Match.com – Page 29 – Online Personals Watch

Algorithms Work But People Need To Be Honest

Posted on February 19, 2015

NATIONAL POST – Feb 18 – LA PhD student Chris McKinley applied his mathematical skills to OkCupid to “hack” their algorithms, transforming his empty inbox into a treasure trove of compatible mates and, 88 dates later, a marriage proposal. Then tech CEO Amy Webb, similarly luckless on JDate, created her own algorithm using 72 traits to land a husband. “Algorithms can mathematically continue to become more precise in terms of connecting like-minded and similar people,” says Amarnath Thombre, president of Match.com, “but there will always be magic to love.” Match uses 1,500 parameters in a “love equation” with a feedback mechanism. So “the more users rate, the better they date,” he says. In a new commercial, eHarmony asks: “Do you want fast or forever?” As it turns out, lots of people prefer fast, like Tinder.

by Rosemary Counter
See full article at National Post

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The Senior Citizen Hookup Scene Is Going Mobile

Posted on February 17, 2015

BLOOMBERG – Feb 17 – Mobile sign-ups to SeniorMatch.com, which has an average user age of 59, have jumped to 20% from ~7% in 2013. Stitch, which has been called the Tinder for seniors, sees almost half of its users arrive via smartphones or tablets, up 10% from six months ago. On Match.com, 49% of users 50+ access the site through mobile devices, a 9 % jump YOY.

by Felix Gillette
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.

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Online Dating Sites And Coaches Cash In During ‘Peak Season’

Posted on February 16, 2015

CNBC – Feb 14 – The time between New Year's Day and Valentine's Day is the busiest time for dating sites and online dating coaches. Match.com saw a ~7% increase in communication on the site year over year in 2014, though the "peak season" that ends around Feb. 14 is especially high for user engagement. A mobile registration increase ~100% percent YOY, in their fourth-quarter earnings.

by Rebecca Ungarino
See full article at CNBC

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Match.com Is 20 Years Old

Posted on February 11, 2015

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Feb 11 – This year, Match.com celebrates its 20th anniversary. The site is responsible for 517K relationships, 92K marriages and 1M babies, according to Karl Gregory, Match.com UK manager. Its users are spread across 40 countries and exchange 415M emails a year. When Match.com launched in April 1995, there were only 25M Internet users worldwide, compared to 2.92B in 2015. Bill and Freddie Straus, aged 76 and 72, were among the first in history to have gone on an online date in 1996. Eric Klien created a 170-point questionnaire, covering users’ horoscopes, their preferred mode of transport, taste in music, etc. He called it the “Electronic Matchmaker” and uploaded to his private Internet database just after Christmas 1992. In 1993, Klien sold his questionnaire and the domain name Match.com so he could focus on a new mission. It was called the Atlantis Project and it aimed to build an independent city called Oceania in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Match.com’s buyer was Gary Kremen. He purchased Match.com for $2,500 and launched it as a dating service on the open Internet in 1995. In 1998, he argued with his board and the company was sold. Its current owner, IAC, bought it in 1999 for $50M. Officially called “Synapse”, but known by insiders as the “magic sauce”, the Match.com algorithm is based on a streamlined version of Klien’s original matchmaker. The results of the algorithm’s sums are shown in users’ “daily six”: a series of previously-unseen, tailored profiles that are sent to users' inbox each day.

by Sarah Rainey
See full article at Telegraph.co.uk

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Which Dating Sites Received The Best And Worst PR In 2014?

Posted on February 7, 2015

CB – Feb 7 – A lot of companies that traditionally receive a lot of press hits appeared to be lacking this year, including POF, Badoo, SNAP Interactive and Zoosk. Tinder got the most press coverage in 2014, followed by Match.com. Articles mainly highlighted Tinder's impressive growth. It also scored some negative press, most notably the Whitney Wolfe lawsuit. We heard a little less about eHarmony last year, but they still received solid press coverage thanks to their new eH+ service and the announcement of a plan to launch a "jobs matchmaker". OkCupid, as usual, made the list along with AshleyMadison, Grindr and Hinge. There were also companies with more sad than good news. Cupid was one of them. They sold their casual dating sites in 2013, posted weak 2013 annual results, tried unsuccessfully to revive their business, and even launched new services such as LoveBeginsAt and dating app Tangle. In December the news came out that the company decided to sell the remaining mainstream dating sites and quit the dating business. It was not an easy year for Spark Networks either. After some bad news for investors, a fight between the company leadership and Osmium partners began, ending in July with Osmium appointing 4 new directors to the Spark´s board. CEO Greg Liberman left the company in August and layoffs began in September.

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Led By Tinder, The Mobile Dating Game Surges

Posted on February 5, 2015

NY TIMES – Feb 4 – Many app makers are trying to capitalize on the Tinder method of simple, smartphone-based dating. They add a twist to the swipe. Hinge sifts only through Facebook connections for friends of friends. Clover offers Tinder-like features but with an added bonus called “On-Demand Dating.” Users pick a location and a date, and Clover sends someone to meet them. Tinder processes ~1B swipes a day and matches ~12M people a day. Amarnath Thombre, president of Match.com in North America, said that in the last year it had registered a 35% increase in the people who use Match app, and a 109% increase in the number of people who use only the app to reach Match every month.

by Molly Wood
See full article at NY Times

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IAC Hit By Slowing Growth In Match Group

Posted on February 5, 2015

REUTERS – Feb 3 – Match Group reported the slowest growth (4%) in the number of subscribers in several quarters, sending IAC's shares down as much as 6%. Match Group Q4 2014 revenue was $241.5M, up 15% YOY, operating income is down 5% to $73.5M.

by Sai Sachin Ravikumar
See full article at Reuters

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Starbucks And Match.com Are Teaming Up

Posted on February 2, 2015

GOOD MORNING AMERICA – Jan 29 – Starbucks and Match.com are teaming up to create "the world’s largest Starbucks date" on Feb. 13. Match has already rolled out the product feature, called “Meet at Starbucks,” which enables users to invite others for a cup of coffee at Starbucks and find the best mutual location with the click of a button.

by Stefanie Tuder
See full article at ABC News

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What We Learned From Sam Yagan’s Reddit AMA

Posted on January 6, 2015

CHICAGOINNO – Jan 6 – Here are some of his most interesting responses from yesterday's chat.

Q: Has the online dating business significantly boomed in the past few years?
A: Absolutely. In the last 5 years, the number of MAU of dating products is up ~3x.

Q: Everyone looks at Tinder as a hookup app. What do you view it as?
A: It's hard to get married without hooking up, no? I bet even people on eHarmony hook up. I look at Tinder right up there with Match and OkCupid as one of the three best ways to find a relationship.

Q: Is online dating "good" for society?
A: Dating apps truly make society better, in several ways:

Greater choice leads to the selection of higher quality spouses.
Technology makes it easier to meet people who are less similar (farther away, different socioeconomic levels, different ethnicity, etc.).
The ease of getting back in the dating market empowers people in bad relationships to leave them.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge of your career?
A: Turning OkCupid around.

Q: Does the free-ness of OKCupid attract a different group of people as compared to Match's subscription fee?
A: Yes. People who pay for Match likely have higher intent than people on OkCupid or Tinder.

Q: Any hints as to what the pay features may be on Tinder?
A: Not confirming any of this, but there's plenty of reporting on this topic: http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/how-much-would-you-pay-for-an-undo-button-on-tinder/.

by Jim Dallke
See full article at ChicagoInno

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