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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354576" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="facebook">Facebook</keyword> is testing a new app that lets users speed date over video. </li><li>The app, called Sparked, matches users for 4-minute "dates." A second date would last 10 minutes.</li><li>Facebook already has one dating app, <keyword id="2059298" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook-dating">Facebook Dating</keyword>, which is similar to rivals like Hinge. </li></ul><p>Facebook is testing out a new <keyword id="32854" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="speed-dating">speed dating</keyword> service that lets users date over video. </p><p>The new service, called Sparked, will offer "video speed dating for kind people," according to <a href="https://www.sparkedapp.com/">a landing page</a> for the app. Users won't need public profiles and won't have to swipe through matches or direct message with people to set up dates. Sparked is free to use but does require a Facebook account, according to the landing page. </p><p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/13/22381511/facebook-video-speed-dating-npe-team-sparked-feature">The Verge's Ashley Carman</a> was the first to report about the new app. According to The Verge, which went through the sign-up process, the app will cycle through video dates that last for 4 minutes. If both users have a good time, they can schedule a second date that lasts 10-minutes. If the second date goes well, users are prompted to keep in touch on another platform, such as Instagram, iMessage, or email, according to The Verge. </p><p>Before going through the sign-up process, users have to agree to a set of rules: be kind, make the app a safe space, and show up for your dates. Kindness is mentioned several times during the sign-up process for Sparked, including a step where users will have to explain what makes them a kind dater. The responses will be "reviewed by a human at Sparked" before they can go on dates, The Verge reports. </p><p>Prospective users are also asked whether they're looking to date women, men, non-binary people, or trans people during the sign-up process, according to The Verge.</p><p>Sparked is made by Facebook's NPE team - short for New Product Experimentation - which tests new, standalone services for Facebook. When The Verge went through the sign-up process, it was placed on a waitlist, so it's unclear if and when the app will be live. </p><p>"Sparked is an early experiment by New Product Experimentation," a Facebook spokesperson told Insider. "We're exploring how video-first speed dating can help people find love online. This is a small beta test, so we'll keep you posted on how it works out."</p><p>The video speed dating aspect of Sparked bears some resemblance to <keyword id="135163" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="chatroulette">Chatroulette</keyword>, the late-aughts website that cycled through randomized webcam feeds. The app <a href="https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/chatroulettes-founder-17-introduces-himself/">skyrocketed in popularity</a> just months after it launched in 2009, but quickly drew nudity and graphic content.  </p><p>While video dating would be a new service for Facebook, it wouldn't be the social media giant's first foray into <keyword id="1557997" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="dating-apps">dating apps</keyword>. Facebook launched <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-dating-how-to-use-features-comparison-tinder-hinge-2019-9">Facebook Dating</a> in September 2019, which competes with apps like Hinge or Bumble by allowing users to build a profile and sift through potential matches - like Hinge, users can "like" others' profiles and comment on their photos to start a conversation.</p><p>While Facebook Dating <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebook-just-beefed-up-its-dating-service-heres-why-success-against-tinder-and-bumble-isnt-guaranteed-warns-this-analyst-11603366220">hasn't become as popular</a> as rivals like Tinder, Facebook has a key advantage in the dating space: a user base that numbers in the billions, which makes it easier for users to have their profile information flow into a dating profile. </p>

Facebook is testing a video speed-dating service where users have to pledge to create a safe space, be kind - and, please, don't ghost

