Updating hi5 will take us one step closer to our social discovery mission by expanding our reach to a significantly broader group of users (more than tripling our entire user base to 330 million).

Are you a hi5 member? Check out this page for details on the upcoming changes.

Tagged also completed its first four acquisitions to-date, with December’s acquisition of hi5 seen as a watershed for the social category. The company founded its own internal game studio, and with 2011′s comprehensive suite of mobile offerings grew mobile usage to over 30 percent of its daily active users. Tagged was also recognized in 2011 by Forbes as One of “America’s Most Promising Companies,” was selected as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Company, and was included on San Francisco Business Times’ list of Best Places to Work in the Bay Area .

Tagged Topline 2011 Results:

• Total Revenue grew 35 percent to over $43 million
• Acquired hi5, Digsby, WeGame and Topicmarks
• With acquisition of hi5,
  • Tripled registered users to over 330 million
  • Doubled active users to over 20 million
• Virtual currency revenue up 60 percent from 2010
• More than tripled Tagged staff from 48 to 172
• Established game studio to handle all social game development
• Fourth consecutive year of profitability

“Tagged is kicking off 2012 with incredible momentum,” said Tagged CEO Greg Tseng. “2011 was a year of unparalleled growth as we tripled our staff, attained record revenue and completed several strategic acquisitions. We’re putting all our energy toward building the best place to meet new people online and our users can expect big things this year.”

About Tagged
Tagged is the social network for meeting new people. While other offerings focus almost exclusively on existing relationships, Tagged has established the category of social discovery. Tagged is the largest social discovery network in the world with over 330 million members (combined with recently acquired hi5) in 220 countries. Tagged enables anyone to meet and socialize through social games, advanced browsing features, shared interests and more. Founded in 2004, Tagged is based in San Francisco. More information is available at http://about.tagged.com

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House (H.R.3261) and its Senate sister bill, (S.968) the Protect IP Act (PIPA), both threaten the freedom, innovation and self-expression that the Internet has enabled for all.

Today, Tagged stands alongside fellow Internet companies such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Wikipedia and many more, to voice our opposition toward SOPA and PIPA. Please take a few moments to watch this video and learn how these bills affect you and many of the Internet companies you love:

Tagged is committed to protecting the intellectual property rights of others, however we also deeply  value Internet innovation and the ability to freely share information on the Web. The Senate will vote in less than a week on PIPA, so it’s time to make your voice heard.

Visit Stop American Censorship for more information and learn about the many ways you can take action. If you live outside the U.S., you can contact the U.S. state department.

SAN FRANCISCO – Dec 20, 2011 – According to a new survey conducted by Tagged, the social network for meeting new people, spending time on social networks during the holiday season is no longer viewed as taboo or a “party foul.” Instead, communicating with online friends during the holidays is all but expected by most people.

Tagged recently commissioned a survey of 1,500 users during the 2011 holiday season (late-November to early-December 2011) to drill down on social networking habits around the holidays. While spending time on social networks during the holidays may have once been seen as an annoyance or distraction, statistics show that is not the case today. In fact there is an upward trend in social networking during the festive season.

Tagged’s 2011 comprehensive holiday survey showed that 84 percent of respondents said family and friends were not annoyed about their spending time on social networks during Thanksgiving. Further, 69 percent of respondents sent the same number of messages, or more than usual, on Thanksgiving Day.

The survey highlighted the connection of friendship and family for users during the holiday season, with 63 percent reporting the main value of social networking during the holiday season as friendship. Additionally, users who had more online communication with family reported feeling three times as close to people as those who mostly communicated with friends.

“People have always tended to communicate more during the busy and hectic holiday season, and this trend has evolved over time from in-person, to phone to social networking,” said Steve Sarner, Vice President of Marketing for Tagged. “Tagged and other social networks provide an additional outlet for people to connect and celebrate with friends, new and old.”

About Tagged
Tagged is the social network for meeting new people. While other offerings focus on existing relationships, Tagged has established the category of social discovery. With over 100 million members in 220 countries, Tagged enables anyone to meet and socialize with new people through social games, customized profiles, virtual gifts, advanced browsing features and more. Tagged is based in San Francisco. More information is available at http://about.tagged.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – December 14, 2011– Tagged, the social network for meeting new people, today announced it has completed the acquisition of hi5, another pioneering social network and one of the largest online communities in the world. Together, Tagged and hi5 create a unique social networking company that will dominate the social discovery category.

