MASHABLE – Sep 28 – Created in 2000, HOTorNOT became an overnight viral hit by letting people upload pictures of themselves so total strangers could rate their attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10. Twenty years later, HOTorNOT's DNA is embedded into almost every major platform that defines how we interact online today. "Everything about HOTorNOT was about finding ways to connect people. We really saw ourselves as trying to build the ultimate people router," said one of HOTorNOT's two co-founders, James Hong. "It was a different internet at the time," said Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter. A good friend of Hong, he called him one of the smartest people he knows in Silicon Valley. "Most people hear HOTorNOT and think of the ranking feature, which is crude and sort of questionable in today's light," he said. "But there was always a deep caring and humaneness in how they did things." HOTorNOT made ~$4M by 2003 (with ~88% of revenue coming from auto-renewing subscriptions). The site's downfall began with the arrival of Web 2.0, when web platforms with "venture money started pouring back into startups again. HOTorNOT couldn't compete with services that were free and relying on cash from investors to pay their bills," Young said. He also cited the loss of their talented and ambitious employees who left to start their own companies, like Crunchyroll. HOTorNOT was sold to Avid Life Media for ~$20M in 2008. In 2012, it was sold to Badoo. Badoo only revived HOTorNOT to turn it into another Tinder app clone launching in 2014.
Category: Outlets – Mashable
Match Is Launching New Feature Called Dates
MASHABLE – Sep 15 – Match will prompt users and ask if they're ready to move to the next step if a conversation looks promising. The pop-up allows them to share how they're feeling about someone without the potential awkwardness of their match not reciprocating. According to Match's recent survey, 93% of users said they'd like to know if someone on a dating app is as into them as they are. 66% have wrongfully assumed a match's interest level. Once both people are ready, the profiles move to "Dates," a dedicated section of the app. From there, they'll learn about their match's dating preferences like how they prefer to social distance, and what their ideal first date is.
OKCupid Survey: Singles Don’t Want to Date Non-voters
Tinder Slammed Over Mysterious Premium Pricing
MASHABLE – Aug 11 – Tinder has recently settled an age discrimination lawsuit in California, which saw users over 29 paying double what younger people were for the subscription. Now the Australian consumer organisation Choice has filed an official complaint with the national consumer commission, the ACCC, after conducting a mystery-shopper survey that found prices for a one-month subscription to Tinder Plus ranged from AUD$6.99 to AUD$34, with no transparency upfront about the variation. The highest price( $34) was for a straight man over 50 in a metro area; the lowest was $6.99 for a queer woman under 30, also in the city. "Based on our mystery shop, we know that Tinder is using age to set different prices. But even within age groups, we saw a range of prices, demonstrating that there are other factors at play that Tinder is yet to explain," said Choice director of campaigns Erin Turner in a statement.
Heybaby – a New Dating App For Parents and People Who Want to be Parents
OkCupid Now Lets All Users Share Their Pronouns
Tinder Is Making Its ‘Orientation’ Feature Global
Grindr Has Removed Its Controversial Ethnicity Filters
Hinge Rolls out in-app Video Calls, Launches Hinge Labs
Hinge Launches ‘Date From Home’ Feature
MASHABLE – Apr 8 – Hinge is launching "Date From Home," a feature where users can easily tell someone whether they're ready for a virtual date. Hinge recently added a pop-up message to the app, advising its users to date at home. It points out that 70% of its members are down for a "digital date," over a platform like FaceTime or Zoom. While matches are messaging each other, the 'Date from Home' menu will appear and ask if they're ready for a digital date. Responses will remain private until both users are ready, and the feature will notify them. Then it's up to the users to take it from there.