DIGITAL JOURNAL – Sep 21 – MeetPositives is designed to help singles who are STD positive avoid the embarrassment and possible rejection because of their condition. All personal information remains private until that particular person decides to share it with someone else.
Month: September 2018
Bumble Serves Countersuit To Match Group, Says It’s Pursuing An IPO
TECH CRUNCH – Sep 24 – Bumble is officially serving the papers in the suit against Match Group. Bumble had said in March it was filing a suit of $400M against Match Group for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets, following Match’s suit filed only weeks before, which had claimed patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. Bumble and Match Group had tried to come to some sort of settlement over the months since the lawsuits were filed. But with court papers now being served, it appears that’s not going to be the case. In terms of how this suit will impact Bumble, Wolfe said, “we’re focused on our growth. We’re focused on ending misogyny, and we’re actively pursuing an IPO.”
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Reasons Not To Trust Facebook To Play Cupid
TECH CRUNCH – Sep 21 – Facebook getting into dating looks very much like a mid-life crisis – as a veteran social network desperately seeks a new strategy to stay relevant. Facebook is starting its dating experiment in Colombia, as its beta market. Its take on dating looks a lot more ‘marriage material’ than ‘casual encounters’. Though products don’t always pan out how their makers intend. The question is whether any sensible person should be letting Mark Zuckerberg fire cupid’s arrows on their behalf? Here are just a few reasons why we think you should stay as far away from Facebook’s dalliance with dating as you possibly can…
- It’s yet another cynical data grab. Facebook’s ad-targeting business model relies on users data to exist.
- Facebook’s history of privacy hostility shows it simply can’t be trusted.
- Singles already have amazingly diverse app choice.
- Facebook claims it has the algorithmic expertise but there’s no algorithmic formula to determine what makes one person click with another.
- Dating takes resource and focus away from problems Facebook should actually be fixing.
- By getting involved with dating, Facebook is mixing separate social streams.
by Natasha Lomas
See full article at Tech Crunch
Women Across The US Are Spending Thousands On Dating Coaches
BUSINESS INSIDER – Sep 24 – In cities across the US, a growing number of successful women in their 30s are hiring dating coaches to help them find long-term relationships. Both coaches and clients say the goal isn't to find the perfect person right away, but to learn the skills to find and maintain a healthy partnership. These coaches charge anywhere from $1,800 to $18K for different types of services. Damona Hoffman is a certified dating coach and host of the Dates and Mates podcast in Los Angeles. ~70% of her clients are women, typically high earners and feeling the pressure of society. By contrast, the men tend to be less career-focused and haven't developed the skills to approach or flirt with women. Evan Marc Katz is one of the first dating coaches to market himself as such (he started coaching in 2004). Katz, who works exclusively with women, said those who reach out to him are typically at a breaking point. They don't know what's wrong with them and they're afraid of being alone forever. Katz teaches every client the "2-2-2" rule: Exchange two messages on the dating site, exchange two emails, and then have two phone calls before a first date. "It specifically teaches people to avoid becoming part of some guy's texting harem," he said.
Tinder CEO: I’m Not Worried About Facebook’s Dating App
YAHOO FINANCE – Sep 20 – Tinder CEO Elie Seidman is not worried about Facebook competing with Tinder. He thinks the social network will serve a different audience than Tinder.
Whitney Wolfe Herd Has Big Plans For Bumble In 2019
MARIE CLAIRE – Sep 20 – Bumble is a relationships platform with ~35M users globally that is already in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and Latin America. The app is launching in India this fall. Bumble BFF, a feature to connect with new friends, recently crossed 3M users. Bumble is countersuing Match Group, which owns Tinder, for $400M. (The legal back-and-forth started last February, after Match reportedly said it was interested in acquiring Bumble, which opened its books. When Bumble turned down Match's acquisition offer, Match sued for alleged intellectual-property infringement.) Wolfe Herd joined Imagine Entertainment's board of directors in July, and in August, Bumble launched Bumble Fund, a venture-capital arm that invests in women-led businesses. And now, Bumble is getting into the beauty game. Bumble has spent several months working with psychotherapists and dermatologists to make serums that simultaneously solve skin and, according to the company, emotional issues. In mid- to late-2019, Bumble will launch two serums with quirky names, like Break Up With Bad, the line's facial oil for "breakups and breakouts."
by Daphne Beal
See full article at Marie Claire
Tinder CEO: Online Dating Now Is Like Going From A Soviet-era Supermarket To Amazon
YAHOO FINANCE – Sep 20 – Tinder CEO Elie Seidman explains the benefits of online dating, both for millennial’s who are just starting their romantic lives and for users over 40 who are leaving old relationships and starting new ones.
Swiping On Tinder Is Addictive
RECODE.NET – Sep 19 – Journalist Nancy Jo Sales talks about the gamification of dating and her new HBO documentary “Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age“. In the documentary, Tinder CSO Jonathan Badeen told Sales that he was partly inspired by college psychology classes, in which he had studied the work of B.F. Skinner. In one of Skinner’s experiments, he conditioned hungry pigeons to believe that food, which was actually being delivered at random times, was prompted by random pecking. So, the pigeons began pecking more often in certain ways, in the hopes of getting more food. “That’s the whole swiping mechanism,” Sales said. “You swipe, you might get a match, you might not. And then you’re just like excited to play the game.”
Facebook Dating Is Launching In Colombia
by Josh Constine
See full article at Tech Crunch
Bangalore-based Relationship App GoGaga Selected For Facebook’s FbStart Program
INDIANWEB2 – Sep 20 – GoGaga was launched in 2018 and is a mobile-only dating app. FbStart is a program built by Facebook to help mobile startups succeed. They offer free tools and services once accepted, that helps the brand build and grow its mobile app. Plus, the brand gets year round mentorship from the Facebook team. GoGaga developers have become eligible to receive up to $40K in free tools and services from Facebook and dozens of partners – including Amazon, UserTesting, NameCheap, Animoto, Zendesk and AngelList, among others.