With over 230 million registered users, hi5 joins Tagged and its over 100 million registered users to create a social networking powerhouse, the largest social discovery network in the U.S. and worldwide. Initially, hi5 and Tagged will operate as two independent and freestanding brands. Tagged has plans to update both products in the coming months to offer users an improved social discovery experience. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“An opportunity of this magnitude is uncommon and exciting as the addition of hi5 immediately doubles our overall active user base and grows combined registered users past 330 million members.” said Greg Tseng, Tagged cofounder and CEO. “hi5’s global footprint complements Tagged’s and instantly builds on our leadership position as the world’s first, largest and best social network to meet new people. “

“Tagged is the perfect home for hi5 as it continues to prove itself as a major contender in social,” said Alex St. John, president and chief technology officer of hi5. “At hi5 my colleagues and I recognized the unanswered opportunity to connect new people online, and I’m thrilled that Tagged is making strides to fulfill this mission.”

A story in full circle, in 2003 Tagged and hi5 were both created with the help of Stanford Ph.D. candidates Johann Schleier-Smith and Greg Tseng. In 2005, Greg and Johann made the decision to dedicate themselves full-time to Tagged. Now, as 2011 closes, Tagged and its founders welcome hi5 to the family, with an opportunity to grow the networks and tackle the social discovery space with more momentum than ever.

About Tagged
Tagged is the social network for meeting new people.  While other offerings focus on existing relationships, Tagged has established the category of social discovery. With over 100 million members in 220 countries, Tagged enables anyone to meet and socialize with new people through social games, customized profiles, virtual gifts, advanced browsing features and more. Tagged is based in San Francisco. More information is available at http://about.tagged.com

About hi5

Founded in 2003, hi5 is among the top 10 social networks in the world as a leading social entertainment destination. Combining a robust social platform with premium content and game mechanics, hi5 delivers a fun, expressive, and interactive entertainment experience to millions of users around the world. Available in over 50 languages, the site features localized games, virtual goods and other content that is monetized through hi5 Coins, a global virtual currency supporting over 60 payment methods and 30 currencies worldwide. For more information on hi5, visit http://www.hi5.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – December 8, 2011– Tagged, the social network for meeting new people, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Topicmarks. Topicmarks’ mission is to make long form content as easy and relevant to work with as social media. The company’s staff and technology will help power the growth of Tagged as it expands its footprint as the best place to meet new people online.

2011 Founder Showcase winner Topicmarks was created to take long form content (i.e., documents, news articles, webpages, email attachments and books) and summarize them, making a more efficient experience for users. Topicmarks has also been a trailblazer in building technology that helps match people and information, thus offering Tagged increased capabilities to connect people through their interests.

The Topicmarks team will join Tagged immediately. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Future use and incorporation of Topicmarks’ technology will be revealed in the coming months.

“The Topicmarks team has made tremendous industry strides in understanding and working with long form content, and data overall,” said Greg Tseng Tagged CEO. “Their current work and their dedication to innovation will be huge benefits to us as we strengthen our capabilities to bring people together, whether they want to connect over a common interests, play social games or even date and flirt.”

“We started Topicmarks to take on the herculean task of making a Harvard Business Review story as easy to work with, share and understand as a Tweet or wall post,”

Said Peter Berger II, Topicmarks CEO. “What we discovered on this journey are better ways to connect people, not just data, and that makes the acquisition by Tagged a perfect marriage.”

About Tagged
Tagged is the social network for meeting new people.  While other offerings focus on existing relationships, Tagged has established the category of social discovery. With over 100 million members in 220 countries, Tagged enables anyone to meet and socialize with new people through social games, customized profiles, virtual gifts, advanced browsing features and more. Tagged is based in San Francisco. More information is available at http://about.tagged.com

Topicmarks has machine learning technology, which takes long form content and summarizes it (so you don’t have to read all of the text).

From instagram’s departure from a check-in model (ala Foursquare), to YouTube’s online video dating histories, this infographic should remind you that no matter what you are building, be ready to change directions if necessary.