CBC.CA – July 5 – Based in Beijing, Blued is the most popular gay dating app in the world. Blued operates mostly in China and Southeast Asia, but has plans to expand to Mexico and Brazil and eventually to North America and Europe. It's also moving beyond dating to offer adoption services to gay couples and free HIV testing clinics in China. Beijing's approach to homosexuality has been ambiguous and sometimes contradictory. "The government has its 'Three No's,'" said Xiaogang Wei, the executive director of the LGBT group Beijing Gender. "Don't support homosexuality, don't oppose and don't promote." In 2016, Beijing banned depictions of gay people on TV and the internet in a sweeping crackdown on "vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content." Regulations said any reference to homosexuality promotes the "dark side of society," lumping gay content in with sexual violence and incest. Yet in April, when Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo decided to impose its own, apparently unofficial ban on gay content – erasing 50k posts in one day – Beijing seemed to mirror the disapproval of internet users.
Month: July 2018
Facebook’s Dating Might Rev Up Romance Scams
CBSNEWS – July 5 – Facebook is launching a dating app later this year, and users are already perceiving a rise in "catfishers". ~54% of online daters think someone they've been corresponding with has misrepresented themselves in some way, said Aaron Smith, associate director at the Pew Research Center. Over the past three years, Trustify has investigated catfishing cons that cost victims upwards of $5M. ~85% of these scams started on or involved Facebook.
by Kathy Kristof
See full article at CBSNews
California Passes A Privacy Law Similar To EU GDPR
THE VERGE – July 4 – The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 is set to dramatically change how businesses handle data in the most populous state. Companies that store large amounts of personal information will be required to disclose the types of data they collect, as well as allow consumers to opt out of having their data sold. The bill, which passed both chambers unanimously, was signed later in the day by Gov. Jerry Brown. The legislation, which is similar to Europe's new GDPR protections, is the result of a last-minute attempt to head off a ballot measure that would have brought a slightly different set of privacy rules to the state.
Women Thrive At The Bumble Hive
FORBES – July 4 – Launched in late 2014, by former Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble entered the market as an app to change the way people date online by putting women first. Today, the app has recorded 500M "first moves" and is valued at ~$1B. Bumble's headquarters in Austin is nicknamed "The Hive". Beyond the brick and mortar, and the office perks, Bumble also made it a priority to put into place fairly progressive policies for its employees – which now total 80 worldwide, with 85% being female. To best accommodate working women, the office maintains a flexible understanding of work hours and the ability for parents to bring children to the office as needed. They allow for "micro-agility" during the day to deal with the stuff that life just brings – meeting the plumber, running to a doctor’s appointment without having to take PTO.
British Singles Trapped In Casual Dating Cycles, eHarmony Finds
PR NEWSWIRE – June 3 – New eHarmony research reveals that 15% of the newly-single population take just a week to get back into 'the dating game' and many Britons believe that quantity is the key to love – with over a third (39%) thinking the more dates they go on, the more chance they have of finding the one.
Facebook’s Dating Feature Angers Right-Wing Groups In India
BUZZFEED – July 4 – Facebook's plans to roll out a dating feature later this year already face growing opposition in the company's largest market: India. The country's vocal, conservative far-right groups, which have for years protested dating and premarital relationships by calling them "Western imports," have turned their attention to what they see as a huge threat to Indian culture from Facebook. "Too many young Indians are already aping the West," said Surender Jain, general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a right-wing nationalist Hindu organization with close ties to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
by Pranav Dixit
See full article at Buzzfeed
Smartphone Users Are Reinstalling Apps At A Surprisingly High Rate
EMARKETER – July 4 – A surprisingly high number of app users are uninstalling and then reinstalling their apps, according to recently released data from mobile analytics firm Tune. I~30% of app downloads in North America were reinstalls. Tune found that reinstall rates were higher for specific app categories, particularly those for which consumers had a short-term need, such as travel apps and dating apps.
Engaged Couples Reach Out To Dating Apps To Invite Them To Their Weddings
by Alyson Krueger
See full article at New York Times
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Chinese Singles Economy
THE STAR – June 29 – ~200M Chinese, or 14% of China's population, are single, representing a huge market for online dating apps and matchmaking services. Baihe and its sister company Jiayuan face stiff competition from apps such as Zhenai. Together, the three apps boast market shares of ~65%. They became market leaders through innovation. They enable young singles to connect via live streaming, games, anonymous telephone chats and instant messaging widgets. White-collar professionals in first- and second-tier cities make up ~90% of dating app consumers, according to a latest report by iResearch. An industry report predicted that the total market revenue of online dating services will exceed RM28B ($4.2B) by 2025.
by Cheng Yu
See full article at The Star
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Facebook Acknowledges It Shared User Data With Dozens Of Companies
CNET – July 1 – Facebook has admitted providing dozens of tech companies with special access to user data after publicly saying it restricted such access in 2015. It continued sharing information with 61 hardware and software makers after it said it discontinued the practice in May 2015. Facebook granted a special "one-time" six-month extension to companies that ranged from AOL to UPS to dating app Hinge so they could come into compliance with the social network's new privacy policy and create their own versions of Facebook for their devices. Data shared without users' knowledge included friends' names, genders and birth dates. Facebook said it has ended 38 of the partnership and plans to discontinue seven more by the end of July. The disclosure was part of Facebook's second attempt to address questions posed to Zuckerberg in April by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.