IBTIMES – Feb 14 – "We know how to do this one thing. If the world is not interested in this one thing. We will go out of business," Grant Langston, eHarmony's VP of brand marketing, said. That "one thing" was match people for serious relationships. When the founders pitched the idea back in 2000s, people would laugh. At that time, online dating was primarily for sex. But 16 years later, eHarmony is one of the leaders with ~11.9% of the $2.4B online dating industry (IBISWorld). "eHarmony is a relationships company. Match is a relationship company, but I think eHarmony picks up where Match leaves off,” said Mark Brooks, an online dating app consultant. With its over decade of experience, eHarmony is not a young player. And at 80 years old, its CEO Neil Clark Warren is far much older than other leaders in the field like Tinder's 29-year-old CEO, Sean Rad. But eHarmony is seen as still able to innovate. At this year's iDate, eHarmony was awarded the title of most innovative company. Next month, eHarmony launches Elevated Careers, a shot at matchmaking for the job market.
Month: February 2016
Super Niche Dating Site – Cage Match
BOURNEMOUTHECHO.CO.UK – Feb 15 – Bournemouth man has launched Kickstarter campaign for dating site that matches singles based on their favourite Nicolas Cage films. Adam Burt hopes to raise £20K and has already received ~£1K.
3 Insights About Dating From A Stanford Economist
YAHOO.COM – Feb 14 – Stanford economics professor Paul Oyer wrote a book "Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned From Online Dating". The book chronicled his return to the dating scene as a single, 50-year-old man, which he came to understand as being much like the markets he'd spent a career studying. Oyer had three observations about the behavioral economics of being single:
- The perfect man doesn't exist, and if he did, someone else might have found him by now.
- Eligible men are indeed scarcer than available wome.
- Online dating has drastically increased the pool of eligible ladies and gents.
New Dating Apps That Want To Take On Tinder
BBC.COM – Feb 14 – Combining match-making with games and quizzes, DatePlay is designed to generate meaningful matches. Behind the app is entrepreneur Vana Koutsomitis, who first pitched her idea on the BBC television series The Apprentice. She did not win Lord Sugar's investment – he judged the project too risky – but she has continued work on her app. Hanky is another new dating app. It lets existing members decide whether new joiners should be allowed in. The app, for men only, launched in January and has since attracted 85K members.
by Chris Foxx
See full article at BBC
Top Dating Apps Are Waiting To Be Hacked – Analysis
VENTUREBEAT – Feb 13 – Last month, security firm Sework, conducted an in-depth review of five top dating apps. Of the five apps they analyzed, all were vulnerable to hacking, containing exploits that would enable breaches similar to the attack on Snapchat in 2014 or the leaking of users' data from an HIV-positive dating app. All the apps were decompilable – a process that enables hackers to reverse engineer and compromise an app.
Sniffr – Tinder-style App For Dogs
DAILYSTAR.CO.UK – Feb 14 – Sniffr is a new Tinder-style app for dogs and their owners to sniff out their perfect partners. The app allows users to create a profile for their pets, complete pic, age as well as listing their "likes and dislikes". Owners can search for "dogs wanting to meet" nearby via GPS before arranging play dates in the park.
by Patrick Williams
See full article at DailyStar.co.uk
Whitney Wolfe: People Want Dating Apps Where Women Can Feel In Control
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Feb 14 – Whitney Wolfe is 26 and she has already been at the helm of two major dating apps – Tinder, which she accused of sexism on her departure, and now Bumble. She always held back in dating. "When it came to guys I had to sit on my hands. I wasn't allowed to text them first according to my friends and society. That's really broken." She launched Bumble, a dating app where only women are allowed to make the first move. A year in, Wolfe and her team are working on ways to expand the app's influence. They're trialing a reward-system that will benefit "well behaved" users – people who have used the app consistently, interacted with their matches and never been abusive or rude.
by Cara McGoogan
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
FBI Warns Online Daters: Don’t Be OKStupid
NEWSWEEK – Feb 13 – The FBI is using Valentine's Day as an opportunity to remind all online daters that criminals are lurking on dating sites by releasing a press release. While everyone is at risk of getting looped into romance scam, the most common targets are "women over 40 who are divorced, widowed, and/or disabled," the FBI says.
The Search For Love Has Changed
BBC.COM – Feb 13 – There is no doubt that online dating and smartphones are dramatically changing the way people hook up. In the US in 1940, family connections and church were common ways to find a romantic partner. By 1990, ~40% of couples met through friends. But, by the turn of the Millennium, the Internet was revolutionising the way people got together.
Study: 10% Of Americans Are Paying For Dating Apps
INC.COM – Feb 13 – Americans are expected to spend ~$20B on Valentine's Day this year, including on virtual dating services. According to a new research from Earnest, those living on the West Coast are 55% more likely to pay for a dating service. Overall, ~10% of those surveyed said they paid for a dating app. Men are 16% more likely to pay for a dating app than women.