TECH CRUNCH – Sep 5 – Facebook's dating product is today launching to all in the U.S., promising to leverage the company's deep insight into people's personal data to deliver better matches than Tinder, Bumble, Match and others. With its U.S. arrival, Facebook Dating will now also allow users to integrate their Instagram posts in their dating profile and add their Instagram followers to their "Secret Crush" list, in addition to Facebook friends. For starters, the people users are shown on Facebook Dating will not include your Facebook Friends. Users can also opt to have Facebook Dating only show them people without common friends. Dating is an opt-in experience. Officially, Facebook says that match suggestions are based on "your preferences, interests, and other things you do on Facebook."
Month: September 2019
Tinder Launches New Feature in Brazil, Called Match Time
CANALTECH – Sep 4 – This week, Tinder rolled out a new feature Tinder Time feature in Brazil. Tinder Time notifies users when there is a high activity on the app. According to Tinder, during a peak period the activity within the app goes up 15x, so the chance of scoring a match goes up 250%.
by Nathan Vieira
See full article at Canaltech
Online Matchmaker Love Group Cuts Staff Amid Protests in Hong Kong
STOCKHEAD – Sep 4 – Financial markets are watching closely as the ongoing political crisis in Hong Kong stretches into its third month. As clashes between protestors and police become increasingly violent, many analysts are questioning how it will affect Hong Kong's standing as a trading hub and international finance centre. This has also affected the business of matchmaking. Matchmaking company Love Group had reduced marketing spend and shed some part-time staff, in order to cut costs to match the corresponding decrease in revenue.
M17’s CEO Joseph Phua on Asia’s Diversifying Live Streaming Landscape
KRASIA – Sep 4 – After a botched IPO, M17 is carving out its niche as a B2B live streaming platform. By revenue, BIGO is the biggest live streaming platform in Southeast Asia, followed by VivaVideo, also a China-owned app, and MLive, an Australian-owned app. The fourth is 17, owned by Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based M17 Group. M17 is linked to Southeast Asia because it's the result of a merger between Singaporean dating app Paktor and 17's predecessor.
Q: You started out building a dating app in Singapore. How did you end up as the CEO of a live streaming company based out of Taiwan?
Joseph Phua (JP): When I was single and started using Tinder I wanted to bring the app to Southeast Asia. That's when we built Paktor in 2013. I met my current business partner Jeffrey Huang, in 2014. We were competitors at that time, but in 2015 he stopped working on the dating app and started live streaming. At some point he was going through operational difficulties. One of the investors backed out after signing a binding agreement. I stepped in and we decided to merge 17 and Paktor, and I took over as CEO. M17 and Paktor still operate as standalone apps.
Q: What's the difference between BIGO and M17?
JP: We target mature markets. Our competitors are targeting developing markets with low ARPU so they need a big user base.
Q: You took a hit with the last minute cancellation of the IPO. What happened, and what are your new plans?
JP: We decided to withdraw and now we are looking towards building the business. We expect to make $300M in revenue this year, we're profitable. We have 50M registered users.
Q: Where's live streaming headed next?
JP: You cannot escape live streaming. Online dating was a taboo just a few years ago, now it's normal. Same with live streaming. It's already mainstream and all around us. We're already working with major media corporations.
Facebook Users’ Phone Numbers Found Online
TECH CRUNCH – Sep 5 – The exposed server contained ~419M records over several databases on users across geographies, including 133M records on U.S.-based Facebook users. The server wasn't protected with a password so anyone could find and access the database. Each record contained a user's Facebook ID and the phone number listed on the account. This is the latest security lapse involving Facebook data after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which saw ~80M profiles scraped to help identify swing voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Facebook spokesperson Jay Nancarrow said the data had been scraped before Facebook cut off access to user phone numbers.
Top Dating News – Facebook Dating, (Ask)Match, and Blued’s IPO
OPW – Sep 3 – Here's the top dating news in ~2 minutes. Subscribe to Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) on Youtube (and turn on notifications) or to the podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.
Momo’s Stock Price Likely to Remain Volatile as Growth Slows
GRIZZLE – Sep 3 – Momo released Q2 results last week which were better than expected. The stock price have also received a boost from Zao, the face swapping app which went viral over the weekend. For Q2 revenue grew 32% to $604M, $25M ahead of consensus. But revenue from live streaming video is seeing a dramatic slowdown in growth. This segment grew revenue 18%, vs 32% for the entire company. Value added revenue, which includes virtual gifting, was the main growth driver and increased 169%. Momo faced several challenges, including the temporary suspension in May of the homepage and its Tantan dating app. However, the stock still has a strong following. Going forward, this share is likely to be driven by sentiment more than anything else. As such it may best be treated as a trading stock.
Gay Dating App to Launch a Friend Mode
THE LONDON FREE PRESS – Sep 3 – Chappy, a dating app for gay men, will be launching Friend Mode, a new platonic connection feature that allows users to connect for friendship. A Swedish study of ~13,600 men and women found that having few or no close friends increased the risk of having a first-time heart attack by ~50%.
Momo’s New App ZAO Sparks Mass Downloads and Major Concerns
RADII – Aug 30 – Momo's new face swap app Zao is the hottest thing on the Chinese internet right now. But the app is also raising a host of privacy concerns on Chinese social media. Users take a selfie and put themselves into their favorite movie or soap opera. Zao user agreement states that the app gives Momo global rights to use any imagery created on the app for free. Once a user has opted in, there doesn't seem to be the right to revoke the agreement.
Match.com Goes Beyond Just Setting up the First Date
DALLAS INNOVATES – Aug 30 – Hesam Hosseini, the new CEO at Match.com, talks about Match.com's makeover. He and his team have completely overhauled the app so much that it's unrecognizable from a year ago. Hosseini wants to slow people down, there's a strict no swiping rule on Match, so users have to deliberately spend more than a second on somebody's profile. "Match has never been about quantity. It's always been about quality," he says. "We have to date a little bit smarter, helping people realize what they want and getting them to change their behavior." The app has launched AskMatch, a "dating coach" service that's free and available to all paying members. Users can speak to a highly trained coach over the phone to ask about anything concerning their dating life. AskMatch is currently being introduced across the country.