<br /> Go be ‘social’ and reach out to people – that’s the mantra every netizen follows nowadays. But on the traditional <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword>, you are not meeting <keyword id="119302" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="strangers">strangers</keyword> per se as we do in prep schools. You are not among a bunch of strangers, thrown together for a common purpose, as it happens in school or workplace. Instead, you scan profiles and make a conscious decision before connecting. But that kind of approach actually keeps you confined within an extended circle, curated by your requirements and parameters. So chances are you are not reaching out to interesting strangers – <keyword id="1322697" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="like-minded-people">like-minded people</keyword> with whom you can share your thoughts and ideas.<br />
 <br /> In an ideal situation, your ideas, and not who you are, should generate <keyword id="1991589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Networking-interests">networking interests</keyword>. And when that happens, strangers do find it worthwhile to connect with each other. The shared passion for a particular interest often brings people together and a Mumbai-based start-up has just built an all-new <keyword id="6354615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-network">social network</keyword> around that concept.<br />
 <br /> <keyword id="1991577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Treetins-com">Treetins.com</keyword> promotes <keyword id="1991606" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Positive-interactions-between-strangers">positive interactions between strangers</keyword> while users can remain completely anonymous. The platform is quite unique, an ingenious mix of <keyword id="279713" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tumblr">Tumblr</keyword> and <keyword id="135163" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="chatroulette">Chatroulette</keyword> (minus the audio and the webcam), which allows you to post all sorts of content, based on which people may decide to connect with you. <keyword id="725308" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="anonymity">Anonymity</keyword> is strictly maintained here, not only to ensure enhanced security but also to provide users with the kind of comfort level people look forward to when <keyword id="1991616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Conversing-with-strangers">conversing with strangers</keyword>. Feeling curious? Here is a snapshot that captures the start-up's vision and viability.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Who runs Treetins.com (https://treetins.com/): </strong>A team of four including <keyword id="36740" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="founder">founder</keyword> <keyword id="1991580" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Prince-Jacob-Thomas">Prince Jacob Thomas</keyword> and three <keyword id="382595" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="co-founders">co-founders</keyword> – <keyword id="1991582" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aditya-Dhull">Aditya Dhull</keyword>, <keyword id="1991579" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mohit-Narwal">Mohit Narwal</keyword> and <keyword id="1991578" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chandy-Thomas">Chandy Thomas</keyword>. Prince, Aditya and Mohit have done MBA in Marketing from Christ University, <keyword id="6355033" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bangalore">Bangalore</keyword>. A former advertising professional, Prince had worked with Ogilvy and Creativeland Asia while Aditya had also been with Creativeland Asia. Prior to starting up, Mohit was with Dun &amp; Bradstreet and One97 Communications. Chandy holds a PG diploma in PR and Corporate Communications from Xavier Institute of Communications, <keyword id="6358070" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mumbai">Mumbai</keyword>, and earlier worked with organisations such as NDTV and Perfect Relations. Mumbai-based Treetins is the maiden venture of the foursome, all in their twenties. The company was started in August 2013, but the <keyword id="766262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="social-networking-platform">social networking platform</keyword> Treetins.com came live only in December.<br />
 <br />
<strong>What inspired the venture: </strong>The fact that the <keyword id="55618" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="World-Wide-Web">World Wide Web</keyword>, despite its immense potential, is not being leveraged to connect people who are totally outside each other’s orbit. According to Prince, people are mostly connected to their friends, family, colleagues or an extended circle. But there is no medium that connects people with complete strangers, in a free and friendly manner.<br />
 <br /> Another trigger is the immense potential when one meets new people and connects over a <keyword id="1991587" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Common-interest">common interest</keyword> (the name Treetins is an anagram of the word ‘interest’). “Somewhere, we all started off as strangers, but are now living in a closed environment and not realising that meeting someone new could lead to immense possibilities,” says Chandy. “You can meet a life partner, a business partner or start a music band or form a group working for a cause. The Bombay Underground is a perfect example of this,” he adds.<br />
 <br />
<strong>What’s the pitch: </strong>It’s a social networking space on the Web that lets you meet like-minded people, outside your existing social circles, without the stigma attached to meeting strangers. Treetins is the first <keyword id="6541953" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="online-platform">online platform</keyword> that lets you ‘bump’ into people, solely based on what you express or how you <keyword id="53203" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Converse">converse</keyword>, rather than who you are. Anybody who joins Treetins starts <keyword id="1991624" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Anonymously">anonymously</keyword> and that makes the whole experience more <keyword id="38894" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="secure">secure</keyword> and satisfactory.<br />
 <br />
