NEW YORK TIMES – Aug 4 – Old-school personal ads are the currency of Personals, an Instagram dating community built for lesbians; bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual women; and gender-nonconforming and nonbinary people. The page, which has 40K followers, works like this: Text-based personal ads are submitted once a month. Ms. Rakowski then publishes them as Instagram posts and tags the people who submitted them. Interested parties can get in touch directly. Ms. Rakowski, 39, is a photo editor at Metropolis magazine and the creator of Herstory, an Instagram account that surfaces lesbian imagery from as early as the 1800s. This summer, she raised ~$48K on Kickstarter for a prototype version that will still use the typewriter font and gender-neutral aqua palette. Instead of swiping, users browse a continuous feed, much like the user experience of Facebook or Twitter.
Month: August 2018
China’s 200 Million Singles Are A Big Business
SPIEGEL.DE – Aug 4 – As a result of the government's decades long one-child per family policy and a preference for boys, an imbalance of the sexes has developed. For every 114 men in China, there are 100 women; overall, there are 30M more men than women. Those who remain unmarried die a quick social death in the country. The combination of freedom of choice and social pressure has become overwhelming for many. Thousands of flirt trainers, marriage brokers and love gurus are now employed in China's quest for happiness. Baihe, the largest online platform for people looking for someone to marry, has 300M members and 3k would-be matchmaker employees. The elite agency Diamond Love has its headquarters in Shanghai. It has 5M members, with some of them paying ~$15K a month for "custom services" promising them the wife of their dreams. A person's social status in China is determined by the authorities. The so-called Hukou system of household registration, splits all people into two categories: rural or urban. The place where a Chinese person is registered determines their access to doctors, schools – and also to urban, middle-class women. No date takes place in China without someone politely asking about the other person's Hukou status. Someone who moves to the city can, with some luck, attain the same privileges as the people who were born there. The Chinese government long ago recognized that the hordes of frustrated men migrating to the cities are a problem. The party now wants more children and is organizing mass group dates across the country.
Bumble Unveils Its Own Love Island-style Villa For 12 Lucky Singletons
BRINKWIRE – Aug 4 – Bumble has unveiled its own version of the famous villa in Majorca, in the form of a stunning property in Saxmundham, Suffolk. The dating app will send 12 men and 12 women to Moat Cottage – located on the Wilderness estate – which boasts six en-suite bedrooms, a large open plan living space, as well as a luxurious hot tub looking out over a lake. Those wishing to apply will have to submit a short video explaining why they should be chosen, after swiping to match with a special card in the app. Singletons wishing for a weekend of fun activities at 'Casa Bumble' in October can apply from next month to be in with a chance of being chosen.
Gleeden Claims 270K Users In India
NEW INDIAN EXPRESS – Aug 4 – Should adultery be tried as an offence in India, or should the state and its courts stay out of it? A petition submitted to the Supreme Court has started a debate around this. Meanwhile Gleeden, an app that provides a platform for 'extramarital dating' is doing very well in India. It has 2.7 lakh (270K) users in India. Gleeden was launched officially in India in August 2017 but Indians were using its services way before that. Gleeden Indian users mostly come from big cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru. Most of the members have a privileged professional background. A lot of them are senior executives, doctors, lawyers or bankers, says Solene Paillet, Head of Communication Management of Gleeden.
Tinder Is The Most Used App Via Facebook Login
DIGITAL TRENDS – Aug 3 – According to Facebook app login token data tracked by Thinknum, Tinder usage is at the highest it's been. Tinder is the most used app via Facebook login, beating out both Spotify and Candy Crush Saga for the first time. Bumble, with its popular "girls first" take on the Tinder formula, had a good run last spring, but has failed to gain ground on Tinder.
by Joshua Fruhlinger
See full article at Digital Trends
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Q&A With Mandy Ginsberg, CEO Of Match Group
RECODE – Aug 1 – On this episode of Recode Decode, Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about how her company became dominant in online dating. Ginsberg also talks about Facebook dating and her admiration for Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe, even as the two companies have traded lawsuits and barbed words in the press, and why it's natural for consumers of different ages to use different apps.
Q: When Facebook announced its entry into online dating, what was going through your mind? Were you surprised?
A: Yes, that actual day I was. I had just printed the script for our earning call and I threw it behind my desk, I just tossed it. It was not shocking because we've studied the single population and people were saying that they met their partners through Facebook. But it was surprising because Facebook has stayed away from online dating quite intentionally.
Q: Lets talk about Bumble. Where do you stand now?
A: I have a tremendous amount of respect for the brand and what Bumble has done and what Whitney has done. But we own a patent around swiping and unlocking communication, which we are really excited about. We never had that before. And honestly, you don't use a patent unless you feel that it's defensible because it's expensive, and it takes a long time. So anyway, we scoured, looked at all the competition. There were several competitors that were big that were infringing on the patent. And so we made a decision to go after Bumble, Tantan and some other ones too that we've actually sent letters to as well, that they've now adjusted their products or are in talks with us.
Q: What's the thinking when you are talking to a company about a potential acquisition and then you sue them?
A: Businesses and deals will come and go. This is about protecting the integrity of your work.
Tinder Vs. Bumble
DMAGAZINE – Aug 1 – Tinder and Bumble filed dueling lawsuits recently accusing each other of being copycats, among many other things. Tinder claims the fight is just business. But for Whitney Wolfe-Herd, the founder and CEO of Bumble, it's a story of deceit, betrayal, mad lust, and more generally the plight of women in business as victims of aggressive male domination. The similarities are what Match Group and Tinder are complaining about in the patent and trademark infringement suit filed by Match Group on March 16, 2018. Match Group has a 2014 registered trademark on the word "swipe" as used in "software for social introduction and dating services," as well as a utility patent for a "method for profile matching," and a design patent covering a flashcard-type graphical user interface for mobile devices. On March 28, 2018 – only 12 days after Match Group filed its suit – Bumble filed a separate lawsuit against Match Group with allegations that make the dispute sound personal. Bumble alleges that Match Group tried to buy Bumble for $450M in June 2017, which Bumble rejected as "unappealing." When Wolfe-Herd graced the cover of Forbes' "30 Under 30" issue in Dec 2017, Forbes said Match Group had made another proposal that fall which valued Bumble at $1B – again rejected. In its lawsuit, Bumble alleges that Match Group was asking Bumble to reveal its most valuable secrets so that Match Group could make another, higher, offer. Immediately after Bumble shared those secrets, Match Group filed its infringement lawsuit. Bumble's current pleading goes on to argue that Match Group is the real copycat: After Bumble launched its "Bumble Boost" feature in 2016, Tinder copied that with "Tinder Gold" in 2017. Then in February 2018, Match announced that Tinder will let female users choose whether only they can initiate conversations with future matches.
by Steve Thomas
See full article a DMagazine
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Reasons Why L.A. Is The Perfect Market For Dating App Launches
