THE VERGE – Apr 14 – Bumble is launching two new features to make it easier for people to date while social distancing. Bumble's users can now expand their distance filters to match with anyone in their country. The app previously only allowed people to connect with someone within a 50-mile range. It's also giving people the option to send audio notes to each other, in addition to video and voice calls as well as text chats. Daters can add a "virtual dating" badge to their profile, too, to indicate that they're willing to date over video calls. To encourage people to do this, Bumble says it'll donate $1 to the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Fund every time someone adds the "Virtual Dating" badge to their profile, up to $100k.
Category: Bumble
The Top Dating Industry News for Apr 14th
OPW – Apr 14 – Hinge's "Date From Home" feature, Blindlee, Quarantine Together, Swivel, Bumble's Small Businesses Grant. Thanks to our sponsor RealMe. Helping dating apps improve trust and safety.
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Small Businesses Are Turning to Bumble for Cash
BLOOMBERG – Apr 14 – Restaurant owner Simone Jacobson saw her bills piling up fast. She was already in debt and had no savings. So she turned to dating app Bumble. Not to find a date, but to get financing. She applied for one of the $5K grants that Bumble was offering women-run small businesses. Two weeks later, Jacobson got the cash. She plans to use the money to pay for two months' worth of health insurance costs for the 28 employees she let go from her restaurant. "I didn't have time to wait for government funds, my staff needed to know now whether they still have health care," said Jacobson. Women-led companies like Bumble and female billionaires such as Spanx Inc. founder Sara Blakely are giving millions of dollars in grants to small businesses in need of a lifeline amid the coronavirus outbreak. One in ten small businesses are less than a month away from closing permanently, according to a poll released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. About 56% of those businesses favor financial relief in the form of direct cash payments. Bumble is offering 150 grants totaling ~$1M to small businesses globally, with the first wave of recipients being U.S. restaurant owners and others in the food services industry, according to a company spokeswoman. Spanx's Blakely is giving $5K grants from her foundation to help female-run small businesses.
by Saijel Kishan
See fulla article at Washington Post
Coronavirus Is Changing Online Dating – Permanently
FORBES – Apr 5 – The coronavirus lockdown is changing how we date, likely shifting our habits permanently. Dating apps are pushing users to meet for virtual dates, rolling out new video-based features. "While we are socially distant, we definitely aren't disconnected," says Tinder CEO Elie Seidman, who reports daily messaging activity among the app's American users has risen by 10% to 15% across the country. Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd hopes people will use Bumble's in-app video chat feature. With more people at home, Bumble saw use of this function spike 93% between March 13 and March 27. The average call was ~30 minutes long. "We're hearing more and more about virtual coffee dates, dinner dates and movie dates," says OkCupid CEO Ariel Charytan. "We recently heard from a new OkCupid couple in Brooklyn who set up a candlelit dinner over video chat for their first date earlier this week." "For now, dating apps have little opportunity to turn this new user behavior into additional revenue streams. Estimates on revenue and profit are going to come down. No one really knows by how much," says Evercore analyst Benjamin Black. Spending on dating is "something you can pull back on. You're not gonna die without it. It's not a consumer staple." So far the apps' goal of maintaining their audiences seems to be working. The number of weekly active users across Tinder, Bumble and five more of the largest dating apps was largely unchanged from February into mid-March, according to App Annie.
by Adam Brown
See full article at Forbes
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Tinder Accuses Bumble of ‘Exploiting’ COVID-19 in IP Fight
LAW360 – Apr 3 – Tinder's lawyers are accusing Bumble of "exploiting the country's COVID-19 crisis" to delay an already-contentious intellectual property lawsuit. They claimed Bumble's lawyers were using the logistical problems posed by the coronavirus pandemic – namely, remote depositions – as a back door to postpone a July trial. A federal has agreed to postpone the July trial by two weeks but ordering discovery to continue on an updated schedule. Following that order, an attorney for Bumble strongly disputed Match's accusations. Match sued in March 2018, accusing Bumble of infringing both patents and trademarks by launching a "copycat" dating app with similar layout and "swiping" features to Tinder.
Grindr Is the Dating App That Drains the Most Battery From a Mobile
GAY TIMES – Mar 30 – Uswitch has analysed the 50 most popular apps on major app stores and looked at how many battery-draining permissions an app used, and when it came to dating apps Grindr came out on top. Grindr had 28 battery-draining permissions, it was followed by Bumble which has 20, Tinder which has 18 and Hinge which has 13. Google has 72 battery-draining permissions, Facebook 50 and Facebook Messenger 46.
by Matt Moore
See full article at Gay Times
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Tinder Most Used Dating App Now
FORBES – Mar 29 – The 2020 SKYN Condoms Sex & Intimacy Survey was not designed to examine the current or post-COVID-19 world. Its data gathering and results just happened to take place while the global pandemic was getting its boots on and heading out from Wuhan. According to Skyn, 39% of respondents used Tinder over its rivals to find love. Generation Z folks said they were more likely than Millennials to use Tinder (48% to 36%). #2 was Match.com (33%) and #3 Bumble (19%).
by John Scott Lewinski
See full article at Forbes
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Bumble Is Giving Away £5,000 Grants to 150 Small Businesses in Need
STANDARD.CO.UK – Mar 27 – As the UK goes into lockdown, with only 'essential' services allowed to remain open, small businesses are taking a hard hit. Bumble is asking its users to nominate local small businesses in need. Bumble has decided to give 150 grants of up to £5K to small businesses. Grants will be awarded across the world. Bumble says it will 'prioritise businesses led by women and non-binary founders'.
How Coronavirus Is Transforming Online Dating
MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW – Mar 25 – Dating apps have struggled; after all, the whole point of dating is to physically meet someone. Match has seen stocks tumble 25%, and had to balance public health with mission statements. "Tinder understands that our members are oftentimes meeting new people in-person, and, given the current environment, we wanted to remind them of the precautions they should take," the company said in a press release, citing the World Health Organization. The firm is now rolling out a feature that lets users match with people outside their immediate geographical area. Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of dating app Bumble, was far more explicit in a public letter: "Please date virtually for now." One way to do it is by reinventing the speed date. Dawoon Kang, cofounder of Coffee Meets Bagel, says the app has begun hosting virtual meetups for 10 to 15 members at a time, consisting of a video call moderated by a company representative. A participant who is interested in another can email the representative; if two people feel sparks, the representative connects them.
by Tanya Basu
See full article at MIT Technology Review
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During Coronavirus Lockdown, Tinder Surpasses Bumble, OkCupid and Hinge Downloads
FOX BUSINESS – Mar 25 – While many businesses have suffered dramatically under the coronavirus, its been a great week for Tinder, which saw an increase in first-time installations of the app in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower. First-time installs of Tinder were up 13% last week in the U.S. compared to the week of March 2, but were down 5% worldwide for the same comparison period. Bumble's downloads fell 10% in the U.S. and 11% worldwide, Hinge downloads fell 7% in the U.S. and 12% worldwide, and OkCupid fell 16% in U.S. and down 20% worldwide.
by Lucas Manfredi
See full article at Fox Business
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