PR WEB – Jan 20 – Manjam users can now connect using any mobile device without having to download an app from tightly controlled and censored app stores. The team at Manjam.com believe it is essential for companies to offer alternative ways for people to express themselves, without large tech companies editing what they can and can't say. Users can now break from app store restrictions by accessing the Manjam dating app directly from their device’s web browser.
Month: January 2015
Interview With RSVP & Oasis Active’s CEO Dave Heysen
OPW – Jan 18 - Oasis Active is a big free Internet dating site that is very popular in Australia and South America. Dave Heysen and Daniel Haigh are the co-founders and will be attending iDate this week.
Why did Oasis Active merge with RSVP in June 2014?
We felt that together we would be a stronger market force and cover more of the market, particularly the Australian market.
What was the nature of the deal?
The deal was a Merger, with the aim to look for synergies between the two companies. Both companies need to be more dynamic to deal with the pace at which the market is currently changing. Together the two brands control a strong % of the Australian dating market and we will work to try and strengthen that position even further. The Oasis.com/Amorenlinea.com platform will also now have the resources to push further into markets outside of Australia and promote our new App coming out early in 2015.
What's your new role?
Daniel Haigh (the other co-Founder of Oasis Active) is now the Director of Product and Technology and myself CEO of RSVP & Oasis. We are both Executive Directors of the combined entity.
How's the team transitioning to work with RSVP?
Great – within the next few months we will all be under the same roof. The teams from both sides are excited at the prospect of working across all the brands RSVP, Oasis and Amorenlinea.com, to name a few. Combined we have circa 30 full Time employees as well as customer service representatives. Our customer service is a combination of in-house/outsourced. We currently have a couple of relationships outside of Australia that primarily help us with the languages we support apart from English, such as Spanish, Portuguese etc.
How will the products work in unison? Has their positions changed?
The brands will still remain separate. We have been pushing some traffic between the sites trying to offer daters more opportunity as there is under 10% crossover of membership in Australia. At this stage their positioning will remain the same but we will be working to make sure we give each brand the best chance in the market. If that means altering the market positioning, that is something we will have to do.
Oasis is quite international. Will you continue to push internationally? What countries are you strongest in?
We continue to grow our Spanish speaking base throughout Central and South America and Spain. We will be pushing harder in these markets once our new Spanish android app is released in February 2015.
How Grindr Makes It Easy To Stalk 5M Gay Men
ARS TECHNICA – Jan 15 – Geographic locations of Grindr users in the US and most other places can be tracked down to the very park bench they happen to be having lunch or bar where they're drinking and monitored almost continuously, according to research scheduled to be presented Saturday at the Shmoocon security conference in Washington, DC that shows Synack researchers we able to set up a free account and track the detailed movements of several fellow users who volunteered to participate in the experiment.
Zoosk Lays Off 15% Of Staff
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 15 – The move was made as part of a larger effort to lower expenses in many areas. News of the layoffs follows the exit of Zoosk’s founders from their leadership roles last month, and confirmation that the company was indefinitely delaying its IPO plans.
Iran Combats Online Dating With Official Site For Young Marriage Seekers
AFP – Jan 15 – The site will launch in the next few days and promote long-term marriages among the under-30s who make up 55% of Iran's 77M people. There are strict prohibitions on sexual contact before marriage in Iran, but that can be circumvented under the Shiite form of Islam practised in Iran by "sigheh," or temporary marriage, under which a couple can contract matrimony for as little as an hour. The government is seeking to discourage the practice and as many as 300 websites deemed "illegal and immoral" that often encourage sigheh.
Zimbabwe Is Ready For Internet Dating
TECHZIM – Jan 15 – As far as target markets are concerned Zimbabwe is primed for dating services. Like the rest of Sub Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe has a very young population with 55% of the country in the 15 to 64 age range. 41% of Zimbabwe is below the age of 15 which represents a rising market that will fit snugly in the teenager bracket. Where tech adoption and appreciation of new trends is concerned this is the group of early and easy adopters that is likely to relate to any exciting form of social media better than older generations.
by Nigel Gambanga
See full article at Techzim
New Dating Site Targets Allergy Sufferers
NJ.COM – Jan 15 – 'Allergic Attraction,' is a social media website designed expressly for allergy sufferers. The site targets high schoolers and college-aged students, who are at a higher risk for allergic reactions. AllergicAttraction.com is free to join and has a couple hundred subscribers so far. And while the website is presently geared toward high school and college students, the site is open to older allergy sufferers using it. Users upload a profile picture and pick an allergy or allergies then choose what type of relationship they're seeking: friendship or dating. From there, they can find potential matches.
Cupid Name Change Is Official
HERALD SCOTLAND – Jan 15 – Cupid has been officially renamed as Castle Street Investments at Companies House. The change, which received shareholder on December 23, reflects its transformation from an online dating firm to an investment company.
“The Tinder Experiment” Is Over
NEWS.COM.AU – Jan 14 – The group dubbed the “Tinder vigilantes” have had their Facebook page taken down and won’t be releasing more undercover footage of men they say were targeting underage girls. The group — a 21-year-old woman and two 25-year-old men — won’t publish the remaining footage obtained in the Melbourne stings after Victorian police asked them not to.
Chinese Marriage Status Far From Optimistic
YIBADA – Jan 14 – "Report of 2014 Chinese Marriage Status," from dating site Baihe.com found that during the working week, 63% of singles were more comfortable in their home environment after hours, either spending time online or with guests. 31.7% of those singles interviewed decided to spend approximately 10 hours each day at home, rather than actively pursuing relationships through dating. Just under half of the singles said that love did not form the basis of happy marriage, as they were more concerned with factors like physical appearance and wealth.
by Mason Coltrane
See full article at Yibada