Month: March 2018

When Dating Apps Fail, There Are Always Matchmakers

Posted on March 21, 2018

Lunchdates logo 2018BOSTON GLOBE – Mar 20 – "If you've ever used dating apps, you know that it can be like a full-time job," says Hannah Orenstein, whose experience as a matchmaker in New York City serves as the inspiration for her upcoming novel, "Playing With Matches." What matchmakers offer is convenience – handling everything from identifying dates to vetting dates to scheduling where and when two people will meet. "I tell people I'm kind of like a headhunter for their love life," says Jill Vandor, a longtime matchmaker at Boston-based LunchDates who says that firm has seen an influx of clients looking for a more personal touch. Some matchmakers even hit the dating apps so their clients don't have to.

by Dugan Arnett
The full article was originally published at Boston Globe, but is no longer available.

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Bumble Responded To Match Lawsuit With An Ad

Posted on March 20, 2018

Bumble logo whiteTECH CRUNCH – Mar 20 – Tinder's parent company Match Group is suing its competition Bumble, accusing the app of stealing trade secrets and patents. The complaint also says that Bumble has rolled out two new features that were "learned of and developed confidentially while at Tinder". Bumble is responding with a full-page ad in the New York Times, "We swipe left on your multiple attempts to buy us, copy us, and now, to intimidate us." The ad goes onto say that Bumble isn't afraid of aggressive corporate culture. "That's what we call bullying, and we swipe left on bullies," it says, noting the thousands of users the company has blocked for "bad behavior."

by Fitz Tepper
See full article at Tech Crunch

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The Inner Circle Has A Team Of Moms Who Give Out Advice On How To Meet People

Posted on March 20, 2018

Theinndercircle logo 2017MASHABLE – Mar 16 – At dating app The Inner Circle, users can get an answer from an impartial judge via the app's customer support team – which just happens to be a group of young mothers who work part time. By design, the six Amsterdam-based women who approve new users and handle support inquiries are all partnered women with children who offer their insights "from the perspective of people who conquered the dating game." The Inner Circle launched first in Europe back in 2013, before making its way to the U.S. last year. Users are accepted (or denied) based off their presence on at least three social accounts.

by Laura Vitto
See full article at Mashable

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Internet Acquaintance: In Egypt It Is Simple, In Ireland It Is Almost Impossible

Posted on March 20, 2018

ConnectionsCRYPTOSLATE – Mar 19 – Sociologists from Austria have made a rating of the countries where it is easy to start communicating with a woman through a dating service. The first place in the list of countries where it is easy to get acquainted via the Internet got Egypt: 70% of women respond to the first message, 74% of them continue to communicate. Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana and the Philippines were also among the five leaders. Europe declares itself only on the eighth line of a rating – rather willingly go on contact with men women of Ukraine. Thus, 54% of them respond to the first message. The next European country ranks only 14th in the list – it is the Czech Republic with 48% of women ready to enter into correspondence with handsome middle-aged. Only 6% of Irish women respond. Slightly less unapproachable, but also severe are Swedes and Portuguese (26% of respondents).

See full article at CryptoSlate

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China To Ban Citizens With Poor ‘Social Credit’ From Public Transport, Credit Info Shared On Baihe

Posted on March 20, 2018

ChinaV3.CO.UK – Mar 19 – China's government, which has just voted to make President Xi Jinping president for life, is to implement the latest phase of its Social Credit System on 1 May, with citizens with a poor social-credit rating to be banned from planes and trains. China's Social Credit System is coordinated by the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms. It mashes together information from the country's social insurance database and the criminal records system, as well as information gleaned online. It is intended to penalise not just citizens who have failed to pay fines or taxes, for example, but also people the government deems guilty of 'spreading false information' and 'causing trouble'. The credit score is also shared with Baihe, one of China's biggest online dating services, which promotes subscribers with good social credit scores.

by Graeme Burton
See full article at V3.co.uk

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Badoo Acquires Dating App Huggle And All-female Team

Posted on March 19, 2018

Badoo huggle logosBUSINESS CLOUD – Mar 16 – Dating app Badoo has acquired dating app Huggle along with its internal marketing team. Huggle is a dating and friendship app which matches users based on the places they have in common. It was launched in 2016 by co-founders Valerie Stark and Stina Sanders. The brand has since attracted 500k users, including celebrities such as Katie Price and Bella Thorne.

See full article at Business Cloud

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

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Grindr App Loophole Allows Users To See Who Blocked Them

Posted on March 19, 2018

Grindr app newPINKNEWS – Mar 19 – A massive loophole in Grindr's code is allowing guys to see exactly who has blocked them on the app according to developer Trever Faden. He says that the app currently attaches an invisible list of restricted profiles to each user's account, so the app knows not to display guys to someone that has blocked them. With a little effort it's possible to retrieve the list of user IDs from the code. Faden has since built a web tool called 'C**kblocked' that lets people sign into their Grindr accounts and see the list for themselves.

by Nick Duffy
See full article at PinkNews

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With “Apply To Date” Singles Can Now Play Their Own Game Of The Bachelor(ette)

Posted on March 19, 2018

Applytodate logoMASHABLE – Mar 18 – Apply To Date lets singles build a shareable webpage that's a little bit like a dating resume. The webpage has its own shareable URL that daters can add to their tweets, Snapchat stories, and Instagram bios. At the top of the page, there's a button that allows people to ask them out. There's an introduction, followed by more background, a chance to list what they're looking for. At the top and bottom of the page photos from Facebook or Instagram will be shown, and links to social media accounts.

by Rachel Thompson
See full article at Mashable

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Spark Neworks SE To Terminate Loan Agreement Relating To Affinitas And Plans To Enter Into New Debt Financing

Posted on March 19, 2018

Spark networks logo dec 17SPARK.NET – Mar 15 – Spark Networks Services (f/k/a Affinitas), wholly-owned subsidiary of Spark Networks SE, entered into a termination agreement to its Loan Agreement. The loan agreement was dated Sep 2016 and was made between Affinitas and certain persons and entities with an interest rate of 8% (Loan type A) and 9% per annum (Loan Type B) in an amount of €5.85M (€1.85M of which is under the Type A Loans and €4M of which is under the Type B Loans). The parties agreed to an early termination fee of €0.3M. In addition, the parties agreed that interest on the loans of ~€40K will be paid in full for the month of March 2018. In connection with the termination of the Loan Agreement, the Company executed a non-binding term sheet with a third-party lender for a new €25M credit facility consisting of a €15M term loan and €10M revolver

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White Label Dating Partners With Geordie Shore’s Holly Hagan To Launch HollysHookups.com

Posted on March 19, 2018

Hollyshookups logoPRESS RELEASE – Mar 19 – White Label Dating have just launched www.hollyshookups.com, a casual dating site for fans of reality TV star, Holly Hagan. Holly Hagan has 3.6M Instagram followers. Within the past week, White Label Dating have launched two dating sites for UK famous reality TV stars. Las week, The Only Way Is Essex couple, James Lock and Yazmin Oukhellou launched their first mainstream dating site www.thisisluv.com with the hope to help like-minded singles find love.

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