LOS ANGELES TIMES – Aug 20 – Last fall, Match Group hired Tracey Breeden to lead safety and social advocacy. Her job is to coordinate safety efforts across the company's vast app empire and find organizations to cut down on in-app harassment and off-the-app violence. That led to her spearheading the background check partnership; bringing in a domestic violence prevention group to review the way harassment is supported and advising on Tinder features like "Are You Sure?" (a warning for out-of-pocket messages); the ability to block contacts; and plans to introduce optional ID verification next year. According to an Oct 2019 Pew Research Center survey, 57% of women on dating apps ages 18 to 34 said someone had sent them a sexually explicit image or message they didn't ask for, 44% said they've been called an offensive name and 19% said someone had threatened to physically harm them. Match Group's data shows that "Are You Sure" has helped reduce inappropriate messages by 10%. Breeden's biggest push at Match Group has been the partnership between Tinder and Garbo, a nonprofit background check company. Under the deal, Match Group made a "seven-figure" investment in Garbo to get it ready. Beta testing starts this fall; users will have the option to pay less than the cost of "a cup of coffee" to run checks on potential dates, she said.
Month: August 2021
Oasis Consortium Launches to Rebuild Trust in the Internet
BUSINESSWIRE – Aug 20 – The Oasis Consortium, an organization of thought leaders across social media, gaming, and dating created to accelerate the development of an ethical Internet, formally launched today. Oasis aims to redefine trust in the Internet through a Digital Sustainability Model that focuses on three key pillars: safety, privacy, and inclusion. Leaders from Agora, dentsu, Fandom, Kuaishou Technologies, The Meet Group, Pandora, Riot Games, Roblox, Wildlife Studios, and others have joined the movement. Oasis Consortium's first objective is to launch User Safety Standards by Q4 2021. Guided by the foundational O.A.S.I.S. principles – Openness, Accountability, Security, Innovation, and Sustainability – these User Safety Standards will help organizations avoid ethical pitfalls and chart a sustainable course as their businesses become more deeply involved with the web.
Entwine Dating App Sets Sexual Boundaries Before First Date
DAILY HERALD – Aug 20 – Entwine is a new dating app for people who can't have, or don't want, sexual intercourse. "Right away, it says intercourse isn't going to happen," says the app's founder Anna Leonarda, who was inspired by her own situation. Leonarda emphasizes that removing one club from a couple's sexual golf bag doesn't mean they can't be intimate. "People want companionship and intimacy. We deserve that as well," she says, noting there are seemingly endless ways to share intimacy and sexual activities without intercourse. "Intimacy doesn't have to be sex."
Meet the Former Match.com Director Turned Old-School Setup Evangelist
VANITY FAIR – Aug 20 – On her podcast, Paired by the People, Lakshmi Rengarajan reframes the setup as the more intentional analogue to dating apps. Having released six episodes since its inception in September, Paired is like a social-experiment capsule collection where Rengarajan takes her seven years of experience in the dating industry to set people up. Lakshmi was Match.com's director of event design for two years, and then worked on Match, ourtime.com, blackpeoplemeet.com, and helped launch the app BLK. She had always been interested very specifically in the art of the setup. Not matchmaking. "The matchmaking industry is a whole other beast and actually quite predatory. I was very interested in people who set people up without any kind of monetary incentive," she says. Each episode of Paired starts by introducing the listener to an existing couple, and they're the ones who go through candidate profiles and discuss who to set up.
