Category: All Gay

Gay Men Are Very Early Tech Adopters

Posted on July 2, 2012

Guyspy logo alternativeTECH VIBES – June 20 – Vancouver has been on the forefront of the dating industry for years thanks to successes like Markus Frind’s industry disrupting POF dating site and Teligence’s domination of voice personals. With the emergence of mobile apps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Vancouver is leading the way again. This time in the gay market and a local startup is taking on the market leading hook-up app Grindr. GuySpy is a free app that includes all the features that Grindr offers in their paid app. GuySpy beats Grindr for traveling gay men on the move by allowing users to change their location and connect with others in advance of traveling. GuySpy isn’t just a hook-up app. They’ve got a website has become a community of its own with 400K visitors per month. 50K new users installed the GuySpy app last month with 55% of those users in North America. The app is currently getting 2K+ downloads per day and 20K users are interacting with the app daily.

by Rob Lewis
The full article was originally published at Tech Vibes, but is no longer available.

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Grindr Hits 4M Users, 1M Daily Uniques

Posted on June 18, 2012

Grindr blendr logosTECH CRUNCH – June 17 – Grindr has surpassed 4M users (with 500K new users in the last quarter alone), and 1M active daily uniques. Blendr, the gender-open counterpart to Grindr, has also picked up steam.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Ad For Manhunt.net Escapes Ban In UK

Posted on June 14, 2012

Manhunt mobile logoCAMPAIGNLIVE – June 13 – An outdoor ad for manhunt.net that features two topless men about to kiss has escaped censure by the advertising watchdog, despite a flurry of complaints that it was overtly sexual. In its ruling, the ASA said it had noted that Online Buddies and Primesight had given the poster's location careful consideration, so as to avoid schools and businesses that provided children-based services. The ASA ruled the ad was "sexually suggestive", rather than overtly sexual, and concluded the ad was not socially irresponsible and the ad could continue to run.

by John Reynolds
See full article at CampaignLive

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UK Global Personals Acquires Smooch.com

Posted on May 10, 2012

Smooch logo new Oct 11WLD – May 10 – Global Personals acquires Smooch, the 7th largest dating site in UK (Experian Hitwise), alongside its parent company WooWise. The acquisition also includes Mancentral.com, which will help Global Personals grow its gay dating division. Martin Bysh and Marcus Hamilton will remain as advisors to the business. The financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

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This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Facebook Takes Down Manhunt’s Fan Page

Posted on April 26, 2012

Manhunt facebook page downINSTINCT MAGAZINE – Apr 26 – According to the popular gay dating site Manhunt.net, its Facebook page was taken down without notice on April 4. This isn't the first time a gay related Facebook presence has been suspiciously moderated. A month ago Facebook mods came under fire for taking down an innocuous picture of two men kissing in protest of homophobia. Though Manhunt's content may have been a little more charged, did it warrant being banned without notice?

by Jonathan Higbee
The full article was originally published at Instinct Magazine, but is no longer available.

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20% Of Gaydar Users Planning Civil Partnerships Next Year

Posted on April 16, 2012

Gaydarspravne logoPINK NEWS – Apr 3 – A poll released by Gaydar today says a fifth of its users are planning to become someone’s civil partner in the next year. 60% said they would wear an engagement ring, presumably consistently. 45% would like a religious ceremony and 48% intend to walk up an aisle at their civil partnership.

by Stephen Gray
See full article at PinkNews

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Grindr Celebrates Its 3rd Birthday With 3.5M Users

Posted on March 27, 2012

Grindr logoPR NEWSWIRE – Mar 26 – In 2009, Grindr started out as a small company with $5K in self-financing and an office headquartered in Founder and CEO Joel Simkhai's living room. Grindr officially launched on March 25, 2009, and within one month, 10K users downloaded the free app. Fast-forward only three years, and Grindr has 10K new users around the world joining up every day. Today, 908K Grindr users log on and send 7M chat messages and 2M photos to one another on a daily basis. The app is most popular in the US, but has seen incredible popularity in the UK, France, Australia and Canada, in addition to an emergent following in far-flung, unexpected spots such as Iran, Moldova, Malawi, Yemen, Albania and Djibouti.

The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.

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Looking For Location-Based Love

Posted on March 13, 2012

Location based loveBETAKIT – Mar 13 – According to Juniper Research, the mobile dating market is expected to grow to $1.4 billion by 2013, and startups are poised to take advantage of that growth. A recent study by Skout noted that 69% of people were comfortable meeting up with someone they met on their iPhone, and 40% were using a mobile dating service while out at bars, clubs and restaurants. The U.S.-based app also lets romance-seekers view “hotspots” on Google Maps as a fiery glow, representing what locations are currently trending. Grindr uses geolocation to enable users to find other men within close proximity. This is accomplished through a user interface that displays a grid of user pictures, arranged from nearest to farthest away. Tapping on a picture will display a brief profile for that user, as well as the option to chat, send pictures, and share one’s location. Sharing location-based data brings up the question of safety. Ian Bell is the founder of Tingle, a dating app for iPhone. He said the idea of using location in a dating app can make users wary. Tingle tracks a user’s location and shares their proximity, as opposed to a specific location, when users pass near one another.

by Asif Khan
The full article was originally published at Beta Kit, but is no longer available.

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30,000 Gaydar Users Opt In To STI Notifications

Posted on March 1, 2012

Gaydarspravne logoPINK NEWS – Mar 1 – 31,714 Gaydar members in the UK have opted in for the Sexual Health Messaging Service in the three months since it launched on 29 Nov last year. The messages are also available on Fitlads, Recon and Manhunt. The Sexual Health Messaging Service, sometimes referred to as Partner Notification, is funded by a grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Men diagnosed at a participating clinic can be given a unique code for use on the website. There, contact information for recent partners can be typed in: mobile phone numbers, email or a profile name from a participating dating website. They are then sent an automated message, alerting them to the fact that they should get themselves checked out. The messages can be anonymous, but backers say recipients are more likely to take action if the sender is identified.

by Stephen Gray
See full article at Pink News

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