Month: January 2016

‘Sextortion’ And Scams

Posted on January 19, 2016

Online dating scams and other crimesNYTIMES – Jan 15 – Online romance scam have bilked victims of all ages and orientations out of more than $200 million last year, according to the F.B.I. The F.T.C., F.B.I., Homeland Security, State Department and United States Army Criminal Investigation Command have reported an avalanche of complaints about scams in the past two years. Average financial losses are $5,000 to $10,000, but the F.B.I. says many victims have lost more than $400,000. And these are just losses reported by those who fessed up to being had.

by Kate Murphy
See full article at New York Times

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Match Study: British People Meet Life-long Partner At 27

Posted on January 19, 2016

Match.com logo dalsiINDEPENDENT – Jan 18 – The study of 2,000 men and women has found the average age women find 'the one' is 25, while for men it is slightly older at 28. Couples are likely to get engaged two years after meeting. Marriage follows at three years and it takes an average of four years before a couple has children. Kate Taylor, a Match.com dating expert, said: "While each relationship moves at its own pace, daters are often reassured by comparing their experiences with others."

by Serina Sandhu
See full article at Independent

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

What Tinder And Halo Have In Common

Posted on January 19, 2016

Tinder logo screenshotTHE ATLANTIC – Jan 18 – Tinder uses a variation of ELO scoring to determine how members rank among the site's userbase, and therefore, which profiles to suggest and whose queues profiles show up in. Invented by the physics professor Arpad Elo to determine rankings among chess players, ELO assigns ranks by judging players' presumed skill levels against each other, when translated to Tinder, the algorithm can be understood on a basic level as one where who you match with determines who the app shows to you. Users matched with those with a high ELO will see the people Tinder as a whole finds more desirable. Those sporting a lower ELO, will only see people who don't get as many matches from high-ranking users.

by Michelle Ehrdhardt
See full article at The Atlantic

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Six Months Since Ashley Madison’s Hack, Nothing Changed

Posted on January 19, 2016

Ashleymadison screenshot shutteredWASHINGTON POST – Jan 15 – People forget and don't demand changes. A report from Pew Research found that people view hacks as part of modern life. Last month, Ashley Madison claimed that ~6.5M people had signed up since the hack. It seems somehow unjust that Ashley Madison should return to business as usual. The site's only visible casualties have been the resignation of CEO Noel Biderman and a handful of yet unresolved lawsuits.

by Caitlin Dewey
See full article at Gensee Country Express

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

LGBTQI Youth Find Love Through Tumblr

Posted on January 19, 2016

Tumblr logoMASHABLE – Jan 18 – The social platform has become, in many ways, an informal dating site for queer and trans youth. While adults have access to Tinder and OkCupid, LGBTQI youth are left in the digital dark. Facebook requires people to use their real identities. Twitter relies on 140-character soundbites. Tumblr – more visual than Twitter, more private than Facebook, less horrible than Reddit – lets youth create new screennames, craft new identities.

by Heather Dockray
See full article at Mashable

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Friends Reunited To Close After 15 Years

Posted on January 19, 2016

Friendsreunited logo dec 09WIRED – Jan 18 – The website has had a turbulent history. Pankhurst launched the website in 2000, by 2003 it had 3M members, and was seen as an established rival to MySpace and, later, Facebook. By 2005 it was sold to ITV, for more than £125 million, in 2009 the website was sold to DC Thomson for just £25 million. Then, in 2012, Friends Reunited was rebooted as "memory box". In 2014 DC Thompson offered the website's ownership back to Pankhurst. Pankhurst now says he is creating a new social network, called Liife, that will be a way for people to store memories – but he said it will "no way [be] a replacement for Friends Reunited."

by Matt Burgess
See full article at Wired

See all posts on FriendsReunited Dating

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Shut Down ‘My Parents Swiped Right’ Onesie

Posted on January 19, 2016

Tinder_BabyCHICAGOINNO- Jan 15 – Chicago entrepreneurs launched Tinderbaby.com in May of last year and got press from all over the world for their onesie for parents of Tinder Babies. Tinderbaby.com saw over 25K visitors to its site in one week and hundreds of orders were coming in from across the country. Tinder sent the startup three cease and desist letters claiming they owned the rights to the term "swipe right."

by Jim Dallke
See full article at ChicagoInno

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Weepo Puts Emphasis On Location

Posted on January 19, 2016

Weepo screenshotWUSA9 – Jan 15 – Weepo user matches are based on where both are hanging out that night. The user tells Weepo what nightclub s/he is going to that evening. Weepo shows the user the potential matches in the same nightclub. If the user's match agrees to the connection, both users can chat on Weepo and quickly meet face-to-face. The current goal is to grow the user base to 60K users in the next few months. Weepo's initial launch was last fall in New York City.

by Elizabeth Jia
See full article at WUSA9

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Blume To Kill Catfishing With Ephemeral Selfies

Posted on January 19, 2016

Blume screenshotsTECHCRUNCH – Jan 16 – A real-time selfie will only be shown for 7 seconds, before disappearing – during which period the user must decide whether they really do want to match with the person in the photo or not. If both Blume users confirm the match they unlock each other's full profiles plus messaging function. Blume soft-launched in the U.S. in late November with 25K users and raised a small, pre-seed round ($250k) from three Danish Business Angels and early stage Danish VC firm SEED Capital.

by Natasha Lomas
See full article at TechCrunch

See all posts on Blume

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Match.com Study: Wait 5 Months Before Saying ‘I Love You’

Posted on January 19, 2016

RelationshipsNEWSX – Jan 18 – Researcher of more than 2,000 men and women found it takes longer to hold hands with than to kiss a new partner, with 31% claiming they would kiss immediately, and 34% revealing they would wait 1-2 weeks to holds hands. 60% would introduce their partner to their best friend within the first month. Most would wait 5 months before updating their social media relationship status and 6 months before revealing of one's imperfections, the first argument and when most parental introductions take place. 28% would wait at least 6 months before leaving their toothbrush at their partner's house, 40% said the same for being given a drawer at their partner's house.

The full article was originally published at NewsX, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Match.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team