Tinder’s $24M Deal to End Age Discrimination Suit Undone
BLOOMBERG LAW – Aug 18 – Tinder's settlement to end a class action over its practice of charging people age 30+ almost twice as much for premium subscriptions has come undone, after the Ninth Circuit said Tuesday that the $24M deal undervalued the strength of class members' claims. The pre-certification class settlement provided ~240K members with $50 worth of "Super Likes" automatically. Super Likes allow users to indicate "heightened interest" in one another and can be purchased for $1 each. Members who submitted claims also stood to receive their choice of $25 in cash; 25 Super Likes, for members with an active account; or a free one-month subscription, for members who no longer subscribe. Tinder also agreed to stop charging people different prices based on age, but with respect to California subscribers only and while reserving the right to offer a discount to subscribers 21 and younger.
by Holly Barker
See full article at Bloomberg Law
Majority of Gen Z on Tinder Feel Future of Dating ‘Fluid’
SOCIAL NEWS – Aug 18 – Tinder's Future of Dating report, based on a survey of 2K singles in India, offers insights into the next decade of dating based on behavioural shifts observed during the pandemic. The report reveals 62% of singles aren't looking for a committed relationship and prefer friendship with romantic potential or casual dating. During the pandemic, the app saw 11% more swipes and 42% more matches per Tinder member. The top reasons to swipe were 'making new connections', 'finding friends in their communities', and 'looking for fun hangout buddies'.
Spark Networks’ Q2 Results
PR NEWSWIRE – Aug 17 – Spark recorded Q2 revenue of $55.3M, down $1.2M from Q2 '20, ARPU increased to $20.96. The decrease in Revenue was attributable to the 3% decrease in the number of average paying subscribers. Net Loss was $50.4M. "During the Q2 2021, we entered the social discovery space with the launch of our livestreaming service, Zoosk Live!", said Eric Eichmann, CEO of Spark Networks. Spark currently expects full year 2021 revenue to be in the range of $219M to $223M and its full year 2021 Adjusted EBITDA range to be between $27M to $30M.
Can Evolutionary Theory Be Used to Understand Online Dating Abuse?
FORBES – Aug 17 – A new study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence explores why people engage in abusive behavior on online dating sites and apps. The answer, according to the researchers, has to do with two well-known evolutionary phenomena: mate value discrepancy, or the difference in resource value between oneself and one's romantic partner, and intrasexual competition, or the rivalry that occurs between individuals for potential mates. Partners who feel as though they are less "valuable" than their romantic partner and those who view dating as highly competitive are more likely to do things like monitor a partner's whereabouts online, delete ex-romantic partners on social media, post embarrassing comments or photographs relating to a partner or ex-partner, and threaten a partner online. A recent Pew Research survey found that only half of Americans viewed online dating as safe. Industry insiders are also worried about user safety; a recent study by RealMe, an online reputation platform dedicated to cultivating safety and trust, found that 80% of dating insiders admitted to seeing an increase in scamming, catfishing, and other bad faith actions over the past year and that two-thirds said their users are asking for more protection, especially female users.
Grindr Sued for Failing to Keep Kids off Site
PATCH.COM – Aug 17 – A Grindr user is suing the app for failing to restrict his access as a minor and allowing him to meet the Brooklyn gynecologist who allegedly abused him sexually, court records show. John Doe filed suit Monday in Brooklyn's Federal Court against Grindr and Dr. Aaron Weinreb, who was arrested in 2019 on charges he'd had sex with a 14-year-old boy. The suit does not seek to hold Grindr liable for Weinreb's access to the app, but John Doe's, arguing its easily-circumnavigated age restrictions don't do enough to protect children from predators.
Plenty Of Fish Announces “Plenty Of Pets” Campaign
PR NEWSWIRE – Aug 17 – Plenty of Fish launches new "Plenty of Pets" campaign to feature exclusive livestreaming pet content, including a performance by Moshow (The Cat Rapper), who was featured on an episode of the Netflix show, "Cat People," and a commitment by Plenty of Fish to donate $50K to the lifesaving nonprofit Petco Love. According to a recent Plenty of Fish survey, 97% of single pet owners in the U.S. believe that pets are a part of their family. 49% of singles see owning a pet as a turn-on, and most singles (52%) say it's sexiest when someone has adopted their pet vs. purchased from a breeder.