE TEENS PROFILES ARE FULL OF PORN AND FILTH TOO! GUYS TRYING TO HOOK UP WITH YOUNG GIRLS SO THEY CAN BE NAKED ON CAM AND HAVE SEX! I FEEL SO SORRY FOR THE TEENS THAT ARE DECENT AND HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT. NOT ONLY FROM THE PRESSURE FROM THEIR OWN PIERS BUT THE PERVS AS WELL. THERE’S ALSO MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK, ETC. BUT TAGGED.COM IS THE WORST!
I HAD ONE OF THE MOST DECENT PROFILES ON TAGGED AS I’M A DECENT GUY AND CERTAINLY NOT ANY OF THAT OTHER TRASH. I HAD A CHRISTIAN BASED PROFILE WITH MICHAEL W SMITH AND CHRIS TOMLIN, ETC. ONE OF THE CLEANEST SITES ON TAGGED! CHRISTIAN MUSIC, NO PORN, NOTHING BAD AT ALL, PURE AND CLEAN AND GUESS WHAT? THEY DELETED MY PROFILE! WHAAA?!?!? YES! ALL THE MESSAGES AND COMMENTS FROM MY FIANCEE AS WELL AS ALL THE COMMENTS I SEARCHED MANY HOURS FOR. NOT EVEN AN UNCLEAN MESSAGE! ALL OF IT GONE! 2500 PLUS FRIENDS, 1000 PLUS COMMENTS, 1000 PLUS TAGS PICS, PIC COMMENTS, JOURNAL, MESSAGES, CHRISTIAN VIDEOS, EVERYTHING GONE! AND I KEPT IT CLEAN, DELETED MANY PORN AND UNTASTEFUL COMMENTS AND TAGS.
IT WAS CLEAR THAT I’M TAKEN ALREADY BY MY FIANCEE AND OBVIOUSLY A CHRISTIAN WITH MORALS AND STANDARDS OF DECENCY AND YET STILL I GOT THAT TRASH. HER PARENTS ARE APPALLED AT THE WAY TAGGED OPERATES. WE ALL HAVE A HIGH DEGREE OF DECENCY AND RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER. TAGGED DID THIS TWICE!! TAGGED CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH YOUR EMAIL, MAIL, PROFILE, ANYTHING! MY ADVISE? GET OUT AND GO TO A BETTER SITE BEFORE IT HAPPENS TO YOU.
IS YOUR DAUGHTER IN THERE? IF YOU ARE DECENT AND YOUR DAUGHTER IS DECENT YOU BETTER GET HER AS FAR AWAY FROM THERE AS YOU CAN. BLOCK TAGGED.COM ON UR PC OR WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO. YES I LIKED TAGGED. I LIKED IT BECAUSE YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE YOUR PROFILE MORE EASILY THAN MOST. BUT WHEN YOU LOSE ALL YOUR STUFF, ESPECIALLY THE NEXT TIME, YOU WILL HATE TAGGED FOR WASTING YOUR TIME AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS TIME. IF YOU CREATE ANOTHER SITE THEN THEY PUT A BLOCK ON YOUR COMPUTER SO YOU HAVE TO ENTER CAPTCHA TO DO ANYTHING.
I WAS A MEMBER AND HAD A FEW DECENT FRIENDS. THE OTHER 90% WERE MOSTLY SCAMMERS AND FAKES. ALL OF MY DECENT FRIENDS ARE LEAVING THERE BECAUSE AS OTHERS HAVE SAID IN MANY PLACES, IT’S MOSTLY LOWLIFES ANYWAY SO WHY BOTHER WITH A FAILING SCAMMER SITE? WITH SO MUCH NUDITY AND EVEN PEOPLE BEING KILLED FROM MEETING MEMBERS, YOU WOULD THINK THAT A DECENT GUY HAD A CHANCE.
WIKIPEDIA SAYS THE FOLLOWING ABOUT TAGGED.COM:
A TIME magazine article called Tagged “The World’s Most Annoying Website”.[22] Tagged asks users for their email username and password, checks their email address books for contacts and repeatedly sends email invitations to people who are not yet on Tagged, stating that they have been “added as a friend” or that the inviter had sent them photos on Tagged. This process has drawn criticism in the technology press[23][24] and from users.[25] These emails were discussed as possible spam by Black Web 2.0.[26] The resemblance to a virus has often been mentioned, including by urban legend site Snopes.com.[27] The New York Times referred to the practice as “contact scraping” [28]
In July 2009 New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to sue Tagged.com for “deceptive email marketing and invasion of privacy” [29] According to the press release, Tagged.com engaged in “deceptive Email Promotions, Identity Theft, and Invasion of Privacy ”
Prior to co-founding Tagged, Greg Tseng was co-founder and CEO of internet incubator Jumpstart Technologies.[30] In March 2006, Jumpstart Technologies settled with the Federal Trade Commission on alleged violations of the CAN-SPAM Act, which included a $900,000 fine but no admission of guilt.[31]
From February 2009, Tagged.com has been blocked in Qatar by the only ISP, Qtel, after a number of complaints from the public.[32] Tagged.com had been one of the 10 most visited sites in Qatar.[33]