Month: April 2020
COVID-19 Drives Up Use Of Schedule-Based Dating App Flutter
FORBES – Apr 8 – Dating app Flutter is seeing a surge in usage since the emergence of the Coronavirus. Usable for only six hours on a Sunday, Flutter wants its users to schedule, prepare and focus on their online dating. The app works at limited set times, with matches and messages disappearing at midnight. If two would-be daters don't act within the app's six-hour window to establish real contact outside Flutter, the connection is gone. "With the quarantine, we have seen a 23% increase in weekly users, a 53% increase in weekly matches and a 78% increase in weekly messages," says the app co-founder and COO Teddy Jungreis.
Hinge Launches ‘Date From Home’ Feature
MASHABLE – Apr 8 – Hinge is launching "Date From Home," a feature where users can easily tell someone whether they're ready for a virtual date. Hinge recently added a pop-up message to the app, advising its users to date at home. It points out that 70% of its members are down for a "digital date," over a platform like FaceTime or Zoom. While matches are messaging each other, the 'Date from Home' menu will appear and ask if they're ready for a digital date. Responses will remain private until both users are ready, and the feature will notify them. Then it's up to the users to take it from there.
Mark Zuckerberg Matched With His Wife’s Friend While Researching Dating Apps
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 8 – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg matched with one of his wife's friends while researching dating apps, according to a book by BuzzFeed reporter Alex Kantrowitz – "Always Day One: How the Tech Titans Plan to Stay On Top Forever". Since first announcing Facebook Dating at its annual F8 developer conference in 2018, Facebook has launched its dating service in more than 20 countries, including Colombia, Canada, and Thailand.
IDEA Webinar: 5 Leading Dating CEOs: How to Meet People Without Putting Your Health at Risk!
OPW – Apr 7 – This is the 2nd IDEA Webinar. Now you can see as well as hear the participants. In this webinar, five leading online dating CEOs weighed in on some key questions in this very challenging time.
Panelists
~ Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group
~ David Vermeulen, CEO The Inner Circle
~ Gloria Diez, MD of Mamba
~ Adam Cohen-Aslatei, CEO of S'More
~ Christiana Yebra, CEO of Vouch
Questions
– How are you encouraging your users to date safely right now? (4:55)
– Are you experiencing any app growth during the pandemic? Why? (16:30)
– What are your predictions for the dating industry as a whole during the next several months? (25:15)
– Do you think the way people are dating on mobile apps right now will end up changing forever because of this pandemic? In what way? (38mins)
*The Internet Dating Excellence Association exists to help the dating industry grow and deliver on its promise and full potential. See www.IDEA.gp.
The Top Dating Industry News for April 7th
OPW – Apr 7 – Virtual Dating on the Rise, GROWLr Live Video, Match Group Q1 Statement, Q1 Global Consumer app Spend.
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Life Lessons From Paktor’s Co-founder
CNA LIFESTYLE – Apr 5 – As CEO of M17 Entertainment Group, the entrepreneur has led the firm to become the largest live streaming and social entertainment company in Asia. In 2012 Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel launched in the US and Joseph Phua chose to build his own platform that catered to the Asian community. After completing his MBA at University of Chicago in 2013, he returned to Singapore and launched Paktor with his primary school classmate, Ng Jing Shen. Paktor now has 20+ million users across eight Asian markets. In Nov 2019 they acquired live streaming platform MeMe Live. "We connect people in real-time and provide them with entertainment."
S’More Partners With HopeLine
57% of British Singletons Turn to Virtual Dating to Ease Loneliness
HAPPIFUL – Apr 6 – As a recent report from eHarmony details, over half of single Brits are turning to virtual dating. Not only does virtual dating allow users to keep on dating, a quarter of singletons said it gave them the opportunity to cut a date short if it wasn't working out, 'without any real life awkwardness'.
OkCupid: Massive Spikes in Matching, Messaging and Virtual Dates Around the World
OKCUPID BLOG – Apr 6 – Singles are still dating, and because everybody is stuck at home, they have more time to fire up a conversation with someone new. In the past few weeks, OkCupid engagement has exploded. Matches on OkCupid have increased 10%, and conversations have increased ~20%. 51% of users prefer messaging and texting, 26% like video-chatting, 17% are relying on phone calls ad 6% are waiting to date till the pandemic is over.
