BUSINESS INSIDER – At the Social Discovery and Dating Conference hosted by Global Dating Insights (GDI) in New York last week, AI was the central theme, with dating app founders and execs debating its role in the industry. Companies like Slide, Once, and Sitch discussed how large language models and AI agents could improve matching, safety, and user experience. Some startups, like the French app Gigi, are already experimenting with AI as a dating companion or assistant. While excitement around the potential is high, most speakers agreed that widespread user adoption of AI-driven features in dating apps is still a few years away.
Category: Once
Which Dating Apps Collect and Share the Most Data From Their Users
How Clémentine Lalande Put Slow Dating in the Fast Lane
GRIT DAILY – Once is a slow dating app founded by Clémentine Lalande. She is also Head of Growth at Dating Group, a global dating company that acquired Once for $18M. What sets Once apart from other dating apps is that it uses matching algorithms to deliver one match per day to each user. They then get 24 hours to start chatting with the match or pass. "When we entered the market, we knew we had something extraordinary," added Clémentine. "We were coming at it from a woman's point of view, with the understanding that a lot of people now want slower, more meaningful encounters." In addition to being one of the few female CEOs within the dating industry, Clémentine has also had a rather unique career journey. "I studied hardcore math and physics, and then engineering," she said. After five years of working in the trenches as a high-stakes consultant, she soon realized she wanted to build stuff herself. "I believe that anyone can become a successful founder; you just have to tell yourself that you can do it. This is especially true for women."
The Start of the Post-Tinder Era
THE GUARDIAN – June 29 – Women are at the forefront of developing new dating tech. Following on the heels of Whitney Wolfe Herd there are others trying to build more female-friendly platforms. Clementine Lalande, 37, launched Pickable in 2018 for women who wanted more discretion. Women don't need to upload a photo or give their name, so they can browse men's profiles anonymously. In 2015, along with a friend, Lalande also helped create the "slow dating" app Once, which delivers one match a day. The app has 10M users. "Online dating is a market designed by men for men and is governed in a non-transparent way," says Paris-based Lalande, CEO of the Once Dating Group. Jessica and Louella Alderson set up So Syncd in January 2021 after raising ~$1M (£700,000) through a combination of venture capital, an investment club, angel investors and family. The app matches couples based on the Myers-Briggs personality test. One of the first employees at Plenty Of Fish, Kim Kaplan shifted to angel investing before setting up video dating app Snack in Sep 2020. The app, whose engineering team comprises 43% women, aims to combine the matching algorithms of dating platforms like Tinder with streaming platforms such as TikTok.
by Tina Walsh
See full article at The Guardian
See the top news on Once See the top news on So Syncd
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Dating App Once Replaces Dick Picks With Kittens
GLAMOUR.DE – June 9 – If a nude picture is sent to someone on Once, the dating app encrypts it and instead shows a photo of a kitten. The user is warned and can decide whether the original photo should be shown or not. This AI feature has launched this week.
Coronavirus Has Changed Dating Apps Irreversibly
SIFTED.EU – May 4 – Dating apps say that virtual features will last beyond the pandemic as video dates become the new norm. "The current normalisation of video communication is in one way irreversible," says Philip Jonzon Jarl, the cofounder of Swedish dating app Relate. "There might be a new kind of pre-date step being born." Founded in 2018 to make matches based on "values" rather than profile pics, and with $1.3M behind it, Relate has seen its active users increase 40% during lockdown. Another UK app, The Intro, was founded in London in 2019, just months before lockdown. Founder George Burgess, who previously launched several educational apps, says this has pulled in thousands of users across the capital – despite having raised just £750k. Her, a UK-based dating app geared towards lesbian, queer, bisexual and bicurious women and non-binary people, has 5.5M users around the world. Founded by Robyn Exton in the UK in 2015, it has raised $2M to date. Her moved its matchmaking mixers online to host virtual speed dating events. The founder says virtual speed dating will almost certainly continue after the pandemic. Meanwhile, Swiss dating app Once has built a live video feature in just five days. Already ~18K virtual dates have taken place on the app. The record duration of a virtual date so far is 11 hours and forty minutes (between two people in Paris). Not every dating app has been fast off the mark. Happn says it has seen an 18% increase in the lengths of in-app conversations and will launch video dating this month. Muzmatch, the worlds' biggest dating app for Muslims, is also preparing to launch video and voice calling within the coming weeks.
by Kitty Knowles
See full article at Sifted.eu
See all posts on Her See all posts on Happn
See the top news on Once See the top news on Muzmatch
Confinement: Dating Apps Are Getting Better Thanks to Video
L'EXPRESS – Apr 19 – Before the coronavirus, dating was held over a drink. Now, they take place by camera. Nothing stops the quest for a soul mate. Not even containment. Dating apps are running at full speed.
