IRISH TIMES – June 25 – Under the 2001 Act, a judge has the power to prohibit a person who is subject to a sex offender order from doing anything in order to protect the public from serious harm. Currently, a judge does not have the power to restrict a convicted sex offender from using a dating app after they are sentenced and released. Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone says judges should have explicit banning powers. "I am proposing that we explicitly add something in the new legislation that bans offenders from using these apps. This would make it far more likely that judges would apply such a condition," she said. The Sex Offenders (Amendment) Bill which was approved by the government makes provision for the post-release supervision and monitoring of sex offenders. "Now that the bill is being drafted, I am calling for this provision to be included. I will raise this in due course when the Bill gets to the Seanad," said Ms Noone.
Month: June 2018
Why Dating Giants Are Betting On AI
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – "I don't think dating services should be able to tell you that you have a 95% chance of falling in love with someone," says Xavier de Baillenx, tech chief at Match. "The human brain is very complex. We are just helping users find their 'plus-one' in a less painful way." Dating expert Kate Taylor is similarly apprehensive. "I think the most important thing that technology can do is get you on a real-life date in front of a person," she says. Yet Match is investing heavily in the technology to stand out from the crowd. Match.com has created a virtual assistant that converses with users through a smart speaker. "Lara" can offer dating tips and locations to meet dates. She can even suggest when it is appropriate to have sex. Last week, Happn introduced a new feature: an AI-fuelled interactive map that shows people that visited the same venue in the past seven days. It has big plans to use the increasing amount of data people generate. Facebook can also offer what each dating app on the market can combined. It has one of the most advanced facial recognition tools, not to mention a huge pool of behavioural data.
by Margi Murphy
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk
How Dating Apps Are Changing In The #MeToo Era
THETIMES.CO.UK – June 25 – "I think #MeToo was a turning point for dating apps, making them react to help women feel safer online," says Clémentine Lalande, the co-chief executive of Once, an app that matches users with a single suitor each day. Last month, Bumble wrote an open letter to a college swimmer after he sent a female user abusive messages. The open letters serve as a warning to people joining the app that this behaviour won't be tolerated. Tinder is considering adding a Bumble-like feature so women need only interact with men they have messaged first. Bumble is considering allowing its female users to put an initial instead of their name to protect their identities. Meanwhile Once has introduced a five-star rating system. Women can "review" men, rating conversations, offering post-date analysis and giving a verdict on the accuracy of photos. It's not just the apps: women themselves are using technology to hit back in innovative ways. The artist Anna Gensler makes naked sketches of men who have sent her crude messages, then sends them to the men and posts them on Instagram. The blogger Samantha Mawdsley replied to an unsolicited penis pic with a catalogue of photos of male genitalia.
by Rosamund Urwin
See full article at TheTimes.co.uk
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Chappy And Spring Studios Team For New York Pride
WWD – June 21 – Chappy, a dating app for gay men that was founded earlier this year by "Made in Chelsea" actor Ollie Locke and Jack Rogers, is making a bigger push in the U.S. And to increase brand awareness, they've partnered with Spring Place, the collaborative workspace club located in TriBeCa, on a series of events taking place this week during New York City Pride. The events includes an evening of cocktails and conversation cohosted by "Modern Family" actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and "Orange Is the New Black" actress Lea DeLaria.
Match Group Acquires A Controlling Stake In Hinge
BLOOMBERG – June 20 – Match will take a 51% stake with the option to buy the remaining shares over the next year. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Since the redesign in 2016, the app's user base quadrupled, according to Justin McLeod, CEO of Hinge. The company hasn't released concrete data about it user base, but Hinge is the fifth-highest grossing dating iPhone app, according to AppAnnie. Match Group first invested in Hinge in September 2017, taking a seat on it's board.
by Joshua Brustein
See full article at Bloomberg
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Bumble Considers Introducing Ads
ADNEWS – June 16 – Bumble is exploring the idea of introducing advertising to its platform. Bumble makes its money through subscriptions and "strategic partnerships with brands", Wolfe Herd said, but declines most of the brands that approach Bumble. "Advertising has to stand for kindness and serve some mission in the world," she said, adding that brands must "walk the walk" instead of just "putting something on a billboard".
Tinder Surges During Russian World Cup
TASS – June 16 – Russian mobile phone operators have registered a surge in use of the Tinder dating app during the World Cup. The app saw a surge of ~350% during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea. One of Russia's four biggest mobile phone operators, MTS, reportedly saw an 11-fold increase in match-day Tinder use among long-term customers near stadiums and fan zones in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Saransk. Tele2, meanwhile, saw the popularity of the app increase 3.5 times, compared to the pre-World Cup average.
by Jonathan Brady
See full article at The Moscow Times
Happn Is Adding A Map That Reveals Users’ Movements In The Last 7 Days
CoffeeMeetsBagel: There’s A Big Difference Between How Men And Women Date Online
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jun 19 – In 2016, dating app Coffee Meets Bagel introduced "#LadiesChoice," a new format that offered men and women distinct user experiences. Men would receive up to 21 "bagels," or matches, every day at noon, and the app would then present women with a curated selection of the men who had liked them. Users who identify as LGBT would receive up to six matches a day. According to Dawoon Kang, a Coffee Meets Bagel cofounder, the company made this change because they'd seen stark differences in the way men and women date online. "The more bagels we give to men, the more engaged they are. They like it. They actually like going through profiles and checking out different women." On the other hand, Kang said, "When we gave more bagels to women, the attention that they give drops significantly. They stop responding. They stop checking." In 2016, scientists at Queen Mary University of London, Sapienza University of Rome, and Royal Ottawa Health Care Group found that women on Tinder generally swipe right only for men they're seriously interested in, while men are less picky. But when it comes to sending that first message, the researchers found that just 7% of male matches sent a message, compared to 21% of women.
by Shana Lebowitz
See full article at Business Insider
Bumble CEO Threatened After Dating App Banned Gun Photos
NEW YORK POST – June 16 – Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd said she received threats after her dating app banned images of guns in March following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and other incidents. "It's polarising and we had to have police at our office for several weeks," she said. "I was getting emails saying, "We're coming for you, we know where your office is."