Month: April 2019

Internet Dating Conferences in 2019

Posted on April 30, 2019

Calendar of eventsOPW – Apr 30 – I was just asked about the lineup of dating conferences for 2019. Here's an overview of what I see that looks interesting for you as dating industry leaders…

May 14th – GDI Asian Dating Conference – Singapore – £250
Sendbird, Scamalytics and Dating Group are sponsoring this one day event in Singapore. Leaders from Paktor, Pairs, The Meet Group, Matrimony and Spark Networks will be speaking.

May 15-16th – Global Love Conference – Singapore – $295
This conference will be more matchmaking focused. Leaders from Viola.ai / Lunch Actually, 2 Red Beans, Paktor, and the Matchmaking Institute will be speaking. (Here's a feel good $50 discount code 50OFFSG)

May 23rd-24th – iDate PID – Kiev – €390
PID stands for Premium International Dating. A term I coined to rename the mail-order brides industry to something more modern. This event is for anyone in, or interested in the PID sub-sector of the dating industry.

June 13th – GDI Dating Conference – L.A. – $249.99
Sendbird, Censio and Google are sponsoring this one day event in L.A. Hine, The Meet Group, Chappy, are speaking. Along with Thinknum, DIG (a dating app for dog-lovers) and Righter (for the politically conservative) are speaking.

Nov 15th-18th – Matchmakers Alliance Conference & Retreat – Utah – $300
This is for established matchmakers to compare notes, discuss key issues and grow their businesses and the matchmaking industry reputation. A not-for-profit conference and retreat led by Maria Avgitidis.

Beyond that there are a couple of small by-invitation-only IDEA SUMMIT events that I'll be hosting in August in U.S.A. and November in Europe.

And that's your year of events in the dating industry, so far, as far as I can see. What have I missed? Please email me at mark@courtlandbrooks.com.

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Dating App Tantan Removed From Android App Stores

Posted on April 30, 2019

Tantan logo 2017TECHNODE – Apr 29 – Chinese dating app Tantan has been taken down from major Android app stores. As of Monday morning it was still available on Apple's App Store as well as on smartphone brand Xiaomi's Mi Store. Tantan stated that the takedown was due to "violations," and that the company would work to rectify the issues. In February 2018, Tantan was acquired by its larger competitor Momo in a $600M buyout.

by Bailey Hu
See full article at Technode

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Scammers Use Dating Apps to Fleece Millions From Aussie Women

Posted on April 30, 2019

Scam picCANSTAR – Apr 29 – ~118K Aussies were swindled out of $107M in 2018, marking a new record in the amount of financial loss reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Scamwatch website and phone helpline in one year. It is also an 18% increase over the $90.9M in financial loss Scamwatch reported in 2017. Dating and romance scams were the second most financially damaging with losses of $24.6M. Women reported losing most to dating and romance scams with $19.5M in losses, while men were most affected by investment scams, reporting losses of $29.1M.

by Petrina Berry
See full article at Canstar

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POF Founder Markus Frind Sets His Sights on B.C. Wine Industry

Posted on April 30, 2019

Markus frind vineryTHE GLOBE AND MAIL – Apr 29 – Markus Frind sold POF for $575M in 2015 and is now establishing his Frind Estate Winery in the Okanagan region. With famed winemaker Eric von Krosigk – co-founder of Summerhill Estate Winery and winner of 300 wine medals – overseeing the operation, the business is set to bottle its first product in May. It will start selling in June at its production facility, located on the 13-acre West Kelowna lakeside estate once owned by former premiers W.A.C. Bennett and son Bill Bennett that Mr. Frind purchased for $7.2M in 2017. B.C. has 280 wineries and the provincial industry is dominated by three giants: VMF Estates, Arterra Wines Canada, and publicly traded Andrew Peller. But Mr. Frind maintains his business "will be a serious winery, one of the biggest in B.C." Central to Mr. Frind's plan is turning 300 acres of hilly grazing land in Kelowna into terrain suitable for vineyards. With no water on site and no opportunity under provincial law to subdivide for development, the land sat on the market for years before he bought it for $3.7M in Sep, 2017.

