Month: February 2014

Jess, Meet Ken: Women Play The Matchmakers

Posted on February 5, 2014

Jessmeetken logoBOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL – Feb 3 – On a new dating site, Jess Meet Ken, women create profiles of single men they know but are not romantically interested in, who could be good matches for other women. Women can then be introduced to a man that another woman vouches for. "Women know how to sell a guy better than a guy knows how to sell himself," said Ken Deckinger, the site's founder. Deckinger previously co-founded speed dating and online dating service HurryDate which was sold to Spark Networks in 2007.

by Sara Castellanos
See full article at Boston Business Journal

Russian Gay Dating App Blocked In Sochi

Posted on February 5, 2014

Hunters warningTOWLEROAD – Feb 4 – Hunters, a gay hook-up app popular in Russia, came under an attack by hackers. All users received an anonymous threat which read: "You will be arrested and jailed for gay propaganda in Sochi according to Russian Federal Law". Hunters is blocked in Sochi and Adler now, and ~72K user profiles were deleted throughout Russia. Maybe the Russian Government implemented Turkish practices where Grindr has been banned for almost half a year.

by Andy Towle
The full article was originally published at Towleroad, but is no longer available.

Online Dating Stigma Hasn’t Shifted Completely

Posted on February 3, 2014

Zoosk logo new Dec 13FOX40 – Lesley and her husband Mike are part of a growing number of people who have met their spouse thanks to online dating. Shayan Zadeh, the CEO of Zoosk, cites recent research that found one out of every three relationships started online. Along with Zadeh, FOX40 spoke with representatives from Match.com, eHarmony, and Christian Mingle. FOX40 also went to a mall and asked people what they thought about online dating. The results were 50-50.

See full article at Fox40

See all posts on Match.com          See all posts on eHarmony
See all posts on ChristianMingle    See all posts on Zoosk

POF Traffic Jumps 23% Before Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 3, 2014

Pof logo smallTHE PROVINCE – Feb 1 – Markus Frind typically sees a 23% jump in sign-ups at POF between Boxing Day and the Wednesday after Feb.14. ~3.5M people log into the site every day, many of them visiting several times. POF’s 70M registered users make it the world’s largest dating site. PlentyofFish was born in 2003. Frind ran the company by himself for five years until it reached $10M in annual revenue. Today, he employs ~75 people. He won’t disclose how much revenue his private company makes but answers “of course” when asked if it makes money. He has put aside $30M for acquisitions.

by Paul Luke
See full article at The Province

See all posts on POF.com

Teen Dating Site MyLOL.com: – A Playground For Paedophiles

Posted on February 3, 2014

Mylol logoMIRROR.CO.UK – Feb 1 – Girls as young as 13 use this teen dating site which allows them to be targeted with vile sexual messages from older men. It is the most ­popular dating site for under-18s in the UK. Shockingly, many users are adults trying to contact naive youngsters. The site allows anyone aged 13 to 25 to register, give out contact details and post provocative pictures of themselves. The profiles are all public. It is estimated that Facebook could lose up to 80% of its users in three years to newer sites including MyLOL, Ask.fm and Chatroulette. The website says it takes no responsibility for interaction between ­members.

by Pamela Owens & Bethany Wells
See full article at Mirror.co.uk

Twine Canvas Is Like Tinder But Based On Personality

Posted on February 3, 2014

Twine canvas screenshotTECH CRUNCH – Feb 1 – Mobile app developer Sourcebits has released a new dating app, Twine Canvas. The app asks users to browse and create “personality canvases,” which is a digital collage of their interests. If both sides of the connection “like” each others canvases, then profile photos are revealed. To create a canvas, users must add photos that don’t show their faces, from the camera roll or Facebook albums.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on Twine

People Find Love On Whisper, A Secret Sharing App

Posted on February 3, 2014

Whisper app screenshotBUSINESS INSIDER – Feb 1 – Secret sharing app Whisper isn't meant for meeting people, but that's not stopping people from forming offline relationships using the app. The app lets people share photos and text completely anonymously. It only added the private messaging feature six months later after it realized some of its users were trying to stay in touch via email. Whisper launched in May 2012 and has raised $24M to date.

by Megan Rose Dickey
See full article at Business Insider