<strong>How it works: </strong>The social platform is still in beta, but when we checked, all the functionalities were working fine. Anyone can register and log in to Treetins.com anonymously, using <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>, <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> or e-mail ID. Once you are there, just click the ‘express’ tab and start sharing loads of exciting things – right from your opinion and blog posts to <keyword id="39862" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Images">images</keyword>, <keyword id="144248" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Videos">videos</keyword> and links. The content goes up on the Treetins page as <keyword id="30943" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Expression">expression</keyword> by a stranger, along with your location. If another member finds it interesting, he/she may want to ‘bump into’ you and start a conversation. To do so, the person will have to click the tab ‘converse’ and type his own comment regarding your post. That comment also goes to the writer as an expression from a stranger. If you accept it and choose to connect with the person, he will be added to your ‘bench’ and only then identities will be revealed. However, you don’t get to know much even then – just the stranger’s name since location is revealed by default. You can also delete someone from your bench but once that’s done, you can’t ‘undo’ it and add the person back.<br />
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You, too, can browse through other ‘expressions’ up on the site and try to ‘connect’ with strangers in a similar manner. There is also a ‘share’ option (via Facebook and Twitter) to repost interesting content. Moreover, you can ‘invite’ people to Treetins but unlike other social media, invitees don’t get added to your ‘bench’ by default and the entire process has to be followed if you want to converse with them.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Claim to fame:</strong> Treetins has introduced a secure and stranger-friendly platform for people to connect seamlessly and share their interests. The concept itself is unique and has the potential to go viral in an environment frequently plagued by online stalking, hacking and identity theft.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Show me the money: </strong>The start-up is currently <keyword id="1991631" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bootstrapped">bootstrapped</keyword> and still fine-tuning its <keyword id="234340" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-model">revenue model</keyword>. The team does not want to divulge specific details at this point, but the firm is not looking at <keyword id="1049940" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="ad-revenues">ad revenues</keyword> as its main source of earning (does it remind you of WhatsApp). According to the co-founders, new features are being added to the social platform and the company may soon adopt a <keyword id="1991632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Freemium-model">freemium model</keyword>. Other online initiatives may include collaborative idea sharing and engaging the college crowd. Gaining <keyword id="900658" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="traction">traction</keyword> is another crucial area and Treetins is targeting the whole chunk of <keyword id="1991634" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Social-media-users-worldwide">social media users worldwide</keyword> – some 1.5 billion-plus people, to be precise.<br />
 <br /> Interestingly, Treetins has taken its ‘<keyword id="1991605" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Connect-with-strangers">connect with strangers</keyword>’ concept offline and launched initiatives such as ‘Hi Stranger’ photo project and another one called <keyword id="1991635" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Share-Your-Table">Share Your Table</keyword>, run in partnership with the <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword>, <keyword id="20254" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="cafes">cafes</keyword> and <keyword id="14564" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="pubs">pubs</keyword> in Mumbai. “It’s all about sharing your table space with a stranger in a crowded eatery,” details Aditya. “Most of the times, we don’t occupy the entire table, but don’t feel comfortable either if a stranger shares the space. We are endeavouring to change that and convince people about <keyword id="1991637" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Table-sharing">table sharing</keyword>. In that way, there will be optimum utilisation of seating capacity, better <keyword id="169305" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-service">customer service</keyword> and <keyword id="1991641" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shorter-queues">shorter queues</keyword> outside the <keyword id="662020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="food-joints">food joints</keyword>. Plus, you get to make new friends and that is no small deal.” The programme is now active in 35 restaurants across Mumbai and the company is eyeing further expansion as it is getting loads of requests, both from restaurateurs and customers. By March 2014, Share Your Table may kick off in other cities like Bangalore and <keyword id="2094" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Pune">Pune</keyword>, leading to more <keyword id="6399165" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="revenue-generation">revenue generation</keyword>.<br />
 <br /> “We will be working on our <keyword id="19705" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Products">products</keyword>, <keyword id="445843" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="customer-base">customer base</keyword> and <keyword id="232730" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="business-model">business model</keyword> till March next year and will approach the <keyword id="6359051" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="investors">investors</keyword> for a <keyword id="1974977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Seed-round">seed round</keyword> when these things are in place,” says Chandy.<br />
 <br />
<strong>Biggest challenge:</strong> Introducing a totally new concept, especially something that people may not accept instantly, is always challenging. “We must create awareness regarding the manifold benefits such a network can bring you,” concludes Chandy.

