Category: Outlets – New York Times

Led By Tinder, The Mobile Dating Game Surges

Posted on February 5, 2015

MACHINE-articleLargeNY 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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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

A Dating App, Happn, To Find A Match Nearby

Posted on January 2, 2015

Happn logoNY TIMES – Dec 31 – French dating app called Happn started in New York in September. Happn works by simple geolocation. It scoops up every prospective partner within a couple of blocks, or roughly a 275-yard radius. The matching process is very similar to Tinder; if both parties signal interest, the app connects them. If users are interested in someone who has yet to notice them, they can send that person a notification called a “charm.” Though the app is free, charms must be purchased — 10 for $1.99. Happn has just reached 80K users in New York.

by Jonah Bromwich
See full article at NY Times

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Joel Simkhai About His 6 Years Old Grindr

Posted on December 18, 2014

Grindr joel simkhai the officeNY TIMES – Dec 18 – It has been nearly six years since Mr. Simkhai introduced the world to Grindr, a geosocial networking gay app. In both free and subscription-based versions, Grindr employs the GPS function of a smartphone to allow a user to identify men within relative proximity. The app claims 4M users in 192 countries, reportedly including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Ghana, places where by being gay, people sometimes risk death. “Grindr is a very, very visual experience,” said Mr. Simkhai, who occasionally posts a shirtless photograph on his own profile. “Outside the gay community, people say it’s just a hookup app. And absolutely, sex is going on. But there’s always the possibility you will find someone who will move you."

by Guy Trebay
See full article at NY Times

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Zoosk Emphasizes Like, Rather Than Love In Its New Campaign

Posted on November 6, 2014

NY TIMES – Nov 5 - Zoosk is introducing an advertising campaign that makes no assertions about marriage, or even love. Rather, the campaign is based on the slogan “First Comes Like,” intended to highlight the moments when daters discover each other’s qualities.

by Andrew Adam Newman
See full article at NY Times

Mark Brooks: Meetic is one of Europe's leading dating services (owned by IAC) and its founder took the same approach. They said, they promise a date, but not love. They can't. That's too high and lofty a promise surely. It doesn't work to promise love in Europe. But I think in the USA, where we're more bullish and explicit about love, we can get away making such aspirational promises with our services. This is an area where Europe is a little less forgiving in general. Do you agree? Whats your thoughts? Do you think I'm blowing smoke? Then please comment? 🙂

See all posts on Zoosk

Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Tinder, The Fast-Growing Dating App, Taps An Age-Old Truth

Posted on October 31, 2014

Tinder cofoundersNY TIMES – Oct 29 – In the two years since Tinder was released, the app has exploded, processing ~2B swipes each day and matching ~12M people. Tinder is fast approaching 50M active users. People log into the app 11 times a day. Women spend ~8.5 minutes on the app during a single session; men 7.2 minutes. All of this can add up to 90 minutes each day. On Tinder, there are no questionnaires to fill out. Ms. Carbino, who recently concluded a Ph.D. candidacy at the University of California, joined Tinder to help the company understand what kind of visual cues could cause a person to swipe “like” or “nope.” The style of clothing, the pucker of the lips and even the posture, Ms. Carbino said, tell us a lot about their social circle, if they like to party and their level of confidence. While companies like eHarmony still assert they have a “scientific approach” to helping people fall in love, some dating sites are starting to acknowledge that the only thing that matters is the picture.

by Nick Bilton
See full article at NY Times

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Is Online Dating Revealing Our Biases, Or Reinforcing Them?

Posted on October 21, 2014

Luxy iconNY TIMES – Oct 17 – In recent weeks, two new mobile dating apps have been launched. One, called Meld, is marketed to black professionals seeking meaningful long-term relationships; the other, Luxy, invites wealthy individuals to find someone with whom to share their high-end lifestyles. Luxy is a mobile-based app by the same people who thought up MillionaireMatch.com. Luxy’s launch, however, provoked a lot of backlash. The news release called the service “Tinder minus the poor people.” Meld elicited some skepticism as well. At Ebony, Kirsten Magwood asks whether separating black people from a larger pool of singles is necessary: “Is racially based dating a dated concept in 2014?”

by Anna Altman
See full article at NY Times

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

IAC/InterActiveCorp Makes Moves In Online Dating

Posted on September 15, 2014

Match groupNY TIMES – Sep 14 – IAC has been snatching up dating sites for the last several years. In March, IAC increased its majority stake in Tinder. As of the end of last year, IAC said it hosted 30M active users among its dating properties, 3.4M of which are regular paid subscribers. The Match Group is now responsible for about one quarter of IAC’s overall revenue. “We are not just the acquirer of choice,” said Sam Yagan, CEO of the Match Group, “we are the only acquirer.” Investors seem nervous. They have been pushing for IAC to spin off the Match Group as soon as possible, probably because they think the popularity of dating sites is about to crest. Dating through mobile is exploding and has remained a weak spot for much of the industry. Another problem is that the market has become crowded. Mr. Yagan is not worried. He said there was still plenty of business to go around.

by Leslie Kaufman & Mike Isaac
See full article at NY Times

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Summarized by Courtland Brooks Internet Dating Marketing Consulting

Jewish Matchmaker Whose Hand Led Hundreds Down The Aisle

Posted on August 16, 2014

Tova weinbergNY TIMES – Aug 15 – Tova Weinberg is one of the country’s top Jewish matchmakers. At any given time, Ms. Weinberg has the names of “hundreds, maybe thousands” of single Jews bouncing around in her head, and over the years she has introduced “about 250” couples who went on to get married, not including those who met online at SawYouAtSinai.com, the matchmaking website she helped found. In 2004, investors approached her and asked her to help them start SawYouAtSinai.com. that currently has ~18,350 members and 355 matchmakers, including Ms. Weinberg. One of her primary tasks, on the website and for her private clientele, is to help singles be less picky, Ms. Weinberg said.

by Mark Oppenheimer
See full story at The NY Times

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Playing The Numbers In Digital Dating

Posted on August 16, 2014

DATING-master495-v2NY TIMES – Aug 15 – Dating is a numbers game, people say, but the direction it’s taking online and in apps means ever bigger numbers. The problem with bigger numbers and endless possibility: They don’t go well with humans. We don’t have the processing power. Dating is not simply about finding like-minded people, but about limiting your potential set of choices. When we’re making a selection from what sociologists call a bounded set of choices, we can “satisfice” —reach a kind of threshold of satisfaction. When the number of options increases, we become maximizers — unsatisfied with those options, and wanting more. More isn’t necessarily the answer. It’s about finding good matches in smaller sets. Maybe algorithms aren’t there yet. Or maybe that’s not the goal of the game.

by Leah Reich
See full article at NY Times

Professional Networking And Online Dating

Posted on August 13, 2014

Linkedup screenshotNY TIMES – Aug 12 – Services like LinkedUp and "Elevated Careers by eHarmony" are blurring the lines between professional networking and online dating. LinkedUp is a new service, not affiliated with LinkedIn, that uses the LinkedIn network to look for potential dates, while eHarmony has decided to deploy its expertise to match job seekers with potential employers. Many social networks designed for other purposes are now being mined for their dating potential turning the web into what writer James Bridle calls "a universal dating medium".

by Anna Altman
See full article at NY Times

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