TECH CRUNCH – June 7 – The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the EU's Competition Commission both announced formal investigations into Facebook's operations. The competition regulators will scrutinize how Facebook uses data from advertising customers and users of its single sign-on tool – specifically looking at whether it uses this data as an unfair lever against competitors in markets such as classified ads. In a statement on its action, CMA CEO Andrea Coscelli said: "We intend to thoroughly investigate Facebook's use of data to assess whether its business practices are giving it an unfair advantage in the online dating and classified ad sectors. Any such advantage can make it harder for competing firms to succeed, including new and smaller businesses, and may reduce customer choice."
Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch
Tinder Finally Adds a Block Contacts Feature
TECH CRUNCH – June 7 – Tinder users can upload their phone contacts to select certain people that they'd rather not see on the app, whether that's an ex, a co-worker or a family member. According to a survey commissioned by Tinder, 40% of people have found an ex-partner on the app, 24% have encountered a family member and one in 10 have even encountered their professor. Tinder tested the Block Contacts feature in India, Korea and Japan, reporting that members who used the feature blocked about a dozen people on average.
Tinder Tested Group Video Chat
TECH CRUNCH – June 2 – "Tinder Mixer" allows users to join group video chats and play games with others nearby. The feature was tested for a short period of time last year in New Zealand, but will not be launching.
Meet Schmooze, a Meme-Based Dating App
TECH CRUNCH – May 26 – Schmooze combines machine learning and memes to connect people based on humor algorithm. A beta test in late summer with 200 Stanford students has since led to 10K downloads around the country. Currently ~200 memes are added each day, while others are deleted. 90K matches have been made to date. It recently closed on $270K in seed funding from Ulu Ventures and others to tinker with its product.
by Connie Loizos
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
Snack, a ‘Tinder Meets TikTok’ Dating App, Opens to Gen Z Investors
TECH CRUNCH – May 10 – Snack, a video-first mobile dating app designed with a younger generation in mind, has launched its own Gen Z Syndicate on AngelList, which will allow Gen Z community members, influencers, creators and others to participate in the company's upcoming $2M SAFE, alongside other funds and angel investors. The company in February announced $3.5M in seed funding. Users on Snack post videos to a feed which others then like in order to be matched.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
TikTok’s New Developer Tools Allow Apps Logins With TikTok, Sound Sharing, and More
TECH CRUNCH – May 8 – TikTok is expanding its integrations with third-party apps. The company introduced TikTok Login Kit and Sound Kit, that will allow apps on mobile, web and consoles to authenticate users via their TikTok credentials, build experiences that leverage users' TikTok videos and share music and sounds back to TikTok from their own apps. Once signed in, users can access their TikTok videos in the third-party app, potentially fueling entire new app ecosystems with TikTok content. Early adopters of the Login Kit include gaming clips app Allstar, anti-anxiety app Breathwrk, social app IRL, as well as dating and friend-making apps Snack, Lolly, MeetMe, Monet, Swipehouse and EME Hive.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on VerySocialNetwork
Feels Is a New Dating App With Profiles That Look More Personal
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 15 – Feels, a new French startup, feels more like watching TikTok videos or browsing stories. Users can record videos, add text and stickers, share photos, answer questions and more. Feels plans to attract new users with organic TikTok posts, some TV ads and more. The company wants to reach 1M users by the end of the year with a big focus on France for now. There are 100K users right now. Feels started offering a premium subscription to unlock more features. The company is still iterating on that part.
Manhunt Hacked, Thousands of Accounts Stolen
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 15 – Manhunt, a gay dating app that claims to have 6M male members, has confirmed it was hit by a data breach in February after a hacker gained access to the company's accounts database. The hacker downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users. Manhunt was launched in 2001 by Online-Buddies, which also offered gay dating app Jack'd before it was sold to Perry Street in 2019 for an undisclosed sum. Just months before the sale, Jack'd had a security lapse that exposed users' private photos and location data.
App Spending to Reach $270B by 2025
Snack, Where TikTok Meets Dating, Gets $3.5M
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 22 – Snack, founded by Kimberly Kaplan, looks to merge the popularity and format of TikTok with the dating world. Kaplan hails from Plenty of Fish, where she was one of the earliest employees. She led product, marketing and revenue and was on the executive team that eventually sold PoF to Match Group for $575M in 2015. Snack is a video-first dating app that asks users to create a video and post it to a feed. Other users can scroll through a feed rather than swipe right or left on individual profiles, and when someone likes a video, it opens up the ability to comment. Once two users have liked each others' videos, DMs are open. Kaplan said that Snack is also working on video editing features similar to that of TikTok to let people get super creative with their profiles. There are 10 people on the Snack team.
by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com