Month: August 2015

Matchstix, A Cambodian Version Of Tinder

Posted on August 22, 2015

Matchstix iconTHE PHNOM PENH POST – Aug 21 – Matchstix has a Khmer interface instead of English and the app's creators, Mobimedia, say that while the functionality of Matchstix is almost identical to Tinder – matching users who "swipe right" on each other – a key difference is that it's positioned as a way to meet new friends and perhaps groups of new friends rather than "hook up" or find romance. An Android version of the new app was released on August 1 and has already been installed on between 5K and 10K phones. An iPhone version was released on Wednesday this week.

by Will Jackson & Mao Monkolransey
See full article at The Phnom Penh Post

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Ashley Madison Employee Told To Input “Phony” Female Profiles

Posted on August 22, 2015

TELEGRAPH – Aug 21 – Doriana Silva, who worked at the company's headquarters in Toronto, Canada, tried to sue the firm after claiming she suffered repetitive strain injury (RSI) after being given a month to input 1,000 bogus memberships. The case adds to suspicions that countless British victims of an online hack of its database, whose details are now publicly available as alleged users of the website, are innocent victims whose email addresses may have been bought in bulk by Ashley Madison.

by Gordon Rayner
See full article at Telegraph

See all posts on AshleyMadison

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

iCrushiFlush Crosses 3M Daily Actions

Posted on August 22, 2015

Icrushiflush logoGIZBOT – Aug 21 – The Indian casual dating platform recently crossed 750k users and provides a friction-less and engaging experience. The large and diverse user base and extremely high engagement has ensured it has consistently been the top Indian dating app on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store over the last six months.

See full article at Gizbot

See all posts on iCrushiFlush

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Is On-Demand Dating A Tinder Killer

Posted on August 22, 2015

On demand datingMASHABLE – Aug 18 – Clover, Whim, Pure and HowAboutWe's Tonight app offer on-demand functions which cut to the chase so users can aggressively get on each others' calendars. Clover just closed $2M in funding (bringing total investment to $4M). Close behind Clover is upstart Whim, which launched in LA in 2014. Markedly different from Whim and Clover is the unabashedly more hookup-focused Pure, which is so radical and in-the-moment in its "demand" nature, that there are actually no profiles or Facebook integration. Having raised 10 times less investment capital than Clover ($400K versus $4M), Pure is already cash-positive.

by Mandy Stadtmiller
See full article at Mashable

See all posts on Pure                   See all posts on Clover
See all posts on Tonight              See all posts on Whim

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Who Are Ashley Madison’s Hackers?

Posted on August 21, 2015

Unknown identityBBC – Aug 21 – Nobody knows who the hackers are, where they are located and why they attacked the site. They call themselves the Impact Team, and there is no evidence that they stole data elsewhere before this attack. Comments made by Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media, which owns Ashley Madison, suggested he knew the identity of at least one of the people involved. But no arrest has been made yet.

by Mark Ward
See full article at BBC

See all posts on AshleyMadison

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

The Match Group Appoints New CFO Prior To IPO

Posted on August 21, 2015

Match Group picturePR NEWSWIRE – Aug 20 - Gary Swidler joins The Match Group from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he worked for 18 years. Mr. Swidler is expected to begin in September.

See full article at PR Newswire

See all posts on Match

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

AshleyMadison.com Hit With Class Action Suit

Posted on August 21, 2015

Ashley-madison-targeted-by-class-action-lawsuitTHE CANADIAN PRESS – Aug 21 – A class-action lawsuit has been established against Avid Dating Life Inc. and Avid Life Media Inc. for a massive breach of sensitive users' information. Users also paid additional fees for the website to remove all of their user data. It is alleged these users discovered that their information was exposed. The class-action lawsuit still needs to be certified.

See full article at 680News

See all posts on AshleyMadison

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

More Ashley Madison Data Leaked Online

Posted on August 21, 2015

Ashleymadison securityREUTERS – Aug 20 – Ashley Madison's hackers released more data that also include email messages linked to Noel Biderman, the site's founder & CEO. The additional release will likely ratchet up the pressure on the company, which has been quiet about exactly how much and what sort of data was stolen in a breach in July. The recent 20-gigabyte data dump is roughly double the size of the earlier one. Despite the negative publicity surrounding the cyber attack, demand for Ashley Madison's services has been steady since the data breach first announced in July, said Mark Brooks, CEO of Internet dating consultancy Courtland Brooks. "I would have thought this would be a death knell for that company because their entire business basis is privacy," Brooks said. "It just goes to say that all press is good press…The awareness of the brand is through the roof."

by Alastair Sharp & Josephine Mason
See full article at Reuters

Also read at Newsweek, CNBC and Die Welt.

See all posts on AshleyMadison

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Jiayuan Q2 Results: Operating Profit Up 12%

Posted on August 21, 2015

Jiayuan logo new Aug 13PR NEWSWIRE – Aug 20 – Q2 revenue was $29M, up 23% YOY. Operating income was $1.4M, 12% increase YOY. The number of average monthly paying user was 1,487,681, compared with 1,542,062 in Q2 2014. Online services contributed $18.2M, or 62.8% of net revenues.

See full article at PR Newswire

See all posts on Jiayuan.com

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Venntro Media Group Acquires Voice-dating App Revealr

Posted on August 21, 2015

Revealr picPRESS RELEASE – Aug 20 – Venntro, parent company of WhiteLabelDating.com, has acquired voice-dating app Revelar for an undisclosed sum. Revealr app uses voice recording technology to connect people by their voice. If users like what they hear after listening to a 20s audio, the other user's profile is revealed. Venntro plans to take advantage of the existing technology and monetize its user base better.

See all posts on Revealr
See all posts on WhiteLabelDating

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting