by Jacob Gershman & Sara Randazzo
See full article at WSJ
See all posts on ChristianMingle
See all posts on Spark Networks
Category: All Gay
Hornet Rolls Out New Features
GAY TIMES – June 8 – While they've promised to keep their traditional grid feature they're also offering up Discover and the Activity Feed. With Discover users can browse guys that have similar interests and use hashtags to make searches more effective, as well as 'New Guys' and 'Who Checked You Out' features.
by Anthony Sinclair
See full article at Gay Times
Blued Now Twice As Big As Grindr
GAY STAR NEWS – Jun 4 – The China-based gay social networking app has announced that it has completed its latest rounds of investor financing and has a value of $300M with 27M registered users. 20% of those are now outside of China. It is one of the most-downloaded social networking apps in App Store. Blued is aiming for a stock market flotation within the next 1-2 years but which stock market it hopes to list on remains unknown.
New Jewish Dating Site To Match Gays With Lesbians
YNETNEWS – May 21 – A new Israeli site is meant for gay and lesbian religious Jews who want to have a 'traditional' Jewish household with somebody of the opposite sex. Thus far, ~50 users have signed up.
by Kobi Nachshoni
See full article at YNetNews
Grindr Promises Privacy, But Still Leaks Users’ Exact Location
WIRED – May 20 – Computer researchers in Kyoto, Japan discovered a stalking method which is cheap, reliable, and works not only with Grindr but other gay dating apps like Hornet and Jack'd. It's known as trilateration. If Grindr or a similar app tells you how far away someone is—even if it doesn't tell you in which direction—you can determine their exact location by combining the distance measurement from three points surrounding them. In the US that's not a problem but in Islamic countries or in Russia, it can be very serious that their information is leaked like that.
In late 2014, Grindr responded to security researchers who pointed out that risk by offering an option to turn off the app's distance-measuring feature, and disabling it by default in countries known to have "a history of violence against the gay community". The lingering issue, however, remains: All three apps still show photos of nearby users in order of proximity.
Grindr Wants Brands To Take It Seriously
How Robyn Exton Grew Popular Lesbian Dating App Her
BBC NEWS – May 9 – When Robyn Exton first launched her dating and social networking app for lesbians and bisexual women in 2013, a lack of cash for advertising meant she'd go to nightclubs armed with bottles of spirits. "I'd go to nightclubs with a bottle of sambuca in one hand, and tequila in the other, and encourage girls to download the app in return for a shot," she says. Her app now has more than one million female users around the world. Her has raised $2.5M in funding, with US investors including Michael Birch, founder of social network Bebo, and Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of news platform Reddit. However, it has yet to make any money. Revenues may finally start to arrive later this year when Her launches a premium version of the app.
China Is The Biggest Gay Dating Market
ADVOCATE – Mar 18 – Earlier this year, the Beijing Kunlun Tech Company bought a majority stake in Grindr. Recently, China banned all TV programming depicting gay and lesbian couples. Yet the Chinese business was "excited" to invest $93M in the app. The world's most popular same-sex matchmaking app is Chinese Blued. Blued alone has ~15M users. "People in China are less open about homosexuality, but the beautiful thing about the smartphone is that it's a private device," said Blued investor David Chao.
by Daniel Reynolds
See full article at Advocate
Grindr Founder Responds To Claim That The App Is Killing Gay Bars
HUFFINGTON POST – Mar 14 – The belief that Grindr and other gay apps may be helping to destroy the gay bar scene is nothing new. However, in the eyes of Joel Simkhai, the opposite may actually be true. "Our users are still socializing in bars and clubs very well. And even if you're in these places and too shy to come up to someone, at the bar you can still use Grindr. The feedback we get is that Grindr is a very effective tool to drive."
Grindr Ranked Fast Company’s 10th Most Innovative Social Media Company
STAR OBSERVER – Feb 17 – The gay hook-up/dating app was listed "for promoting tolerance worldwide" through the implementation of its Grindr for Equality campaign. Also on the Innovative Social Media Company list were Tinder, Periscope, and Facebook, while BuzzFeed took out top place as Fast Company's Most Innovate Company for 2016.