Want To Bump Into
‘Strangers’ With Similar Interests? Check Out This Social Network...

<p>One of the biggest reasons Chatroulette became so popular back in 2009 was that it offered a window into the lives of strangers around the world.</p><p>There's something exciting about seeing the world through another's eyes, and while Chatroulette has since devolved into a landscape littered with creepy guys doing creepy things, a photo-sharing app called Tworlds is trying to recapture some of that same magic by adding some structure to the idea of anonymous, random connection.</p><p>The concept of Tworlds is pretty simple.</p><p>First you choose from a list of hashtags, or "moments," like #work or #happy that are meant to be the subject of your photo. Tworlds forces you to take a new picture from within the app, which is designed to keep the experience feeling more like it's happening in real-time rather than turning into a place to share over-edited photos taken days ago.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">After snapping a picture of your workplace or something that brings you happiness, you're immediately connected with a random user's photo that shares the same hashtag somewhere else in the world. Tworlds stitches the two photos together, and you can even see the city and country of where your stranger's photo was taken.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">I actually had a lot of fun playing around with Tworlds, and I think it boils down to the structure that comes with connecting users with a common hashtag thread. If the app just randomly linked you up to another stranger's photo, the unifying connection would unravel into Chatroulette territory. Comparing how someone in Turkey and New York interpret what a "happy" photo looks like, though, makes you think. It reminded me a bit of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wayfare-pen-pal-app-matches-you-with-someone-from-another-country-2014-10">photo prompts in the pen-pal app Wayfare</a>, but simplified to focus only on real-time photo sharing.<br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">I'm not sure whether I'll still be playing around with Tworlds next week, but for those looking for a quick and easy way to explore the world through someone else's phone, it's worth a try.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">You can download Tworlds <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/app/id940472821">over at the App Store.</a></span></p><p></p>

