As of today, Hot or Not has re-launched as a dating app and is now available at iTunes and Android app stores.
In its heyday, Hot or Not, perhaps one of the cruelest and most entertaining websites on the Web, was the go-to site for finding out on a 1 to 10 scale whether you were a beauty or a beast in the eyes of your peers.
The site inspired social media sites ranging from Facebook to Tinder, and now its back to cash in on the Internet dating scene.
Like many of the other apps, it uses location to link you to people near you. The app’s defining feature, “Hot Lists,” reportedly gauges a person’s hotness through crowdsourced votes, just like the old website used to do. The app is supposed to update in real time, so you can find the best looking people in your vicinity. Oh look, there’s one now!
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In the last year, there’s been a lot of money flying around dating tech. In April, IAC bought 10 percent of Tinder, skyrocketing the picture-swiping app’s valuation. Tinder also caught a lot of attention for its recently released disappearing photo feature.
And while old-guard dating sites like Match and OkCupid offer their own dating apps, new dating and hook-up apps are blossoming all the time. Earlier this year, Hinge, which harvests your Facebook info to create a dating profile, started gaining traction on the East Coast.
British online dating company Badoo purchased Hot or Not in 2012 in an effort to capture a piece of the coveted U.S. market. As far as the U.S. mobile market goes, dating apps are definitely rocking a 9 right now, which explains Badoo’s decision to use the nostalgic Hot or Not to get in on the U.S. dating app frenzy. But the field may be too saturated to deliver Badoo the traction its looking for.
With Tinder, Okay Cupid, Match.com, and Chemistry.com in its dating app arsenal, IAC currently has a 28 percent share of the market according to Bloomberg.
All hope may not be lost, though. It seems Hot or Not has some powerful help. Former IAC PR exec Justine Sacco, who was fired in December for an offensive tweet, joined Badoo in April and will be heading up Hot or Not’s PR department.
