PINK NEWS – July 28 – Grindr has hinted at a new version of the app which will tackle the racism and bullying on the platform. The dating site tweeted a cryptic video with a voiceover discussing racism, which says: "When someone says something like I don't date black people, that's all black people, that's what I refer to as sexual racism." It also tweeted a link to a website called kindr.grindr.com, which currently only has the voiceover and the tagline: "It's time to play nice." The site's vague announcement comes just days after model and activist Munroe Bergdorf called on the company to address hate speech.
Month: July 2018
Music Lovers Hit Right Note With Plenty Of Fish Singles
METRO.US – July 27 – Plenty of Fish analyzed 9M profiles and discovered that 34% of female music lovers and 24% of male music lovers were more likely to find a catch. Men who listed country music as an interest on their dating profile receive 32% more messages. Additionally, men who like country music are 65% more likely to find a match, 52% more likely to want to get married, and 49% less into wanting to just hook up. Women who like classic rock are 68% more likely to find a match. Women who like classical music are 93% more likely to want to get married.
Cheaters Are More Likely To Forgive Their Partner’s Infidelity
THIS IS INSIDER – July 27 – According to Ashley Madison, people who have been unfaithful themselves are more likely to be forgiving if their partner cheats. This could be because they are more aware of the nuances of cheating, and know it means an opportunity to fix what's broken in the relationship. Out of 3,000 Ashley Madison members, 53% indicated a forgiving mentality when it came to being cheated on. Men were more likely to forgive women, with 59% saying they were more likely to forgive their partner than their partner is to forgive them, compared to 51% of women.
by Lindsay Dodgson
See full article at This Is Insider
New Dating App Crown Uses NCAA-style Bracket To Crown A Winner
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – July 27 – Crown is a new project from Match Group. Every day at noon, users receive 16 different profiles, chosen by an algorithm. Users crown a winner by choosing between two people at a time, narrowing the 16 choices to four. But the possibility of romance can only begin if one of the quartet of matches also "crowns" the user. The app, still in beta, is available for iOS only and in selected cities (Crown launched in LA in June). More specifically, the format of Crown may convince users they have choices, but actually force them to choose between two profiles they are not interested in, Chicago dating and relationship expert Anita A. Chlipala says. With limited space for a bio, Crown is based mostly on profile photos. Also, the app only allows users to match with either male- or female-identifying profiles, unlike Tinder and Bumble which has a "male and female" option.
People Are Using Dating Sites To Find Jobs
MARKETWATCH – July 26 – Singletons are hitting up people on Tinder and OkCupid to promote their businesses and get ahead in their career. Dating sites are also branching out into the jobs market. Some former Tinder executives recently created Ripple, an app designed to compete with LinkedIn. Last year, Bumble launched Bumble Bizz, a site to make professional connections. Bumble has noticed that, amid this improving economy, people are often interested in a new professional opportunity, as well as a personal one. “Dating apps have become a very normalized way of meeting people professionally,” said Alex Williamson, chief brand officer of Bumble. “It’s a comfortable way to reach out and get to know someone else.” Prospective employers can learn a lot about others through their profiles and photos, including their character, personality and even their spelling.
by Alessandra Malito
See full article at MarketWatch
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People Group’s Anupam Mittal Leads Funding Round In Shared Space Firm myHQ
VCCIRCLE – July 27 – Delhi-based co-working space startup myHQ, run by JustWork Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has raised $500K (Rs 3.4 crore) in a new round of funding, a company statement said. The round was led by Anupam Mittal, founder of People Group, which runs online matrimony site Shaadi.com. The round also saw participation from Sachin Bhatia, co-founder of dating app TrulyMadly. The startup will use the funds to expand its operations to over 200 spaces across three cities.
by Dearton Thomas Hector
See full article at VCCircle
PeerStream Aims For $5M Uplisting To Nasdaq
SEEKING ALPHA – July 27 – PeerStream has filed to uplist its stock from the OTCQB to Nasdaq in a $5M transaction for selling stockholders. The firm appears to be transitioning to providing blockchain-for-business service offerings. The firm helps business clients understand how to best use blockchain technologies to their benefit. The company was founded in 2005 as Snap Interactive, until a name change on March 8, 2018, and provides digital media streaming solutions.
by Donovan Jones
See full article at Seeking Alpha
7 Students Are Developing A New Dating App That Put The Voice First
WESER REPORT – July 26 – Seven students from Bremen have now developed a new dating app that puts the voice first rather than the profile photo. "The picture is always displayed first in a dating app," criticized Marlon Escobar Saupe, who is studying digital media at the Hochschule für Künste (HfK) in the fourth semester. "You should not underestimate the voice, because it says a lot more." Together with six other students he wants to bring the app Nanda on the market. Instead of a picture users first receive voice messages of their potential matches.
Is Match Becoming Un-Hinged With Its Latest Acquisition?
THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 24 – The latest service to join Match is Hinge, a site that once billed itself as the "anti-Tinder" because it focuses on relationships instead of hookups. The purchase leaves Bumble as the only major dating app not owned by Match, and the two are currently suing each other. Match has acquired dozens of services over the past nine years and in the past three years spent $610M acquiring different brands, about equal to its cumulative operating earnings for the same period. While none of the deals have seemed to have gone like a bad date, the rise in Match's cost of revenues has outpaced its revenue increases due to acquisitions like POF and Pairs. Last year, revenue from North America, which contributes 56% of Match's total, grew 9% as a result of more people signing up for Tinder. Yet North America ARPU was flat. The deal for Hinge gives Match a 51% stake with the right to purchase the rest of Hinge within the next year. Though Hinge doesn't disclose the number of users it has, undoubtedly individuals using dating apps have accounts at multiple sites, so Match is paying for members it likely already owns. Match's total subscribers hit 7.43M in the Q1, up 26% YOY, and some of them have to be Hinge members, too. Making another acquisition might put another dating app into Match's diverse collection, but it doesn't really do anything to bolster what is making money for it, namely Tinder.
by Rich Duprey
See full article at The Motley Fool
Relationship Experts: Dating Apps Can Be Useful But Not Necessarily For Finding Love
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 25 – Claudia Duran is in the sometimes-helpful-but-mostly-making-things-worse camp: She uses the term "swipe vulture culture" to describe people's behavior on these services. Duran is a Miami-based matchmaker at dating service Elite Connections, where she charges $15K for a six-month membership. "People start to become reliant on that sort of high and instant 'Wow! They like me!'" It doesn't take long, she said, before "it really becomes an ego-feeding thing, rather than going out there, sitting with someone, and really just starting to get honest and vulnerable," she said. "The best thing about online dating is that it widens your pool of prospective mates," said Eli Finkel, who is a psychologist at Northwestern University, a professor at the Kellogg School of Management, and the author of "The All-Or-Nothing Marriage." Jess Carbino, Bumble's in-house sociologist recommends spending 30 minutes a day and then using the rest of your time to actually go on dates with people you've matched with.