Meet Tworlds, an app that lets you see how your life compares to a stranger's around the world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fling</span></p><p class="caption">Fling CEO Marco Nardone</p></div><p></p></div></div>In June, <a href="http://flingtheworld.com/">Fling </a>CEO Marco Nardone was chatting with a would-be venture capital investor, and things were going well.</p><p>He reached for the investor's phone to show him how to download their viral messaging app. But one of his executives, also present for the conversation, stopped him, muttering "no, no, no." </p><p>A perplexed Nardone made it through the conversation. But when he asked the employee what had him so agitated, he got the worst news that an app startup can get: It had been removed from Apple's App Store.</p><p>"It was the worst day of my life," Nardone says.</p><h2><strong>ChatRoulette phobia</strong></h2><p>Originally, Fling was a messaging app for iPhone and Android that tried to take you beyond the limits of your own social circle.</p><p>When you took a picture or a video, it got sent out to 50 strangers all over the world, and then they could chat and reply to you. Nardone says that it was meant to foster connections between people who would otherwise never interact with each other.</p><p>When <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/07/30/fling/">TechCrunch reviewed Fling at its launch just over a year ago</a>, they found a lot of pictures of male genitalia. But such is the human condition. </p><p>In the meanwhile, Fling grew to 4 million users, with over 50 billion messages sent. Celebrities and social media influencers loved it, Nardone says, because they could interact beyond their core audiences. Fling was also finding a following on college campuses.</p><p>"It's, I hope, the most viral social network ever invented," Nardone says.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fling</span></p><p class="caption">The Fling app for iPhone.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>But Apple was nervous about apps that let you chat with strangers, after the bad behavior of users on ChatRoulette made national headlines a few years back and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chat-roulette-iphone-app-2010-9">got that app banned from the app store</a>.</p><p>So Fling got delisted (not banned, crucially).</p><p>As you may expect, this sent the 40-employee-strong Fling into panic mode. The switch was flipped, and Fling was taken offline even for those users who already had the app. The startup didn't want to risk the wrath of Apple by keeping it online - Apple could still ban them permanently. </p><p>Nardone called an emergency board meeting. It was obvious that changes had to be made - investors had put around $12 million into the app at that point, and the longer it stayed offline, the more momentum Fling would lose with the crucial (and moneyed) iPhone-owning population.</p><p>But because Fling hadn't been fully banned, Apple assigned them a liaison with the App Store and gave them the chance to try again.</p><p>Nardone rallied the staff.</p><p>For 19 days, every Fling employee worked around the clock, sleeping in the office, trying to build a new version of the app that met Apple's guidelines. Eventually, they made a new app, almost totally from scratch, that ditched the "chat-with-strangers" bit and made it a little bit more like Snapchat, with followers and broadcast modes. </p><p>"I don't know how they did it," Nardone says. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fling</span></p><p class="caption">Fling CEO Marco Nardone and the Fling campus tour bus.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"Obviously, our users didn't know what was going on," Nardone says. 10 to 15,000 users were wandering into Fling's social media channels every day, wondering where Fling went, he says. </p><p>When the new version of Fling went up on July 15th, there was a "joyous" celebration in the offices, because the whole team was "at wits end," Nardone says. </p><p>But a lot of those old fans felt jilted. Right now, the new version of Fling has a 1.5 out of 5 star rating on the Apple App Store, largely because it doesn't work like the old one. And new signups for Fling have slowed way down since. Nardone says that this is unfortunate, but not unexpected.</p><p>And in the long run, he says this is going to be a good thing for Fling. The way chat worked in that first version of Fling was, indeed, a problem, he says, and agrees with Apple that users have to be protected.</p><p>Going forward, Fling can really rethink every aspect of their app, and release it back to users bit by bit as it figures out the best, safest, and sanest ways to do so, Nardone says. </p><p>"At the end of the day, I'm proud of what we built," Nardone says.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchat-tips-tricks-how-tos-2015-7">8 things you didn't know you could do in Snapchat</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Z5bDd0dTptD_T4C3aEvU6RC2SGqN_HuC" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

How photo sharing app Fling rallied from its worst nightmare - an Apple App Store removal

