Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch

Ripple, A Tinder Spinoff Backed By Match, Is A New App For Professional Networking

Posted on January 9, 2018

Ripple1TECH CRUNCH – Jan 9 – A team of former Tinder employees, led by Tinder's original CTO Ryan Ogle, are launching a new app aimed at professional networking. The app, called Ripple, aims to be a mobile-first alternative to LinkedIn. Ripple isn't just a "Tinder for business networking." Rather it takes some of the psychological principles that helped Tinder become a top app in its own market. "It isn't as easy as just throwing profiles up on a screen," Ogle says of competing apps that have tried to enter the business networking space in the past. Tinder addressed the stress that comes with being either the pursued or the pursuer. It only connects you when a match is mutually agreed upon, and it doesn't show you a history of your past "likes." With Ripple, the goal is to take a similar problem-solving approach to business networking's challenges, which differ from those in the dating world. Ripple got its start as an internal Tinder hackathon project. But instead of introducing business networking as a Tinder feature (as Bumble has now done), the company realized it deserved to be its own app. Match Group now has an undisclosed, minority stake in the new app. The company has no other outside investment, though the founders have put some of their own money in.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

OKCupid’s Users Rebel Over New ‘Real Name’ Policy

Posted on January 1, 2018

OkcTECH CRUNCH – Dec 30 – OKCupid's users are angry. Just ahead of the new year, the company made a radical change to its policies, and now requires people to use real names instead of an OKCupid username, as before. Since the update, announced last week, OKCupid's app has been slammed with bad reviews on the App Store. To make matters worse, OKCupid locked some people out of the app until they complied with the new policy, rather than offering a grace period. There is at least one caveat to OKC's new policy – you don't have to use your legal name, the company notes at the bottom of its announcement. It says, you can use the name you'd like your date "to call you" instead. OKCupid provided the following statement: To remove usernames is a part of our mission to add more substance and depth to dating. We get many of messages from folks who say they are offended by some of the usernames people make.

by Sarah Perez
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Dating App Hinge Rolls Out A New Feature To Reduce ‘Ghosting’

Posted on December 21, 2017

Hinge_yourturnTECH CRUNCH – Dec 20 – Dating app Hinge is introducing its own take on how conversations on dating apps should be handled with a new feature calling "Your Turn." "Your Turn" lets users decide – regardless of gender – who makes the first move, and then reminds users when it's their turn to respond. Hinge says it tested the feature last week in London and Washington, D.C. and found that it decreased the number of matches that don't lead to a conversation by 25%.

by Sarah Perez
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Plenty Of Fish Adds New Conversation Features To Differentiate Itself From Tinder

Posted on December 14, 2017

Pof conversatioinTECH CRUNCH – Dec 14 – POF was founded in 2003, then sold to Match Group in 2015 for $575M. It has since remained fairly quiet. That is now changing. POF is set to launch a collection of new modern features, called "Conversation Powers". It includes voice messaging, video calling, and the ability to share photos in chats. In the near future, it will also include the ability to share GIFs in conversations and add illustrations to photos, like doodles and stickers. POF will trigger the "Conversation Powers" after users have chatted with a match for a period of time. POF aims to differentiate itself from Tinder and others going forward by doubling down on conversations – something that's already a key focus for the company. POF claims 150M registered users worldwide. The company also says it was seeing $80M in revenue at the time of its acquisition, and has been growing that in the double-digits since.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder Is Testing A Feed Of Real-time Updates From Users’ Matches

Posted on December 12, 2017

Tinder feedTECH CRUNCH – Dec 12 – Tinder is testing a new feature called "Feed" in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Feed, which will appear as a tab on the Messages screen, will include real-time updates from those users have already matched with, including things like recently added Tinder photos, plus Instagram posts and their Top Artists and Anthems from Spotify. This is data Tinder users could already see, had their matches connected these external accounts to their profile. The idea is to present this information in a new format.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder Tests A.I Feature That Suggests Who To ‘Super Like’

Posted on December 4, 2017

Tinder superlikeableTECH CRUNCH – Dec 2 – Called "Super Likeable," the feature will pop up at random times in the app to offer users a free Super Like which can be used on one of four people presented on the Super Likeable card. The goal with Super Likeable is to present potential matches users might swipe on based on their previous swiping behavior. This is powered by artificial intelligence. Some people say Super Likes make them feel uncomfortable, and those sending the Super Like come across as creepy. Others say it has an element of desperation to it, so they opt not to use it. But Tinder's own data indicates that Super Likes are highly effective, as they increase users' likelihood of matching by three times. Free Tinder users only receive one Super Like per day, while paid subscribers receive five. It is now being testing in NYC and L.A.

by Sarah Perez
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Grindr Updates Its App To Be More Inclusive Of Transgender And Non-binary Users

Posted on November 22, 2017

Grindr new profile genderTECH CRUNCH – Nov 21 – Grindr said changes will include new profile fields for gender identity and the use of gender-neutral language throughout its app and website. Grindr's new identity section lets users fill out their own gender identity or pick from a list that includes "trans man," "woman," "cis man," "non-binary," "non-conforming" and "queer." Users can also select or write in what pronouns they prefer to use.

by Catherine Shu
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Coffee Meets Bagel Introduces New Video Feature

Posted on November 9, 2017

Coffeemeetsbagel video featureTECH CRUNCH – Nov 8 – Every day, Coffee Meets Bagel will ask users to answer a 'question of the day' within a brand new video section. Users record up to 8s of video answering the question. Once they answer the question, they will be able to browse the video section for other users in their area who have answered the question, and if they like what they see, they can match with them. Every 24 hours, the video section is wiped clean to make room for a new question, which lowers the stakes on answering the questions via video in the first place. It's unclear whether or not the video section will become a paid feature, but for now it is free.

by Jordan Crook
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Tonight Is A New Dating App Optimized For Real Dates

Posted on October 27, 2017

Tonight screenshotTECH CRUNCH – Oct 26 – When Whim launched two years ago, it was based on enabling real dates, rather than chatting. But there was one problem: Whim asked users to identify the days in a given week when they'd be free for dates. "Planning ahead was hard for people," said Founder and CEO Eve Peters. So after raising money through equity crowdfunding, Peters and her team have launched a new iOS app called Tonight. The app preserves the most distinctive part of Whim – as soon as two people show interest in each other, the app tries to set them up on a date, no messaging required. With Tonight, users are no longer scheduling those dates ahead of time. Instead, they sign on when they're free for a date that very evening. They will need to sign in by 6pm. In addition, they get penalized for flaking out, and they're eventually removed if they keep doing it.

by Anthony Ha
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The League Is Making Everyone’s First Profile Picture Black And White

Posted on October 25, 2017

Theleague monochromeTECH CRUNCH – Oct 23 – Exclusive dating app The League is going monochrome. Starting today, everyone's first profile picture will be displayed in black and white. The goal here is to get users to spend more time taking a holistic look at a potential match, and make sure they're not making a rash decision before saying yes or no. "It's easy for people to make snap judgments based on hair, skin or eye color, but harder to do when a photo is in monochrome" explained the startup.

by Fitz Tepper
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team