NDTV – Dec 6 – In her first interview since her wedding with American singer Nick Jonas, Priyanka Chopra spoke about her investment in dating app Bumble. Calling herself a "tech fan" and someone who loves doing things "out of the box", Priyanka said that she thought that the app would be an "incredible platform" for women.
Month: December 2018
Match Group’s Payroll Audit: Female Employees Are 100% Equally Paid
BUSINESS INSIDER – Dec 4 – When Mandy Ginsberg took over as CEO of Match Group she vowed to make sure the company was welcoming to women. And one step she made was to audit the salaries of her own workforce, which is now 1,500 people, to see if she was paying women and men equally for equal work. She was shocked to discover that her female employees were 100% equally paid, according to the findings by a third-party auditor.
Head of Grindr Sets the Record Straight on His Position on Same Sex Marriage
NYDAILY NEWS – Dec 4 – Grindr president Scott Chen wrote on his Facebook page, "Some think marriage is between a man and a woman. I think so, too, but it's a personal matter." He added, "Some people think the purpose of marriage is to have your own biological children. It's a personal matter, too." The L.A.-based LGBTQ friendly social media page Into quickly seized on Chen's comments, posting that "Into has learned that President of Grindr does not support same-sex marriage, according to deleted social post." Chen acknowledged the post, but claimed his intention was to argue against those who oppose same-sex marriage in Taiwan, where he was educated and served in the military.
by Brian Niemietz
See full article at NY Daily News
Dating App for Trump Supporters Says It Will Sue Liberals Who Try to Join
THE HILL – Dec 4 – Christy Edwards Lawton, founder of the app Righter, said that her legal team is prepared to file lawsuits against leftists who try to infiltrate the platform after it launches later this month. Lawton, a former banker from Wyoming, said she was inspired to create Righter after hearing stories of conservative women being rejected on mainstream platforms because of their political beliefs. Righter is not the only dating app geared toward conservatives. DonaldDaters launched in October for Trump supporters but faced backlash after it leaked its entire database of users on its first day. The site is marketed toward Trump backers but said everyone was welcome.
by Morgan Gstalter
See full article at The Hill
Interview with Volkan, CEO of Waplog
OPW INTERVIEW – Dec 6 – Waplog sees 7-9 million visits a month on its website and is in the top 100 social apps on both Android and iPhone in various countries around the world. Waplog has been around since 2008! It started out as a social network and moved into dating. Here's our first interview with the CEO Volkan Yazicioglu. – Mark Brooks
What inspired you to create Waplog?
The idea of Waplog came to us in 2008. At the time Facebook was very popular but it was not heavily used on mobile devices. We wanted to be a social network site too but for mobile users. Later, as our users were excited about meeting new people, we slid into the dating industry.
What does Waplog mean, is there a story behind the name?
The 'Waplog' name comes from the word WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) meaning the Internet for old generation phones. We thought about changing our name after the rise of smartphones. However, the users who were switching to smartphones were finding us on Play Store and the App Store by searching Waplog. When we published our Android app back in 2011, we got 1 million installs in one month. For this wide brand awareness, we decided not to change our name.
How had Waplog's video stories feature helped users connect?
Users may not upload videos right from their phones. The stories have to be taken at that moment by the phone's camera, for a duration of 5-20 seconds. Thus, they prove they are not a fake profile. Making it an automatic, easy, and fun way to verify yourself. With this feature, we believe we are making both our male and female users happy.
What can user do with coins in the app?
By purchasing coins you can send gifts to people you want to be friends with and get ahead of everyone else. If the other person does not accept your gift, your coins are added back to your account. So our users can always be sure their gifts are not ever lost in the void. Another use of coins is that users can use to unlock locked stories. Not all stories are created equal so users have the option to lock their stories if they want to.
What are the benefits of a premium membership?
Users who become a VIP member on Waplog can shut off ads, send unlimited messages, be the first to message the new and/or most popular users and be seen on top of the discover and suggestion screens.
Where in the world is Waplog gaining popularity?