"Among all dating players, we are witnessing a 20 to 40% jump in activity, whether it is the number of messages exchanged or new subscribers," notes Mark Brooks, consultant and president of Courtland Brooks & IDEA.gp. Tinder even beat its record "swipes" at the end of March.
"There was indeed an air gap at the start of confinement," says Clémentine Lalande, director of Once. "But it quickly gave way to a lasting rebound in interactions between users".
"The week following the announcement of confinement by Emmanuel Macron was marked by a marked drop in activity," confirms Héloïse des Monstiers, France director of Meetic. "But very quickly, discussions resumed. On Easter Sunday we even registered 20% more [users] than Valentine's Day."
IDEA Launches Social Safety Badge for Dating Apps
BUSINESSWIRE – Dec 9 – IDEA (The Internet Dating Excellence Association) is launching the Social Safety Badge and Guidelines for high quality dating apps. "The goal of this badge is to help users identify dating, matchmaking and social apps that are distinguished in their commitment to a safe and exceptional experience for users," said IDEA President Mark Brooks.
The guidelines cover:
- Respect For Others
- Respect For The Rights Of Others
- Respect For Minors
- Respect For The Community
- Respect For Larger Community
The following dating apps are in the initial launch group and have signed on to the badge, stating that they will adhere to the guidelines:
- CitySwoon
- GlobalMuslimMatch
- Happn
- Jaumo
- LunchClick
- MeetMe
- muzmatch
- Namoro
- Once
- Say Allo
- Skout
- Tagged
- Vouch
IDEA was formed in 2007 as the Internet Dating Executive Alliance and changed to the Internet Dating Excellence Association in 2018. The group is made up of 700+ dating industry executives and dating company leaders and innovators from around the world.
Dating App Once Lets Users See Their Attractiveness Score
NEON – July 11 – Jean Meyer is the CEO and founder of a slow dating app Once that sends users only one match per day. The app has launched a new feature that lets users see their attractiveness score.
Q: Don't you think this score could destroy a person's self-esteem?
Jean Meyer: Every dating app has an attractiveness score. People with high scores are matched with other people with high scores. We wanted to be a little smarter and stay transparent. We believe it is important to be transparent about how we do things.
Q: You use this transparency to lure people back into the app. How does it work?
A: We do not email people with: "Hey, come back and use the app". We want to give them relevant information. It works because people are curious and want to know their score.
Q: What is your score?
A: Not very good – 2.58. The score just tells me that my pictures are not good enough. That's a good feedback.
Q: Don't you think it has something to do with being a man?
A: That as well…. the average score for women is 4, for men it is 2.
Q: Who decides who is matched with whom?
A: In the beginning we had human matchmakers. We asked them to just rely on their gut feeling. We did that for a year and a half, until we had enough data to write an algorithm.
Q: Are interests and hobbies also being considered?
A: The picture is 95%.
Q: So if I rate many blonde men well, will I be matched with blonde men?
A: It's not that easy. We are doing a cluster analysis based primarily on people whose opinions are very divided. Imagine two different women. They both have the average score of 2.5 out of five. But one of them got plenty of twos and threes and the other got a lot of ones and fives. Then one of them is the average and the other is polarized. The people we care about are the ones who split the opinion. Because they probably belong to a certain type. Either you love them or you hate them.
Slow Dating App Once Launches “Once Places”
EINNEWS – June 26 – Once Places is a selection of venues especially curated for dates, from their first meet-up to their tenth anniversary. When conducting a study amongst its users, Once discovered that 69% admit struggling to find the right spot for a rendezvous. In 42% of cases, the place picked just ends up being too noisy or too crowded. And for 83% the choice of the place says a lot about people's personality.