| Affinity Labs Inc. | |
| Owner: | Monster.com |
| Company Type: | Public |
| Foundation: | 2006 |
| Location City: | San Francisco, California |
| Location Country: | U.S. |
| Current Status: | active |
| Language: | multilingual |
Affinity Labs is a company that builds social networking sites for niche groups such as firefighters, police officers, nurses and the Armed Forces.[1] In January 2008, Affinity Labs was acquired by Monster Worldwide for US$61 million.[2]
Affinity Labs sites have over a million registered members, as of January 2008.[1] PoliceLink, aimed at law enforcement personnel, is one of Affinity Labs' most active sites with over 717,000 unique visitors per month.[3] Other sites include: SalesHQ, ArtBistro, TheApple, FireLink, NursingLink, InsideTech, GovCentral, IndiaOn, Excelle, AllHealthCare, and the European communities, HMForces.co.uk, ProNurse, and WerPflegtWen.
In 2008 after Monster acquired Affinity Labs, it then bought a French military website, Armees.com for an undisclosed fee, then transferred the site to its Affinity Labs social networking vertical.[4]
Affinity Labs still successfully operate across North America but in March 2012 it shut down its European operations. Despite HMForces.co.uk[5] being its most successful vertical, and having shared resources with Military.com, the global recession did not assist its longevity. HMForces.co.uk still has a strong presence on social networking sites[6] to this day, evidence of its popularity. Further references to this military vertical can be found on UK e-commerce sites,[7] and there is also a HMForces blog[8] still surviving despite it not being updated regularly. However most Affinity Labs social networking domains and content have been amalgamated into the Monster Worldwide global brand as of 2021.[9]
Affinity Labs was founded by Christopher Michel[10] in 2006 after he sold Military.com to Monster in 2004 for $40 million.
The Mayfield Fund[11] and Trinity Ventures invested in Affinity Labs prior to its Monster Worldwide buyout.[12]
Between 2010 and 2014, the President of Military Advantage and Vice President of Monster Worldwide,[13] was former Navy Admiral Terry McCreary. He oversaw the military Affinity operations in Europe which had a product manager in London reporting to the former Admiral in the US.[14] However, this operation was closed down in 2012 after Monster unsuccessfully bid for a Recruiting Partnering Project (RPP) with the UK's Ministry of Defence. Capita won and signed the contract worth £44 million over 10 years.[15]