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.
Category: Hinge
CEO of Hinge: What the World Will Be Like in 50 Years
QZ – Nov 4 – Justin McLeod is the founder and CEO at Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted. McLeod founded Hinge in February 2011. Upset by the negative hookup culture dating apps had created, he relaunched the app in October 2016 as more serious dating app. The company's user base has grown 400% in the last year.
Q: What kinds of companies will be the most important?
McLeod: Companies that serve our deeper human needs and help us feel connection, not validation.
Q: What will cause the biggest conflicts?
A: The same thing that causes the biggest conflicts today. As Pascal put it more than 400 years ago, "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." With constant distraction in our pockets, we seem to be connected to everything and everyone – except ourselves.
Q: How will people earn a living?
A: Empathy, connection, and companionship.
Q: How will we communicate with each other?
A: My hope is that we can engineer ways for people to communicate and connect on a deeper level than many of us are used to via social media updates and small talk.
Q: How will we entertain one another?
A: We'll be doing it in-person. I believe screens will fade out of existence, though augmented reality will certainly be part of our daily lives.
Q: How will we find love?
A: I believe choosing a partner will become an informed, data-driven decision.
Q: What kinds of stories will we tell?
A: We will look back on today with shock at how tethered we were to our phones.
Q: What will our most valuable resource be?
A: Love. The scarcest resource will be giving one another our time, care, and attention.
Q: What technology will bring about the biggest change in society?
A: Nanotech, augmented reality, AI, and connected devices.
Q: What's your best prediction for the world in 50 years?
A: Screens will become a thing of the past as we become disenchanted with our phones and tablets, and we learn to make real life more exciting through connected devices, augmented reality, and biological innovations.
Hinge and OpenTable Launch ‘Date Night Matchmaker’ to Help Plan Date Night
ASKMEN – Oct 15 – Dating app Hinge and restaurant reservation service OpenTable have launched Date Night Matchmaker, a service that will help users plan the date night by asking about budget, desired style of dining and the overall vibe or ambiance.
Hinge to Launch Podcast With Ghost Stories
OPW – Oct 3 – Ghoster is a person who ends a relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation, withdrawing from all communication. Dating app Hinge is about to launch a podcast called "Ghost Stories", which will feature real daters talking about their own experiences of ghosting.
Facebook Dating Is a Threat to Match, But Not to Tinder
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Dating Apps Can Serve as Professional Networking Platforms
FAST COMPANY – Aug 15 – Platforms that are meant for social connection could also help your professional advancement, says Jeff Steen, special projects editor for FitSmallBusiness.com. FitSmallBusiness.com made a list of the most surprising apps users can use for business networking, which included Reddit, Goodreads, AncestryDNA and dating apps like Hinge, Bumble and Tinder. With a dating apps, there can be a natural progression in a conversation to users' career. "''What do you do?' is usually one of the first questions people ask when getting to know someone," says Steen. "This can overlap into professional conversations, even if no romantic interest is established."
Dating App Hinge Wants to Be Deleted
MARKETING WEEK – Aug 12 – The dating app's first major international marketing campaign sees app icon Hingie "dying to be deleted". The new campaign will appear on TV and streaming sites, as well as on Snapchat, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube.
Tinder’s Take on Safety in Its New Commercial
OPW – July 27 – "It's really important that women never go to someone's house, they meet in a public place, they don't drink…", said Mandy Ginsberg, CEO of Match Group, in 2018 HBO documentary "Swiped". And here are Tinder's official guidelines to women for not getting raped: 1. Never go to someone's house, 2. Meet in a public place, 3. Don't drink, 4. Let someone know where you're going and 5. Never go into someone's car. Yet the new Tinder commercial "Don't Fly Solo" suggests just that. The video features a young woman traveling alone. She is meeting strangers through Tinder app, and jumping into their cars. What's worse, she arranges a meeting with strangers literally in the middle of nowhere. She has a good time and makes lots of new friends but unfortunately, we don't live in a fairytale world. In the real world, these encounters could end up really badly. We find this ad disconcerting. What are you thoughts?
For years Tinder had been trying to shed its hook up imagine. But in Q3 2018 Match Group decided to double down on its casual nature following the acquisition of Hinge, a dating app for more serious relationships. This video is a part of the new "SingleNotSorry" campaign that is celebrating the single life, and portrays Tinder as a more casual dating app. – Irena Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch
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Justin McLeod, Founder of Hinge, Whose Life is Destined for the Screen
Hinge Partners With Political Nonprofit to Raise Voter Turnout in 2020
