In January 2001 Hot or Not added simple dating features to their “rate me” website. Users were presented with a picture and asked whether they would like to meet that person - when two people matched, they were invited to become subscribers so they could send messages to one another. This feature, as well as advertising revenue and virtual flower sales, turned $600,000 per month for James and Jim (the founders of Hot or Not), but they have now decided to go another route.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has posted a thorough article outlining Hot or Not’s changing business model - one that would have saved me a few dollars in August of 2006. It was at that time I matched with the most beautiful girl in the world and literally had no choice but to pay for a membership so I could email her. 4 months later, that girl would be my wife, and it’s been happily ever after since.

With the recent social networking boom, James and Jim have decided to drop their subscription options and rely on advertising as well as special gift purchases as their sole source of income. Hot or Not was in a bind - the decision to open up their most profitable feature and making it free was a hard one, but if Hot or Not was to continue to grow it was necessary. Since the changes were made, Hot or Not has seen a 60% increase in traffic which has boosted their other forms of income to compensate for the $500k per month loss.

James and Jim have announced that more features will be coming in the next few weeks - which is a promising outcome of the changes. Hot or Not has remained fairly stagnant throughout the years, bringing few new features to the table, but with the increased attention it has been receiving the users will expect more from this pre-dot.bomb company.