July 2022 – Online Personals Watch

Dating News Headlines: BlueCity, Ziinkle

Posted on July 30, 2022

Quick links to today's dating news headlines

Newborn Town to Finish Privatizing LGBTQ Social Networking Platform BlueCity – Pandaily
Aussie Female Founded Dating App Ziinkle Launches Nationwide – Bandt

Tinder Is Bringing Back Desk Mode

Posted on July 29, 2022

CNET – Tinder said it surveyed 1K US online daters between the ages of 18 and 30, and 30% said they'd swiped during a meeting, and 47% said they'd rather match and chat on company time. Tinder said with the rise of hybrid work and a return to the office, Desk Mode could ease the transition.

by Erin Carson
See full article at CNet

See the top news on Tinder

Russian Court Fines Tinder for Data Law Violation

Posted on July 29, 2022

REUTERS – A Russian court fined Match Group 2M roubles ($33K) for an alleged failure to store user data within Russian territory. The fine follows similar steps against WhatsApp and Snapchat.

See full article at Reuters

See the top news on Match Group
See the top news on Tinder

Jigsaw Dating App Focuses on Personality

Posted on July 29, 2022

CULTURE MAP DALLAS – Dubbed the "anti-superficial" dating app, Jigsaw's mission is to provide an alternative to the usual dating app experience. Photos are covered by a digital jigsaw puzzle, which falls away as users message their matches. "Jigsaw was born out of frustration with regular dating apps, where it's all about looks," says Jigsaw's CEO and co-founder Alex Durrant. The company raised $3.7M in 2021 to help it expand into the U.S.

by Teresa Gubbins
See full article at Culture Map Dallas

See the top news on Jigsaw

Zoosk User Waived Right to Class Action in Data Breach Lawsuit

Posted on July 28, 2022

BLOOMBERG LAW – Zoosk customers lost their bid for class certification in their data breach suit when a federal judge in San Francisco found that the lead plaintiff agreed to terms of use that waived her right to represent a class. Juan Flores-Mendez and Tracy Greenamyer sued Zooks following a massive breach in January 2020 in which a group called the "ShinyHunters" stole data from 30M Zoosk users. Zoosk waited 22 days to notify its users of the breach, according to the complaint.

by Samantha Hawkins
See full article at Bloomberg Law

See the top news on Zoosk

This Philly Startup Founder Set out to Create an Anti-ghosting Dating App

Posted on July 28, 2022

TECHNICAL.LY – Earl Knight is launching Not Another Dating App (NADA), where users can swipe on each others’ planned dates. The goal is to get people together in person more quickly. Earl Knight met his fiancé on a dating app. He’d written on his profile that he had tickets to an awards show and asked if someone wanted to go with him. Users can access some aspects of the app for free, but a subscription at $12.99 per month includes access to super likes, access to view all of the users who like your dates, and the ability to message old dates.

by Sarah Huffman
See full article at Technical.ly

Mark Brooks: What does your dating app do to fight ghosting?

How Garbo Performs Background Checks

Posted on July 26, 2022

YAHOO MONEY – Garbo.io Founder and CEO Kathryn Kosmides discusses how the tech company works with dating apps to help users run background checks on matches and potential partners, in addition to talking about the relationship between guns and domestic violence. See the video interview here.

See full article at Yahoo Money

:-( Meta Closes Tuned, Its Social App for Couples

Posted on July 26, 2022

TECH CRUNCH – Tuned (downloaded 909k times) is winding down 2 years after it launched. On Sep 19th the app will cease to work. Tuned was a project under Meta's New Product Experimentation (NPE) Team, which was formed to build consumer apps to test features. Tuned is a way for couples to engage; with messaging, quizzes (sharing feelings), and a Spotify integration. [Other social couple apps are Between and Couply]. The NPE team pivoted to making seed investments. NPE debuted speed dating app Sparked, meme creator Whale, personal project app Hobbi, conversational app Bump, music app Aux, audio calling app CatchUp, collaborative music app Collab, live event companion Venue, and predictions app Forecast. The only apps still available in the U.S. on iOS are Move and BARS.

by Kyle Wiggers
See full article at Tech Crunch

Mark Brooks: What sticks. Nothing? A failed experiment for them? Hardly, they will learn enough to know what to include and not include in other Meta apps, and in VR.

See the top news on Tuned

This post also appears on VerySocialNetwork

Tinder: Women’s Safety Now at the Heart of the App

Posted on July 26, 2022

BBC – Tinder is launching a partnership with campaign group No More, aiming to end domestic violence. "Our safety work is never done," says Tinder's CEO. But charity End Violence Against Women says it is only a "small step" in addressing the disproportionate amount of abuse women experienced online. Ms Nyborg says one of the ways she is addressing those concerns is hiring more women. "There is a difference between knowing something is important and feeling it," she says. Tinder's partnership with No More will educate Tinder members and also the staff.