<p dir="ltr"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Meerkat, the live-streaming video app that has been going head-to-head with Twitter's Periscope, announced its biggest update ever on Wednesday. The update introduces some new features that are clearly designed to differentiate Meerkat from its well-funded rival.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>The most innovative new feature is "Cameo," which lets you (consensually) hijack someone else's Meerkat stream for up to 60 seconds. </span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Here's how it works.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>One user taps someone else's profile and invites them to "cameo" on their own stream. The second user then accepts and takes control of the first user's stream for up to minute. At any time, either user can end the cameo, which will revert the stream to the originator's control.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>This collaborative tool brings some of the fun of services like </span><span>Chatroulette </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">to Meerkat, without the creepy invasiveness. It's clear that in designing "Cameo," Meerkat took pains to make its users feel in control when they invite someone to hop into their livestream.</span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Meerkat also announced the ability to connect to your Facebook profile instead of Twitter, though it won't actually automatically post anything to Facebook feed. Instead, Meerkat will let you know when any of your contacts starts a Meerkat stream, or joins the service.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>Meerkat has had a strained relationship with Twitter since Twitter launched a competing app, Periscope, shortly after Meerkat's launch. But even so, Meerkat users still had to have a Twitter account to sign up. Now that awkwardness has been eliminated with the wonders of Facebook's API. And this could, perhaps, signal a deeper interest by Facebook in Meerkat. But for now, the integration will show Facebook how much its users care about Meerkat.</span></p><p dir="ltr"><span>The last part of the update is the Meerkat Library. You can now save your streams to your own personal library at the end of each broadcast. You can them manage your streams and choose which ones in the archive to share publicly.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cuba-internet-problem-havana-tech-interview-local-2015-6">No Instagram, no Twitter, no Facebook - there's basically NO internet in Cuba</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BmcW52dToWKG7X61ULByX0cJ1vjTVwCV" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Meerkat tries to one-up Periscope by letting you jump into your friends' live videos

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Greg Sandoval/Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Google fans from China hold up their nation's flag at the I/O developer conference in 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>Kai-Fu Lee has a lesson to offer US tech execs about doing business in China, a market where success has eluded most of them for decades.</strong></li><li><strong>US managers operating in China need to adopt more of the local businesses practices, or else homegrown rivals will outmaneuver them at every turn, Lee said. </strong></li><li><strong>An added  benefit of studying Chinese entrepreneurs is that they might teach US counterparts something that can help back at home.</strong></li><li><strong>After all, China has succeeded in a couple of tech segments where Silicon Valley has failed.</strong> </li></ul><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">US internet services and tech products have largely <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/technology/16failure.html">failed to catch on in China</a>. The causes are many but those American technologists interested in spotting one of the bigger ones need only stare into a mirror, according to Kai-Fu Lee. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Speaking at the Artificial Intelligence 2018 Conference in San Francisco last week, Lee, a longtime US tech exec working in China, showered all kinds of criticism on the efforts of American tech companies <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-uber-failed-in-china-2016-8">operating in that country</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"American companies tend to treat China as just another market," Lee told conference attendees. "The local team isn't empowered with full resources and ability to build new product suites targeted and customized for local customer needs.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Secondly because the people who are sent by American companies are professional managers whose next aspirations is to become the senior VP of sales," Lee continued, "they will behave by corporate standards and achieve (the results) that gives them the promotion, and not roll up their sleeves and work 24-7, and fight the competitor."</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But the problem with this, according to Lee, is that "everyone else in China is doing that."</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He said what this means is "you're going to be a foreigner, who doesn't speak the language, who doesn't work as hard, who doesn't (understand) local customers, who don't get all the resources, who is afraid to make your boss unhappy. So how can that possibly succeed?"</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A lot is at stake in China for US companies. The country has a population of 1.4 billion people. The number of Internet users in China is 770 million, more than twice the population of the United States. Income has risen steadily, so China is a rich and growing market that US tech companies have largely <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-alibaba-defeated-ebay-in-china-2014-4">failed to penetrate</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among the top 50 websites in China, </span><a href="https://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/CN"><span style="font-weight: 400;">only a handful are American,</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and none are in the top 10.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Just next door in India, another populous country where internet use is growing, the story is much different. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"American companies dominate the internet (in India)," the </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/technology/india-technology-american-giants.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">New York Times wrote</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> last month. "Facebook's WhatsApp is the most popular app on phones. Virtually every smartphone runs on Google's Android system. YouTube is the favorite video platform and Amazon is the No. 2 online retailer."</span></p><h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">'Credit cards are adding no value to our lives'</span></h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">American companies face tough challenges in China, some involving politics that are largely are out of their control. But US execs operating there can improve their position, said Lee, who has a lot of experience in this area. </span></p><h4><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beneath-ai-hype-is-likelihood-it-threatens-the-poor-says-former-microsoft-exec-2018-9">Underneath all the AI hype is the likelihood it threatens the poor, says this former Microsoft and Google exec</a></strong></em></h4><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After working as a researcher for Apple, Lee helped set up a Microsoft Research division in Beijing. In 2005, he tried to jump to Google but Microsoft sued to stop him, citing a non-compete clause in his contract. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Eventually, Lee became president of Google China. He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-brain-drain-china-boss-kai-fu-lee-quits-2009-9">stayed until September 2009</a>, leaving not long before Google pulled out of the country over the government's demand that it censor information. Since then, he has become a well-known technology magnate in China and a respected <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/beneath-ai-hype-is-likelihood-it-threatens-the-poor-says-former-microsoft-exec-2018-9">expert in artificial intelligence</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Feng Li/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the conference, Lee said Chinese technologists have a thing or two to teach American counterparts and not just about how to operate in China. Lee says Chinese <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kai-fu-lee-bleak-view-of-google-chance-of-success-in-china-today-2018-9">"gladiator" </a>entrepreneurs know how to build "impregnable business models." They have also succeeded in a couple of tech sectors where success eluded the Americans.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first one he cited was video-based social networks. Sure enough, excluding YouTube, there is a long list of defunct or all but forgotten US startups in this category: Vine, Chatroulette, and Airtime. The other segment was mobile payments. According to Lee, America has clung to the idea of paying with credit cards, while electronic transactions in China are much easier and more efficient.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"Paypal is too afraid of the credit card companies," Lee said. "What if (PayPal managers) just said, 'Sorry shareholders, we're going to see our share price drop, but we're not doing credit cards anymore. We're going to do direct transactions for you. Connect us to your banks and you'll save transaction fees. For the time being, we'll lose a bunch of business, but this is how we get rid of this parasite on society.' Credit cards are adding no value to our lives."</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"I carry no cash , no credit cards and I probably save five minutes a day not doing all the transaction (process)," Lee continued. "I'm now buying things so much more easily and no one is making 3 percent. Think of all the small and medium businesses that survive on a 3-percent margin and that's all just taken by the credit card companies. They served a great purpose for America. They pushed us forward to become a spending society, but their historical purpose is over. It's time to accept modern payment, a real mobile payment." </span></p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-british-airways-13-million-flight-simulator-2018-8">British Airways has a $13 million flight simulator that taught us how to take off, fly, and land an airplane</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

