WASHINGTON POST – Dec 27 – After starting in 2017, Personals Instagram page became a hugely popular place for people to meet a partner or to make a friend, attracting 60K followers. Last month, founder Kelly Rakowski took the next step of turning it into its own app, Lex, creating a rare queer-centric platform for romance and friendship. Lex was financed by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $50K. The profiles look similar to those on Personals – minimalist, no photos – but users can message privately and set geographic boundaries.
Category: Outlets – Washington Post
There’s an Exclusive Dating Site for the University of Maryland
WASHINGTON POST – Dec 17 – University of Maryland senior Brandon Ferrell offered his peers a free dating site called TerpMatch. Students register with a university email address, type the name of thier crush and wait. Unlike most dating services, TerpMatch does not have messaging capabilities, photos or bios. But all matches must be made by this week. Ferrell said he will close the site on the last day of the semester. He said he built TerpMatch from scratch in about six hours. He launched the site the weekend after Thanksgiving and watched ~900 students sign up the first few days. Now, ~6K students are trying to match with their classmates.
MeetMe to Improve Its Screening for Sex Offenders
WASHINGTON POST – Dec 13 – MeetMe says it checks users to ensure they aren't convicted sex offenders by comparing the names they provide to MeetMe with online databases that list registered sex offenders. But the company has been the subject of lawsuits for allegedly enabling sexual predators to target minors. The Meet Group spokeswoman Brandyn Bissinger said they used different last names in their profile, and that is why they didn't show up in sex offender registries. "Our number one priority is providing a safe environment for our ~15M monthly users to connect and interact," Bissinger said. "We are an industry leader in promoting safety standards and are continuously working to advance our efforts." MeetMe said it will go beyond a person's username to check for sexual offenses. For instance, it will now check names on banking records when it pays streamers and check whether the names in email addresses conflict with the names users provide the company when accounts are created.
Grindr Is Falling Out of Favor
WASHINGTON POST – May 20 – Grindr has received backlash for one blunder after another. The Kunlun Group's buyout of Grindr raised alarm among intelligence experts that the Chinese government might be able to gain access to the Grindr profiles of American users. The app faced scrutiny after reports indicated the app had a security issue that could expose users' precise locations and their HIV status. Also, Scott Chen, the app's straight-identified president, may not fully support marriage equality. "It still feels like an app from 2009," says Brooks Robinson, a 27-year-old marketing professional in Washington." Robinson now prefers meeting people on Scruff. In the past several years, Grindr users have widely reported that spambots and spoofed accounts run rampant. "Grindr made stalking someone a little too easy," says Dave Sarrafian, a 33-year-old artist and barista in LA.
More Than Half of Young People in America Don’t Have a Romantic Partner
WASHINGTON POST – Mar 21 – Just over half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 (51%) said they do not have a steady romantic partner, according to data from the General Social Survey released this week. That 2018 figure is up significantly from 33% in 2004 – the lowest figure since the question was first asked in 1986 and up from 45% in 2016. Women are having fewer children, and they're having them later in life. The median age of first marriage is increasing. And according to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center, among those who have never married but are open to it, most say a major reason is because they haven't found the right person.
See full article at Washington Post
Tinder’s New Ad Campaign Doesn’t Want Users to Find Someone
by Lisa Bonos
See full article at Washington Post
Grindr, the First Big Dating App For Gays, Is Falling Out of Favor
WASHINGTON POST – Dec 7 – 2018 should have been a record year for Grindr, the leading gay dating app, which touts ~27M users. Instead, the app has received backlash for one blunder after another. Early this year, the Kunlun Group's buyout of Grindr raised alarm among intelligence experts that the Chinese government might be able to gain access to the Grindr profiles of American users. Then in the spring, Grindr faced scrutiny after reports indicated the app had a security issue that could expose users' precise locations and that the company had shared sensitive data on its users' HIV status with external software vendors. Last week, news broke that Scott Chen, the app's straight-identified president, may not fully support marriage equality. In the past several years, Grindr users have widely reported that spambots and spoofed accounts run rampant. Earlier this year, a massive study by the Center for Humane Technology found that Grindr is the No. 1 app that leaves users feeling unhappy. Among its major competitors, Grindr has the lowest score on the Apple App store: a lowly two stars.
Law Professor Wants to Make Catfishing for Sex a Crime
Millennials Are Taking Their Get-out-the-vote Efforts To Tinder.
WASHINGTON POST – Nov 3 – Emily Myers has been kicked off Tinder. She was trying to register people to vote. But sending spam, campaigning or nudging people toward external websites is not allowed on Tinder. And after several days of swiping and messaging men that they should visit Vote.org to check on their registration status, Myers discovered her Tinder account was locked. Discussing political opinions with a potential mate "used to be so unsexy," says Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, director of CIRCLE, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. "Now it's almost uncool to talk about unpolitical things. If you're not voting and you don't have that 'I voted' sticker, it's embarrassing." It could also keep you from getting a date. Voter turnout in midterm elections is typically low, especially among young people. In 2014, ~20% of Americans ages 18 to 29 cast a ballot, according to data from CIRCLE. For the upcoming midterms, CIRCLE notes that 34% of 18-to-24-year-olds say they're "extremely likely" to vote.
Online Dating Study Looks Into Users’ Messaging
WASHINGTON POST – Aug 8 – A study in the journal Science Advances described "a hierarchy of desirability" in the messaging tactics of online daters. It also found that both men and women messaged potential partners who were on average 25% more attractive than they were. The study analyzed heterosexual dating markets in an unnamed "popular, free online dating service" in four major U.S. cities: Boston, Chicago, New York and Seattle. Desirability was defined by the number of messages someone received as well as the desirability of the people sending those messages. In this study, white men and Asian women ranked highest for desirability. Men wrote more first messages than women, and women were less likely to respond to a message. Men and women also wrote longer messages to potential dates who were more desirable. Older women are less desirable, while older men are more so.