PRESS RELEASE – Dec 19 – A survey of British men has found they perceive American women as more confident compared to British women. The survey, of 200 British men 25-65 years, was conducted by DateBritishGuys.com, a dating service that introduces and connects British men and American women. The site was launched in 2010 and has ~100K registered users.
Month: December 2019
Why Investors Love the IAC and Match Group Breakup
FORTUNE – Dec 19 – Shares of IAC finished the day up 7%, trading at $237.54. Match Group shares also spiked 7%, closing at $76.76. IAC owns an 80.4% stake in Match, according to a June regulatory filing. Ivan Feinseth, chief investment officer and director of research at Tigress Financial Partners, says Match had simply outgrown the relationship.
267M Facebook Users Reportedly Had Data Exposed Online
ENGADGET – Dec 19 – ~267M Facebook users allegedly had their user IDs, phone numbers and names exposed online, according to a report from Comparitech and security researcher Bob Diachenko. That info was found in a database that could be accessed without a password or any other authentication, and the researchers believe it was gathered as part of an illegal scraping operation or Facebook API abuse.
Majority of Dating App Users Feel Unsafe
OZY.COM – Dec 19 – In the U.K. in the last four years, crimes involving dating apps have doubled in some parts of the country, according to a BBC investigation. And in the U.S., as per a recent survey: 85% of dating app users feel unsafe on these platforms. The online survey conducted by MyLife.com, a reputation management platform, collected information from 1,866 people. Of those who hadn't used a dating app, 37% said it's because they don't feel safe.
UrSafe Automatically Calls 911 or Family
USA TODAY – UrSafe has launches on iOS and Android. It was created by two medical professionals and an Air Force veteran to protect users in almost any assault situation. The app instantly video records the scenario, sends the user's name and location to law enforcement agencies and stores a streamed video of the incident on a designated receiver's smartphone. "The personal safety space has largely been left untouched by innovators despite the fact that our internet-driven lifestyles require us to interact with and meet strangers more than ever," said Anthony Oyogoa, CEO and co-founder of UrSafe. During emergencies, users can access the app hands-free by calling out a predesignated safeword or by holding down an SOS button on the app. The hands-free trigger is programmed to the owner's voice, so no one else can access it.
IAC and Match Group to Become Two Independent Public Companies
PR NEWSWIRE – Dec 19 – IAC and Match Group have entered into a definitive agreement providing for the full separation of Match Group from the remaining businesses of IAC. The agreement has been approved by the Board of Directors of each of IAC and Match Group. The transaction is expected to close in the Q2 of 2020 and it will give IAC shareholders direct ownership of Match Group.
Trending Change.org Petition on Background Checks
OPW – Dec 19 – This trending Change.org petition calls on dating apps to do background checks and outright ban sex offenders. But how can free dating apps do background checks? Even if they did, doesn't it then set up users for a false sense of security. After all, the most dangerous criminal is the one that has not been caught! This is a quandary. Your comments please…
Blindlee Is Chatroulette for Dating With a Safety Screen
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 18 – Blindlee is Chatroulette for dating but with female-friendly guardrails in the form of a user-controlled video blur effect. Singles are matched randomly with another user who meets some basic criteria (age, location) for a three minute 'ice breaker' video call. The app suggests chat topics to get the conversation flowing. After this, each caller chooses whether or not to match – and if both match they can continue to chat via text. The call starts "100% blurred". Female users have control of the level of blur during the call. They can elect to reduce it to 75%, 50%, 25% or nothing if they like what they're (partially) seeing and hearing. The app is a free download for now but the plan is to move to a freemium model (£3-4/month0 with a limit on the number of free video chats per day.
Sugarbook Billboard Ads Removed in Kuala Lumpur
Tencent Launches New ‘Anonymous’ Dating App, Dengyu Jiaoyou
PANDAILY – Dec 17 – Tech giant Tencent has released a video dating app called Dengyu Jiaoyou. The app is only available on third party android stores in China. Tencent has also launched video social chat app Maohu, interest community-based social app Youji, verified user social app Qingliao, and invitation-based social app Pengyou over the past few weeks. The move comes after a decline in daily users and new subscribers onto the popular app, Wechat. Hours spent per month on WeChat fell from 35.4 to 32.4 in a matter of 6 months, from December 2018 – June 2019 according to research company, Quest Mobile. The dismal performance may be attributed to a rising popularity of short-video platforms particularly among Generation Z Internet users.