China succeeded where the US failed in these two tech sectors, but it's not too late to learn from them, says a former Microsoft and Apple exec

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Instagram/marconardone</span></p><p class="caption">Fling founder Marco Nardone and girlfriend Toni Allcock.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Tech entrepreneur Marco Nardone pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend at a domestic violence court in London on Thursday.</strong></li><li><strong>He reportedly kicked Toni Allcock in the stomach in a row over his ex-girlfriend. He is due to be sentenced on January 25, 2018.</strong></li><li><strong>Nardone founded photo messaging app Fling, which made headlines earlier this year when it went bust after raising $21 million. </strong></li></ul><p><br />Marco Nardone, the founder of failed photo messaging app Fling, has pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/web-entrepreneur-kicked-girlfriend-during-row-about-his-ex-xwfslrpvd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Times</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5218421/Playboy-admits-attacking-girlfriend-row-ex.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MailOnline report</a>.</p><p>A domestic violence court in London was told how Nardone dragged his girlfriend Toni Allcock by her hair and kicked her in the stomach on December 12, at his £2 million ($2.7 million) Hammersmith flat. The pair were reportedly arguing about his ex-girlfriend sleeping at the apartment.</p><p>The 29-year-old tech entrepreneur - whose <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-fling-social-media-app-died-2016-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">app Fling was backed with $21 million (£16 million) before it went bankrupt</a> - appeared in court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to the charges, according to reports. He was bailed for sentencing on January 25.</p><p>Nardone did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</p><p>Describing the incident to a domestic violence court, prosecution lawyer Jonathan Bryan reportedly said:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"It was quite a sustained assault. He grabs her by the neck with both his hands and she was shouting, 'Leave me alone.' He slapped her across the face and she managed to get out of the flat's front door into the communal hallway. He locked her out of the flat and she banged on the door, demanding to be allowed back in.</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"She tried to press the block's concierge bell in the hallway, but Mr Nardone prevented her doing that by covering the bell with his hand. She made for the lift and he followed her and dragged her back towards the flat by her hair. Again she made for the lift and CCTV shows Mr Nardone blocking the lift's doors from closing and he kicked her in the stomach and she fell to the floor."</p><p>The magistrates reportedly ruled that the case was serious enough to warrant a pre-sentence probation report. This means that Nardone's background and criminal record will be considered as part of his punishment.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Fling</span></p><p class="caption">Fling CEO Marco Nardone.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>How Fling catapulted Nardone into the spotlight</h2><p>Nardone made headlines in February this year when Fling went bankrupt, leaving several employees unpaid and debts of £880,997, including a £120,268 debt with Twitter, and a £45,068 debt with Google.</p><p>Nine former employees that <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-fling-social-media-app-died-2016-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Business Insider spoke to</a> said that mismanagement at the top of the company was a major issue. Several of them said they believed Nardone's behaviour changed significantly during Fling's lifetime, while others told stories of mysterious girls around the office and wild party weekends.</p><p>Nardone dreamed of turning Fling into the next Snapchat and compared himself to Evan Spiegel, according to one former employee, but Fling never made any revenue. Despite that, Nardone still enjoyed first class flights, Ibiza hotels, and Michelin-star restaurants on work time.</p><p>Fling allowed people to send photos and videos to strangers around the world. The random recipients could then chat and reply to the sender. The app also showed "Flingers" a map of where their Flings had landed. Within weeks of launching, people were using the app to send nude photos and sexual material to strangers.</p><p>In June 2015 <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-fling-got-banned-from-the-apple-app-store-2015-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fling was pulled from the App Store</a> by Apple with no warning or notice. Apple hated the fact that Fling was a randomised messaging app that was similar in many respects to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chatroulettes-penis-problem-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-it-2010-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notorious Chatroulette</a>, according to a former employee.</p><p>At its peak, Fling claimed to have 4 million users on its app, who sent a total of 50 billion messages. However, the company burnt through the last of its millions in August 2015, according to documents produced by bankruptcy administrators.</p><p>After failing to secure the funding it needed to continue, Fling quietly shut down in August 2016, based on bankruptcy administration <a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/08073366/filing-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documents submitted to Companies House</a> by Unii Limited.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Instagram/marconardone</span></p><p class="caption">Nardone's adventures.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Photos on Facebook and Instagram show that Nardone and Allcock went travelling during the administration process. The entrepreneur visited Bora Bora, Nice, Venice, the Maldives, and Miami all in the space of a few months.</p><p>Nardone has launched a <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/fling-founder-marco-nardone-incorporates-gig-fm-2017-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new app called Gig FM</a>. The app was incorporated by Nardone on January 23, less than half a year after Fling filed for bankruptcy, according to a <a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10577439" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document filed with Companies House</a>. The app allows musicians to broadcast live performances to Gig FM users in exchange for "Gift Points" that can be cashed out.</p><p>Nardone has had something of a privileged upbringing. He attended the £37,000-a-year Charterhouse boarding school before studying physics at Imperial College London.</p><p>He then worked as a trader for Credit Suisse for a year before becoming a technology entrepreneur. His father, who invested more money in Fling than anyone else, is the multimillionaire founder of Enotria Winecellars, a successful wine business that distributes wine and spirits to bars and restaurants around the UK.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/difference-between-splenda-equal-sweetn-low-sugar-2016-11">The differences that matter between Splenda, Equal, Sweet'N Low, and sugar</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The founder of failed social media app Fling pleaded guilty to kicking his girlfriend in the stomach

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Brent Hurley</span></p><p class="caption">SayMore co-founders Brent Hurley and David Huynh</p></div><p></p></div></div>Brent Hurley, one of YouTube's original founding members, first got the idea for his new app, SayMore, when he was on a flight to Boston.</p><p>"I was seated next to an older gentleman. We kind of struck up a conversation and then talked for the entire flight - I learned all about his life, talked about all these interesting things, and then kind of went our separate ways after the plane landed," he says.</p><p>"I think a lot of people have had similar experiences, but they're very spontaneous and kind of few and far between, so I was wondering  if we could use technology to make that accessible, more on-demand."</p><p>Hurley's new app, SayMore, is what Hurley calls a "talking network." The app lets you talk to strangers who you're connected to by mutual interests - things like parenting or tech, for example - on the phone, through the app. Previous attempts at real-time anonymous communication, like ChatRoulette and Omegle, lost their flair with users; SayMore attempts to pair up users based on mutual interests to keep conversations flowing. </p><p>Instead of using your phone number, conversations are conducted through the app. You make a profile, select your interests, and calls use either your data plan or WiFi, but not your cell plan's talk time minutes.  </p><p><span>Hurley says he's raised a small friends and family round of funding for the app, and its backers include a bunch of early YouTubers like Brent's brother, co-founder Chad Hurley, early YouTube CFO Gideon Yu, and Chris Maxcy, the company's first business hire.</span></p><p><span></span><span>To combat abuse, Hurley says SayMore lets you decline calls, block specific users, and flag users for the app's moderators to review as well.</span></p><p><span>Hurley says he anticipates three main demographics using his app: stay-at-home moms who are looking for intelligent conversation during the day, daily commuters who have time to kill on their way to and from the office, and digital natives. "E</span>ven though consensus says people don't talk on their phones anymore and text has killed the phone call, we do believe that if they try the app and they have their first phone call, based on testing people say it's a refreshing, cool experience and we think this will just give them a new outlet to share," Hurley says.</p><p><span>Instead of having your social interactions "indexed in perpetuity" like they are on existing social networks, Hurley says, he sees SayMore as part of an anti-social network trend. SayMore is ephemeral; after you finish your conversation with someone, you hang up, rate the person you talked to, and then it's on to the next conversation. Hurley says that in the future, he's looking to add the ability to friend people you've spoken to on the app. </span><span>You'll only be able to friend people after you have a conversation with them, he says.</span> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tips-tricks-apple-2015-7">All the incredibly useful things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

