Month: February 2017
Biometrics, Real-time Data Poised To Change Dating
by Marissa Lang & Dominic Fracassa
See full article at SF Chronicle
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Woo App Is Giving Tinder A Run For Its Money In India
OPW – Feb 14 – I interviewed Sumesh Menon who is the CEO of Woo, and asked him:
- How and when was Woo started?
- How is Woo different from Tinder?
- How many questions are on Woo?
- Does Woo take the position that Woo knows best, or that users know best, when it comes to matching?
- What proportion of Woo users are diaspora, outside of India?
- How are you integrating Dus, the U.S.A. focused diaspora dating app that Woo recently acquired?
Please comment if you like/dislike the new interview video style.
Post by Mark Brooks @ Courtland Brooks.
DatePlay Officially Launches This Valentine’s Day
2 Key Metrics MeetMe’s Investors Should Focus On
THE MOTLEY FOOL – Feb 10 – Investors considering MeetMe stock should watch: monthly active users (MAUs) and average revenue per user (ARPU). MeetMe will need to continue growing both to stay relevant against its competitors. 8M MAUS (after Skout's acquisiton) is a respectable amount for the size of the company, which has ~200 employees. The thing investors really need to watch, though, is whether or not the company can significantly grow MAUs without acquisitions. In the Q2 and Q3 2016, MeetMe was able to increase its MAUs by 32%. Investors should keep a close eye on the Q4 report due out in March to see if the company is able to keep up this pace. MeetMe also needs to make money from each user. In Q3, ARPU grew to $3.19, a modest increase of 5% YOY. MeetMe serves up ads in its app and says that its advertising cost-per-thousand (CPM) increased 47% YOY in Q3. Meetme also intends to launch in-app purchases for its upcoming live video streams from within the MeetMe app.
In Swipe Era, eHarmony Tries To Avoid Getting ‘Frozen In Time’
CNBC – Feb 10 – eHarmony, the 16 year old company, still uses an extensive questionnaire with 150 questions. Founder and former CEO Dr. Neil Clark Warren is still seen in TV ads. New eHarmony CEO Grant Langston admitted: "The way we do it has been frozen in time." He said an antiquated communication process had left the product feeling dusty. Langston has been trying to make the use of eHarmony easier. One change is letting people take the questionnaire a little at a time.
DateSafe: A New UK Campaign To Raise Romance Scam Awareness
BBC NEWS – Feb 12 – A new UK campaign, Date Safe, is a partnership between Get Safe Online, Victim Support, AgeUK, City of London Police, the Metropolitan Police and the Online Dating Association. Date Safe suggests criminals are using love letter templates and an online search could flag up some of the stock phrases. Police say the average dating scam victim is aged 49 and loses £10k. While most activity occurred on dating websites, the majority of the 15% that did not was carried out via Facebook. Criminals can purchase scam "packs" containing love letter templates, photos, videos and false identities for as little as a few dollars on the dark web, said Prof Alan Woodward, cybersecurity expert at Surrey University.
Partner’s Wealth Is Very Important To Only 5% Of OkCupid Users
Tinder’s Paid Users Increased 71% In 2016
SLICE INTELLIGENCE – Feb 10 – Slice Intelligence has released new data on the online dating market that reveals Tinder's buying population is the fastest growing amongst all Internet dating services. Tinder's premium swipers increased 71% in 2016 compared to 2015. Match still leads in terms of overall sales. Paying Match.com members generated 30% of all the revenue in the online dating market last year. Tinder holds the second place slot. eHarmony also has a large footprint with online spending.
On eHarmony and Match.com, women accounted for the majority of 2016 revenue. 23% of eHarmony's revenue comes from women 51 and over. Meanwhile, OkCupid and Tinder are more male-dominated platforms. ~81% of Tinder's revenue in 2016 was driven by male users.
by Taylor Stanton
The full article was originally published at Slice Intelligence, but is no longer available.
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Is Super Liking On Tinder For Losers?
MASHABLE – Feb 10 – Tinder users can "Super Like" people they are "super" into to encourage them to swipe right on them. While the idea sounds flattering in theory, the reality of being Super Liked can be deeply off-putting for some users. PR executive Helen Parkinson says that receiving a Super Like gives her an ego boost at first, but she feels a little uneasy about the concept. "Often the sort of guys who Super Like me are a little on the creepy side," says Parkinson. She's not alone in this. Social media creative Gemma Clapp says it "seems too desperate" and web comic author Neil Bryer says he's only ever Super Liked by accident. Tinder's VP of Communications Rosette Pamakian disagrees: "We've consistently received positive feedback on Super Like. In fact, users are three times more likely to match with someone they Super Like and conversations initiated by a Super Like last 70% longer," says Pamakian.