MUMBRELLA – Jan 27 – Gay dating website Manhunt has launched a billboard campaign in the Paddington area advertising its new mobile product that helps gay men hook up. The campaign was devised by Pink Media Group, a gay media specialist that also works with gay hook-up app Grindr. Manhunt has 65k users in Australia.
Category: All Gay
Grindr ‘Mandatory Update’ To Tackle Hack
PINK NEWS – Jan 23 - The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a hacker had listed sensitive profile information online, allowing Grindr users to be impersonated. Grindr said last week only a small number of Australian users had been affected by the hacker’s site, but it would be taking urgent measures to protect security. Address and credit card information was not hacked.
Interview With Eric Silverberg, co-Founder Of Scruff
OPW INTERVIEW – Jan 16 – Eric’s story is similar to Joel’s at Grindr. He runs a gay dating app, and its doing quite well. Here’s his story. – Mark Brooks
How many users do you have now?
We’ve had more than a million registered users since we launched in 2010.
You’re MIT educated and you worked at Intel, Microsoft and Google. What led you to create the Scruff App and what’s your founding story?
It was the end of 2009 and I wanted to learn more about app development. I looked at the apps that were on the market at that point and I really wanted to do something different for the gay community. I partnered with my good friend Johnny and after some exploration we launched Scruff. In addition to Scruff being a dating/social app for the gay community we wanted to create a new kind of brand that people wouldn’t be embarrassed to say: “We met on Scruff”.
Are you going to launch a straight App?
Right now we’re happy with where we are so probably not any time in the near future.
You’ve replaced winks with woofs. How many woofs are people sending around the world?
Quite a lot. It’s a really easy way to interact with people in addition to chat. At this point we see more than 30 messages a second being sent over our platform.
How else is your service different from the likes of Grindr?
We’ve built a rich, multi-platform set of features. We’ve also thought a lot about different ways that people can interact with each other in addition to chat. For example; woofing, rate one another, see how you’ve been rated. We’re building a community around Scruff and Scruff is a group that encompasses lots of different types of people. It’s definitely resonated.
You’ve got a couple of paid subscriptions now. What do people get for the paid services and how much are they?
We’ve launched a premium version that includes Browsing Pro and Messaging Pro. One enables you to view more profiles and customize your grid to a greater degree. The other gives you an unlimited inbox and message history.
Are you profitable at this stage?
We have just become profitable.
Are you looking for funding?
No we’re not looking for funding right now. It was a challenge in the beginning but we got through it and now it’s really exciting for us.
Where are you going to be in a year’s time?
We’ve recently relocated back to Manhattan, which is really exciting! We’re seeing great growth globally and hope to do more global travels. In the next year we have a lot of really cool features we are going to launch – more with albums, search filters and a lot of events. We hope to bring Johnny Scruff and our team to even more events around the country and the world.
‘Eyebrow-Raising’ Billboard In Times Square
MEDIA BISTRO – Jan 1 – Gay social network site Manhunt is about to drum up some publicity by placing the above billboard in Times Square. Located at the corner of Broadway and 47th Street, Manhunt's billboard, which will be up through Jan. 6, was described as "raising some eyebrows" and featuring "two sweaty guys in dog tags about to make out." It's already greatly offended one L.A. mom, despite the fact that a similar Michael Kors billboard (depicting a woman placing her hand inside a man's briefs) has been the subject of no such controversy.
by Bob Marshall
See full article at Media Bistro
Why Can’t Women Have Grindr Too?
GUARDIAN.CO.UK – Dec 27 - Grindr is a smartphone app that allows men to find each other for "dating, socialising and friendship". Nearly 3M men are signed up globally, and the UK is one of the biggest markets. The people behind Grindr have been promising to create a version for women who want to find women. But it hasn't turned up. They've released Blendr, which says it's for "straight and lesbian" users but it's really a male-female app with no focus on queer women. Have other apps jumped on the Grindr bandwagon? Yes, but the ones aimed at queer women have mostly fallen off it again. There's Qrushr Girls but its address now redirects you to an insurance site. There's another called Brenda, but a recent iPhone app review complains that most of the people using it are men.
by Kate Harrad
See full article at Guardian.co.uk
SinglesAroundMe Launches GaysAroundMe
PR WEB – Dec 14 – The popular global LB mobile dating app SinglesAroundMe launches a customized version for gays called GaysAroundMe. The main feature of GaysAroundMe is a search tool called "GAM" which shows singles from 100 feet to 100 miles of your current location worldwide. Results are displayed on a geographical map, where users can then view pictures and profiles and send winks and messages to begin flirting.
The full article was originally published at SF Gate, but is no longer available.
Hornet: Gay App On The Buzz
TIME OUT – Dec 7 - A new dating app is hitting the LGBT scene. Developed in Hong Kong and San Francisco, Hornet operates much like Grindr. Setting up a Hornet account requires users to state their HIV status. If you choose ‘negative’, the app requests the date of your last doctor’s visit. Hornet will then send you a reminder when it’s time for your next HIV testing. Hornet is still in its beta phase – it’s slow, it crashes and chats aren’t uploaded properly. But it does have a lot of potential and provides interesting features that rivals lack. by Arthur Tam
The full article was originally published at Time Out, but is no longer available.
Manhunt’s New Ad Campaign
MANHUNT DAILY – Nov 28 – Manhunt is launching a new billboard campaign. They chose to debut the campaign in Los Angeles. Manhunt received dozens of complaints because citizens were concerned about children being able to view their billboards. All of this hubbub is over the fact that they depicted two men shirtless and semi-embracing. Another ad for fashion designer Michael Kors’ underwear line has a girl commencing a handjob on a guy. This ad is placed just a few blocks away from the Manhunt ad and there weren't any complaints to Michael Kors, his ad agency, or to LA political officials. For some reason, gay sexuality is still scary and controversial for many people.
The full article was originally published at Manhunt Daily, but is no longer available.
Men Urged To Opt In For Nationwide Sexual Health Messaging Service
PINK NEWS – Nov 29 - The GMFA Sexual Health Messaging Service, which allows men to alert previous partners when they are diagnosed with an infection, is set to be rolled out to more clinics and websites with funding from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The GMFA has worked with Gaydar, Fitlads, Recon and Manhunt. After receiving a diagnosis at a clinic, the system offers users a unique PIN code to access the online SHMS service. Once there, contact details for recent sexual partners can be typed in, from mobile phone numbers to profile names. Messages can be sent anonymously, but the GMFA says the recipient may be more likely to take action if a name is included.
by Stephen Gray
See full article at Pink News
Manhunt Says F*ck Censorship
GAY SOCIALITIES – Nov 23 - Manhunt.net new web-based mobile site that easily accessible via iPhone, iPad and Android browsers at m.manhunt.net. The new Manhunt Mobile is not a native app, and therefore not subject to the adult content restrictions imposed upon competing mobile dating and hookup applications by Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market.
by Jack Barbosa
See full article at Gay Socialities