by Sean Silcoff
See full article at The Globe and Mail

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New Tool Shows How Facebook and Google Track You

Posted on April 29, 2019

Vpnmentor iconFOX NEWS – Apr 29 – A new free toll, called vpnMentor, shows how Facebook, Google, Instagram and other apps track you, right down to your device's battery level and email you've sent. The majority of companies tracked users current location at all times when using the app. Major dating sites will share your data with affiliated dating sites, vpnMentor added, noting some also have access to your private messages to potential suitors. There are exceptions, though. Happn states that it does not keep track of users movements. "Instead, it only keeps track of when members are in close proximity and where they were when they crossed paths with another user," vpnMentor added.

by Brooke Crothers
See full article at Fox News

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New Campaign to Use Dating Apps to Get Young People Registering to Vote

Posted on April 27, 2019

Give a xxxxTHE NEW EUROPEAN – Apr 26 – A new non-partisan campaign (Vote For Your Future) aiming to get young people registering to vote is set to use dating and social networking platforms to boost turnout at the European elections. Using platforms such as Bumble, the campaign hopes to achieve 15-20M views of its content before the EU elections are held on May 23.

by Sabrina Johnson
See full article at The New European

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Mixing Chatroulette With Tinder – the Future of Online Dating?

Posted on April 26, 2019

Jiayuan logo 2019GIZMODO – Apr 26 – Dating platforms in China are starting to experiment with livestream. China's biggest Internet dating site Jiayuan first started offering video streaming in January. First, a user would start a streaming session with a set topic, then wait for a second user to join. Then if someone wanted to talk to that host, they would request to join. If the request was accepted, then the two could video chat. That conversation would then broadcast live for other users to watch and comment. There were a lot of empty rooms. So the company added third party emcees to serve as matchmaker hosts. It also created a karaoke feature. Since then, two other major dating platforms – Baihehunlian and Zhenai – also added livestream features. Americans have been swiping left and right for more than five years now and are collectively ready for a different online dating experience.

by Jennings Brown
See full article at Gizmondo

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Online Dating Is Safest in New England, Most Dangerous in Alaska

Posted on April 26, 2019

PCMAG – Apr 25 – According to a new report from HighSpeedInternet.com, some states are a lot safer for online dating than others. The results were compiled by looking at 2017 FBI Internet Crime reports, the CDC's "Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2017" report, and the "Sex and HIV Education" report from the Guttmacher Institute. Vermont emerges as the safest state for online dating. Following Vermont closely are other New England states. Alaska, apparently is most dangerous state when it comes to online dating. Anchorage is one of the most dangerous cities, where anyone—not only daters—has a 1 in 82 chance of being a victim of a violent crime.

The-safest-and-most-dangers-states-for-online-dating-2019by Eric Griffith
See full article at PCMag

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Badoo & Bumble’s “Private Detector” Uses AI to Detect Dick Pics

Posted on April 26, 2019

Bumble private detectorTECH CRUNCH – Apr 25 – "Private Detector" feature will identify inappropriate photos and label them as such in chat, giving users the option to view the photo or report the user. Badoo CEO Andrey Andreev opted to have his team build the tech in-house. The company claims 98% accuracy. This feature fits into something Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd has been promoting – safe online dating for women with less harassment. Wolfe Herd has started approaching the issue of unsolicited illicit photos from a legislative track as well. She has been working with the Texas state legislature to pass a bill that makes it illegal to send clearly unsolicited lewd photos. The "Private Detector" functionality goes live in June on Bumble as well as on Badoo, Chappy and Lumen.

by Lucas Matney
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Dating App Pickable Promises Anonymity for Women

Posted on April 26, 2019

Pickable iconTECHWORLD – Apr 24 – On a new dating app Pickable, women browse the profiles of men and if they choose to 'like' them then at that point they send a photo. The man then decides whether to accept the request or not. Founder Clémentine Lalande says that this is in the aim of redressing the gender power imbalance in dating apps, and allowing women to wrest back control. Pickable only ask for men's age, location and height, and doesn't store any data for women.

by Laurie Clarke
See full article at Techworld

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