NYTIMES – Mar 9 – The boring conversations on dating apps tend to be started by men. OkCupid said women who take the initiative to reach out to men are rewarded with higher response rates and more desirable men. The company studied 70K users. Women who sent the first message were 2.5 times more likely to receive a response than men who did the same. And the men the women contacted were more "attractive". ~12% of first messages men send turn into a date, while 30% of women's first messages end up in a date.
Category: Outlets – New York Times
When Cupid Is A Prying Journalist
We just came across this story and thought it would make a nice weekend post. Justin started Hinge prior to Tinder. He has some changes in the works. One to watch. Here's his heartfelt story.
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NYTIMES – Nov 26 – Once Deborah Copaken interviewed Justin McLeod, founder of Hinge. Her last question was: "Have you ever been in love?" "Yes," he answered. "But I didn't realize it until it was too late." Her name was Kate. They were college sweethearts. He kept breaking her heart. She was now living abroad, engaged to someone else. "You have to tell her," Deborah said to Justin, and she told him her story of the boy she had loved just before meeting her husband. Three months later, he invited Deborah to lunch. The article she wrote about him and his company had generated interest in his app, and he wanted to thank her. Kate joined as well. Kate was to be married in a month when Justin contacted her. Three days later, she moved out of the apartment she had been sharing with her fiancé and is now living with Justin.
Grindr Sells 60% Of Stake To Chinese Company
NYTIMES – Jan 11 – Beijing Kunlun will acquire 60% of Grindr, with the remainder to be owned by Grindr employees and Joel Simkhai, the company's founder. Grindr sees 2M regular visitors every day, who spend ~54 minutes using the app. Grindr's revenue was ~$32M in 2014, up 29% from $25M in 2013.
Barry Diller’s Spin Off Strategy Bears Fruit
NYTIMES – Nov 23 – IAC has created more value for shareholders over the last two decades than Disney or Microsoft. Mr. Diller's business model: Buy digital businesses, fold them into a conglomerate and then spin out the most successful ones. He started the experiment of breaking up IAC in 2008. There's Expedia, TripAdvisor (a spinoff of Expedia), Ticketmaster, LendingTree, Interval Leisure Group, HSN and now Match Group. If you invested $1K in IAC in Aug 1995 when Mr. Diller began the business, you'd have ~$16K today. If you invested $1K in a fund that tracked the Nasdaq index, you'd have ~$4,8K today. Skeptics say that all of these spinoffs are nothing more than financial prestidigitation. These companies, said Mr. Diller, "are under the scrutiny of a set of shareholders only wanting to own that business. I think that's very healthy."
Gay Dating App Scruff Launches New Feature For Travelers
NYTIMES – Oct 20 – Scruff, a gay dating app, got inspired by Tinder's passport feature. Scruff's users can now taps on Venture, a list of two dozen cities and see profiles of locals, people currently visiting and people who will be visiting the city soon. Users can set up their own trips in advance and make contact with others before they visit.
After Ashley Madison Breach, Online Daters Check Credentials
NYTIMES – Oct 15 – In August, traffic on Spokeo, an online verification service, more than doubled. Others are using private investigators and matchmakers to do the vetting for them. Selective Search, an executive matchmaking firm based in Chicago, also reported a bump in calls after the Ashley Madison hack. And Tawkify received more inquiries from people wanting to meet someone who has been properly vetted, said E. Jean Carroll, a co-founder of the matchmaking service.
by Abby Ellin
See full article at NYTimes
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OpenMinded Is A Dating Site For ‘Ethical Cheating’
NY TIMES – July 27 – Brandon Wade started a new controversial dating site for cheaters. It is called OpenMinded.com and it is for couples who have no problem being unfaithful, and be open about it. “Monogamy is not working for the majority of us,” said Mr. Wade. "There is a growing movement of people who are able to be honest with their mate that the traditional model isn’t working.” His site claims 150K users with more than half of the members identifying as couples who are in open relationships.
by Katherine Rosman
See full article at NY Times
Dating Ring Blends Old-Fashioned Matchmaking And Algorithms
NY TIMES – Apr 22 – In 2013, Lauren Kay and Emma Tessler started Dating Ring, a group dating service. They were charging $20 per person per date. But soon, sales had started to flatten, and scheduling dates was a nightmare. They decided to switch to a one-on-one dating model. "We had $7K in sales within 24 hours," Ms. Kay said. Dating Ring uses an algorithm to generate matches and then a matchmaker combs through those to hand-select dates. Mark Brooks, an Internet dating analyst and consultant, said although there is still plenty of interest in online dating, people also want relationships that begin based on more than your gut reaction to a photo. "This model of merging of Internet and matchmakers is very new," he said. Life Change Holdings manages local matchmaking businesses that use a website, like OhioSingles.com or CharlotteMatchmakers.com, for leads. The services cost $3,5 – $10K and Life Change Holdings revenue has grown from $2.5M in 2012 to $14.5M in 2014, said Bill Broadbent, the company’s founder and CEO. He projects ~$20M in 2015. Dating Ring now charges $240/3 month that brings in revenue of $35K/month.
JSwipe: A Tinder For Modern-Day Yentas
NY TIMES – Mar 13 - JSwipe is like JDate combined with Tinder. The app started last April. Instead of attributes like favorite movies, users indicate their degree of Jewishness (among them: Just Jewish, Orthodox and Willing to Convert). The app's founder, David Yarus (28), describes typical JSwipe users as “millennial Jews whose grandparents and mothers are saying, ‘When are you going to marry someone Jewish?’ ” The app has ~250K users in 70 countries. Much of the growth has been through word of mouth, with users acting like yentas.
Gleeden Unsettles The Land Of Discreet Affairs
NY TIMES – Mar 9 – Gleeden's latest ad campaign — evoking the temptations of Eve with a partly eaten apple — has spawned a backlash and a national debate in France. The Catholic Family Associations filed a legal complaint against the site. Bus company Keolis said it withdrew the ad last month after receiving 500 complaints in a week. An anti-Gleeden petition that was circulated on social media garnered ~20K signatures. Gleeden launched in 2009, and has ~1M subscribers in France and 2.4M globally.