Month: October 2019
Interview With BHOC Director Dan Wohlfeiler
OPW INTERVIEW – Oct 29 – TellYourPartner.org is a new STD prevention tool launched by Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC). It allows users to anonymously text or email a sexual partner that they might be at risk of an STD. We have interviewed BHOC director Dan Wohlfeiler about how dating apps can help stop the spread of record high STD infections among their users.
What dating apps have signed up to assist?
Grindr includes the link to TYP in its sexual health FAQs. Daddyhunt is currently designing new reminders to get regular sexual health check-ups, and what tests those should include. GROWLr, Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Daddyhunt have incorporated suggestions on profile design related to sexual health options.
How are they working with TYP, and BHOC?
BHOC works closely with apps to help customize HIV and STD prevention strategies. We've worked with them to design profile options that help users exchange information about whether or not they are taking Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), have an undetectable viral load, and/or prefer to use condoms. This helps users make informed choices, and importantly, promotes norms about taking active steps to promote sexual health. BHOC has worked with apps to help users sign up for automatic testing reminders at their choice of three or six-month intervals. Based on app owners' requests, BHOC also developed an extensive sexual health information resource guide, and continues to update it regularly. We've also worked with apps to help inform users about outbreaks. We're also partnering closely with Grindr to promote home-based testing. We have also partnered with apps to produce public service announcements, and are developing a clearinghouse of campaigns for public health organizations to share. This will reduce their need to invest in developing new creative, freeing up more funds for ad placement.
What would you like to see dating apps support TYP and BHOC?
One key strategy is to regularly and consistently promote getting tested, and let people know about TYP and the other resources that BHOC has available. Our research shows that app users look favorably on apps that take proactive steps to support their health, so it's a win-win for the industry and for public health. Profiles should have options to enable users to exchange clear information about sexual health strategies. Dating apps can also show support by promoting our digital anti-stigma campaign, NiceAF.org, and by offering discounted ads for public health departments and non-profit organizations, all of which have extremely limited budgets.
How is BHOC funded at this stage?
BHOC has been funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Google, Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, and private donations. Additionally, our public health partners and apps have dedicated considerable time and energy in helping obtain and provide input from their members and users that guide our work. We're particularly grateful to those apps that have made changes in their platforms, such as profile options and testing reminders. They serve a life-saving role in the same way as banking curves on a freeway reduces automobile accidents. Once they're in place, they provide a huge benefit to the health of the entire community.
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The Success of Tinder’s Swipe Night
CNN BUSINESS – Oct 23 – "Swipe Night" is Tinder's first foray in original content. This month, Tinder released a four-part, short-form video series with a few twists. New episodes were released every Sunday in October, but were available only for six hours, from 6 p.m. to midnight local time, exclusively on the Tinder app in the US. The episodes were interactive. Users were asked to swipe left or swipe right to make a choice, which then affects the rest of the story. Third, those decisions then determined who they matched with on Tinder in the future. The purpose of "Swipe Night" was to create a discussion among Tinder users. And it worked. Total matches on Tinder jumped 26% compared to a typical Sunday night, and messages increased 12%. Given the engagement it received in the US release, Tinder is planning an international rollout of the series in February 2020.
Coffee Meets Bagel – 5M Matches and 166% Revenue Growth
SF BUSINESS TIMES – Oct 23 – Dawoon Kang trusts her dating app so much that her last two long-term relationships were people she met on her own site. Kang is co-founder and co-CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel, a San Francisco-based dating site company she started with her sisters Arum Kang and Soo Kang in 2012. The app has recently celebrated 50M match milestone, and saw 166% revenue growth between 2016 and 2018. To help build on the company's momentum, Coffee Meets Bagel this year hired a CFO, who is an alumni of Zynga and OpenTable; a CTO, who was formerly of Hearsay Systems; and a vice president of analytics who spent time at Lyft and Facebook. One of the app's most valued subscription features is an analytics report on users' matches. The report allows them to see their potential dates' response rates, match rates and tendency to start a conversation. They also let users know if a match has read their message and whether there might be a connection before choosing to start a conversation. Coffee Meets Bagel ditches the traditional swiping model.
Charly Lester, The Founder of Lumen Shares Her Secrets
BBC – Oct 23 – Entrepreneur Charly Lester launched a dating app for the over-50s. "Quite often I get asked why I am doing this when I am in my thirties, but you don't need to be in the target audience to understand what they need and launch a solution", she says.
MillionaireMatch Allows Certified Millionaires to Hide Their Faces
PR NEWSWIRE – Oct 22 – MillionaireMatch announced that certified millionaires are now allowed to hide their faces on its site and instead use pictures of their luxury assets as their profile images. Certified millionaires are no longer required to take a clear headshot as their profile photos, which can further safeguard their privacy online. On MillionaireMatch, users need to provide proof of annual income of ~$150K or a bank statement with a balance of $1M, before MillionaireMatch issues certificate badges to indicate that they are certified millionaires.
Bumble India and Safetipin Partners to Make Urban Spaces Safer for Women
YOUR STORY – Oct 23 – Bumble aims to raise $15K in support of Safetipin, an online data collection platform striving for women's safety, to help create safe urban spaces for women across the country. Bumble plans to raise money from every match made on the platform's three modes for networking – Bizz, Date, and BFF. Safetipin, founded by Kalpana Vishwanath, is a crowdsourced app that allows users to check the safety of a location.