OPW – Apr 2 – 2013 has been a challenging year for Cupid plc with negative press on both Cupid and the online dating industry. In July Cupid completed the disposal of the casual assets removing ~70% of their revenue. Revenues including discontinued operations fell 31% to £56.1M (FY 2012: £80.9M) and adjusted EBITDA fell to £0.5M. Stripping out the discontinued operations, revenue for the continuing business was flat at £26.6M (FY 2012: £26.7M).
Month: April 2014
JessMeetKen Lets Women Call The Shots
MORNINGNEWS – Apr 2 - JessMeetKen is a new dating site that allows women to create dating profiles for their male friends. The website founder Ken Deckinger talked with WGN Morning News team about the site and why men don't know how to sell themselves.
There Is So Little Privacy On Indian Dating Sites
FORBES – Apr 2 – In India, marriage sites list details such as blood type, exact day and minute of birth, photos, annual income, HIV status and more. The person sharing all this intimate data is often not the prospective bride or groom. At Shaadi.com, ~30% of the 30M listings come from siblings and parents. Some Indian sites do not even require creating a profile before accessing details about others.
Tinder Hacked By Bots Promoting “Castle Clash” Game
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 2 – A number of Tinder users report being matched with fake profiles of women, who are actually automated bots promoting a mobile game called “Castle Clash.” It’s unclear who is behind these fake accounts, though of course the app developer, IGG.com, is immediately suspect.
Ashley Madison Settles Lawsuit Against Victoria Milan Over Use Of ‘Shush’ Image
OPW – Apr 2 – Avid Life Media, the company that operates AshleyMadison.com, recently settled a 16-month lawsuit against Digisec, the Swedish company that runs competitor VictoriaMilan.com, over the alleged violation of Avid’s intellectual property rights. The primary complaint of the suit, filed in October 2012, involved Digisec’s alleged trade dress violations for use of Ashley Madison’s “shush image,” which depicts a woman with her finger pressed against her lips. Digisec later filed a counter suit during deliberations.
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OkCupid Urges Boycott Of Mozilla
REUTERS – Mar 31 - OkCupid.com called for a boycott of Mozilla Firefox to protest the world's No. 2 Web browser naming a gay marriage opponent as CEO. OkCupid visitors who accessed the site through Firefox on Monday were tol to use other browsers. "Mozilla's new CEO, Brendan Eich, is an opponent of equal rights for gay couples," the message said. "We would therefore prefer that our users not use Mozilla software to access OkCupid."
iHookup Partners With Sprylogics To Integrate The Poynt-Enabled SDK
CNW – Mar 28 – The Poynt-Enabled implementation will allow iHookup users to search, discover, view, discuss and share movies, restaurants, videos, low gas prices and local events, while they are interacting with each other.
The full article was originally published at CNW, but is no longer available.
Farmersonly.com To Focus On SURFS – Single Urban Rejuvenation Farmers
NY TIMES – Apr 1 - When Farmersonly.com first opened their barn doors in 2005 they had the goal of helping single farmers across the entire country connect with women who appreciate the agricultural lifestyle. That's all about to change according to last week's announcement from the company's founder, Jerry Miller. In a recent posting on his site's blog, Miller stated that the rise in urban farming has created a new market of potential singles that far exceeds the 150,000 people who have already joined FarmersOnly.
"The traditional American farm is a thing of the past," says Miller. "But for every farmer that retires in Kansas, there's a half dozen hipsters in Queens trying to grow mushrooms in their closet or microgreens on their rooftop garden. Add to that the thousands of new hydroponic marijuana farmers in California and Colorado and you've got thousands of new farmers looking for love."
Facebook Announces Purchase Of Match.com, for $1
FORBES – Apr 1 – Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Yagan released a joint statement this morning that, after months of quiet negotiations, Facebook is set to officially enter the world of online dating through the purchase of Match.com and associated Internet dating properties for $1, and a bunch of Facebook stock.
Facebook has become one of the most common ways for people to sign up for social media and online dating sites over the last 18 month. This new acquisition removes the middle man and allows users to simply use their Facebook data as their match.com profile.
Sam stated “We’ll re-brand as Matchbook and we’ll set the online dating industry and POF on fire.”
Yagan, who originally gained acclaim in the industry as the man behind OKCupid is looking forward to exploring the technical advances this deal could mean for online dating. “With Facebook’s recent acquisition of the Oculus Rift, we’ve opened a whole new door to revolutionize long distance and virtual dating opportunities for singles.”
Anticidate Locates Girls About To Turn 18
CNN – Apr 1 – Grassonthefield Inc. is launching Anticidate, the first app that helps men meet the brass ring of all hook up opportunities, women who have just become legal.
Using a proprietary algorithm, the app leverages data from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Tumblr, and several other social media sites. Anticidate helps men find all the women currently within 1/2 mile that have either turned 18 within the last 30 days or will be turning 18 in the next 24 hours. Men can then contact them or send them a gift card for stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Pac Sun, American Eagle, and several other popular brands.
Anticidate will debut on the Google and Apple Stores later this week. Initial test markets will include NYC, Miami, Davenport, and Seattle. Anticidate will roll out nationwide later this spring.