We have users all over the world. The top countries we are most popular are; Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, USA, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Italy.
What does success look like for a Waplog user?
We receive lots of feedback from our users. Even on Apple Store and Play Store, we receive comments as "We got married thanks to Waplog" or "I finally have a girlfriend, thank you". These types of comments and feedbacks make us extremely happy and excited. Reading such comments, we know we are doing something good. We publish such success stories on our blog. And of course, we take complaints and user suggestions very seriously and use them to guide us make Waplog a better place to find love and friendship.
Match Group CEO Talks About the Changing Dating Scene at IGNITION 2018
BUSINESS INSIDER – Dec 4 – Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg was interviewed at Business Insider's IGNITION 2018, where she discussed the changing scene of online dating and the tech industry's "bro culture." Ginsberg said that the online dating industry is "fiercely competitive". Ginsberg has taken steps within her own company to ensure she's treating women equally to men in the male-dominated tech industry. Tinder has grown to 300 employees working solely on the app. Match Group as a whole has ~1k employees, a large workforce in which Ginsberg has advocated gender equality and representation. She has recently ordered an audit of Match Group to ensure male and female employees were being paid equally for the same work. The auditors found her employees were paid equally.
About EastMeetEast’s Controversial Billboard Ad
by Wei Tchou
See full article at GQ
Scruff CEO: The Real Issue with Grindr Is Way Bigger Than Gay Marriage
OUT.COM – Dec 3 – President of Grindr, Scott Chen created a Facebook post where he defined marriage as a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman." Here is an interview with Scruff CEO Eric Silverberg.
Q: How you felt when the news surfaced about the President of Grindr's remarks on gay marriage?
A: It's very disappointing. As a private citizen, you certainly have your right to your private beliefs, but when a leader in the gay community says these things, they're disrespecting the decades-long work of marriage equality activists.
Q: What do you know about the owners of Grindr?
A: I know that today, Grindr is entirely owned by a Chinese company. I think what this whole incident shines a light on is just how important the identity and personal beliefs of the tech company leaders really are in 2018. That's why I'm proud that Scruff is a gay-owned business.
Q: Tell me more about how Scruff pursues a business model.
A: Some tech executives don't use the products that they're building. We here at Scruff absolutely do. That manifested in the decision we made this year to get rid of all programmatic advertising, and to forgo any kind of data integration with Facebook.
Q: Can you explain what programmatic advertising is?
A: Any time you see a banner ad in an app, your data — be it your location, your sexuality, or the app you're on — is shuttled out of the app and into something that resembles a stock exchange. In that instant, you have advertisers who are bidding on that impression. The issue now is that data doesn't just stop with the advertisers anymore.
Q: Do you believe the claims that Grindr won't allow advertisers to receive access to users' HIV statuses?
A: I think we should look at their history of decision-making. People have very good reason to be deeply skeptical.
Q: Why is Grindr so big?
A: They were simply first to market.
Q: What are your hopes for Scruff, especially in the wake of these revelations about Grindr's president?
A: My hopes for the gay community are that people become more aware of the apps that they use, and really hold their companies and their leaders to the standards that they always should've been held to.
by Phillip Picardi
See full article at Out.com
IAC’s CEO Joey Levin: Winning Is a Long Term Game
BUSINESS INSIDER – Dec 4 – "Whatever we operate, we own forever," said IAC CEO Joey Levin in an interview with Business Insider, meaning IAC evaluates its businesses like it'll own them forever, instead of treating them on fixed timelines. Companies are often put on short-term timelines to measure their success, but Joey Levin says his company has ditched this type of evaluation when it comes to the businesses it owns.
Coaching Service Relationship Hero Raised $2M
BUSINESS INSIDER – Dec 3 – Relationship Hero is an on-demand coaching service that provides customers with dating and relationship advice. Users can call, text, or chat one of the company's 70-full time coaches at any time of day. The company raised a $2M seed round led by Foundation Capital, Village Global, and Shrug Capital.
by Nick Bastone
See full article at Business Insider
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