An early YouTube employee just launched an app that lets you call complete strangers

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://makemeflinch.com/#Download"></a></div><p></p></div></div>Flinch is a new iPhone app that brings the awkward childhood game, staring contests, to mobile devices. It launched last July and an updated version was released a few weeks ago.</p><p>Like Chatroulette, a once-popular video chat app, Flinch uses video conferencing tool ooVoo to randomly pair up users.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The first to smile, laugh or "flinch," loses. The app uses facial recognition software to tell who breaks their serious face first.</span></p><p>Users are having mixed reactions to the app.</p><p>Already, the app is having some issues with inappropriate or dangerous content. People have streamed alarming things, like this:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">There have also been reviews citing verbal abuse and indecent exposure by users of the app on </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=flinch%20app&amp;src=typd" target="_blank">Twitter.</a></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Toni <span>Bridsong</span>, a Family Safety Evangelist at Intel Security, wrote about her Flinch reservations in an April 7 blog post. Bridsong finds Flinch "creepy" and thinks it's the perfect cyberbullying and predator platform. According to Bridsong, the app has a mostly male 20-40 year-old audience, and it allows users to track the geographical location of their opponents.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"<span>Frankly, the instant streaming video of strangers on my iPhone 6-plus screen was acutely creepy,"</span> <a href="https://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/why-the-new-flinch-app-is-far-from-family-friendly">Bridsong wrote</a>. "<span>The app, which is now being downloaded and applauded by curious teens, is definitely gaining traction as more of a hook-up app. While Flinch features some awesome, advanced facial expression technology (it detects who smiles first and issues a win), my short time using this app sent it straight into the red zone when it comes to family safety."</span></p><p>Matt Farrell, a product manager at Spitfire Technology, helped design Flinch. He says censoring against offensive content is a "significant focus" for him.</p><p>"We have taken several steps to create the safest possible environment for our users," Farrell told Business Insider in an email. "In addition, the Flinch team takes account monitoring seriously; user accounts as well as social media channels are proactively monitored for violations and inappropriate uses of our app. <span>W</span><span>hen we identify inappropriate use through monitoring or other measures, we immediately deactivate the accounts."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Farrell contends that all users have the ability to block other users so they will not be matched with them again. He also pointed out that Flinch is a game with a finite amount of time in which interaction can occur (each game is a maximum of 60-seconds).</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Still the app seems to be gaining popularity and it's one of the top free games in the iOS App Store. Farrell says the growth has happened "organically and virally" and that the app has been in the top 50 for the past few weeks. At the time of writing, Flinch was #46 on Apple's Top Free App chart.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-power-user-hacks-apple-tricks-2015-3">5 hard-to-find iPhone tricks only power users know about</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dzb3ZxczpW1JgYelTy6QXfo_lrpK_Xyi" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "chatroulette" and got 10 results

Facebook is testing a video speed-dating service where users have to pledge to create a safe space, be kind - and, please, don't ghost

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Want To Bump Into ‘Strangers’ With Similar Interests? Check Out This Social Network...

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Meet Tworlds, an app that lets you see how your life compares to a stranger's around the world

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How photo sharing app Fling rallied from its worst nightmare - an Apple App Store removal

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China succeeded where the US failed in these two tech sectors, but it's not too late to learn from them, says a former Microsoft and Apple exec

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The founder of failed social media app Fling pleaded guilty to kicking his girlfriend in the stomach

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An early YouTube employee just launched an app that lets you call complete strangers

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Flinch is a new app that lets strangers challenge each other to staring contests

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Inside the crash of Fling, the startup whose founder partied on an island while his company burned through $21 million

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