by Ingrid Lunden
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Category: Bumble
Mark Zuckerberg Let Tinder Get Special Access to Users’ Data
FORBES – Nov 8 – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg considered entering the online dating business as far back as 2014, but he put the idea on the back burner, instead giving Tinder special access to its users' data, leaked emails between top executives show. The leaked correspondence is part of an ongoing lawsuit between Facebook and Six4Three, a now-defunct app developer that sued Facebook in 2015 for restricting user data access, alleging the actions were uncompetitive. The correspondence shows how perilously close Tinder came to losing key access to Facebook user information that helped Tinder grow rapidly in its early years, when members often used their Facebook logins to access the app. When Facebook further restricted the kind of information third-party apps could access after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in March 2018, Tinder's app crashed. Tinder was on Facebook's radar in 2013. Zuckerberg wrote in January 2014 to two executives: "Tinder's growth is especially alarming to me because their product is built completely on Facebook data, and it's much better than anything we've built for recommendations using the same corpus." In 2014, Facebook announced it would start preventing third-party app developers from having access to data on users' friends, including birth dates, photos and pages they liked. The company gave a May 2015 deadline for developers to comply with its new set of access rules. However, Zuckerberg made some companies and apps an exception. Tinder was one. Facebook agreed to give Tinder a special data-sharing agreement, internally known as "whitelists," if the dating app shared trademark rights on "MOMENTS." which was the planned name for a photo app that Facebook wanted to launch, an email exchange in March 2015 showed. When asked about this agreement in 2018, a spokeswoman for Tinder said: "Tinder never received special treatment, data or access related to this dispute or its resolution." Other dating apps that had whitelist agreements with Facebook include Bumble, Badoo, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge and jSwipe.
Match Group Q3 Earnings, Shares Plummet Following a Weak Q4 Forecast
WSJ – Nov 6 – In Q3, Match Group's profit rose to $151.5M, from $130M in Q3 '18. The revenue rose 22% YOY to $541.5M, topping analysts' expectations of $540.7M. Yet total operating costs and expenses jumped 20% in the quarter as selling and marketing, product development, amortization and general operating expenses nudged higher. Overall average subscribers rose to 9.6M in the latest quarter, up from 8.1M in the year-ago period. Shares of Match Group dropped 16% after the company's financial targets for the current quarter came in below analysts' estimates. Match Group said it expects total revenue for the Q4 to be $545M – $555M, falling below analysts' estimates of $559M in revenue. Match also projected adjusted EBITDA in the range of $205M to $210M, behind analysts'target of $228M, and also said it expects to spend ~$25M in long-term investments and incremental legal costs in the Q4. Match Group is involved in several legal tussles, most recently with the Federal Trade Commission over claims that it induced nonpaying users to subscribe to its Match.com app based on "fake profiles." Match is also involved in an intellectual-property battle with Bumble, as well as multiple suits against a Tinder co-founder.
Bumble to Host an Astrology-themed Singles Dinner
METRO.CO.UK – Nov 4 – Bumble is hosting an astrology-themed singles dinner on 12 November with its in-house astrologer, Michele Knight, to teach people how the stars influence personality traits and could be key to finding a compatible lover. The event will be held at Chez Moi in Notting Hill during a full moon.
Top Female Entrepreneurs Share Their Lessons at Bumble Bizz Summit
SG TATLER – Nov 1 – Enterprising women leaders from around the region discussed the ups and downs of running their own brand, and what they learned in between at the region's first Bumble Bizz Summit in Sydney. Bumble is all about women empowerment and to further drive that notion, it organised its very first Bumble Bizz Summit in Sydney, Australia this month. There were two goals. First, to promote awareness about the platform's overall mission to "empower women to make the first move in dating, friendship and professional networking"; and secondly, to also fuel the entrepreneurial spirit in its users. The summit programme included panel discussions on topics such as breaking the mould, failure and creating a sustainable business.
Here are four key takeaways from the talks.
- Be open to making mistakes.
- Work with smarter people than you.
- Build an authentic brand.
- Respect is the cornerstone of success
Bumble Has Re-launched Its Anti-Ghosting Campaign
Bumble Automatically Blurs Nude Images
Bumble India and Safetipin Partners to Make Urban Spaces Safer for Women
YOUR STORY – Oct 23 – Bumble aims to raise $15K in support of Safetipin, an online data collection platform striving for women's safety, to help create safe urban spaces for women across the country. Bumble plans to raise money from every match made on the platform's three modes for networking – Bizz, Date, and BFF. Safetipin, founded by Kalpana Vishwanath, is a crowdsourced app that allows users to check the safety of a location.
Dating Companies With the Best Customer Service
NEWSWEEK – Oct 14 – Dating site Christian Cafe has the best customer service, according to Newsweek rankings, followed by Elite Singles and Bumble. For the second year in a row, Newsweek worked with Statista, the respected global research firm, to collect and analyze data across 160 retail categories.
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