Category: Reporters – Jordan Crook

S’More: a New Dating App That Looks to Suspend Physical Attraction for Something More

Posted on November 13, 2019

Smore logoTECH CRUNCH – Nov 11 – According to former Chappy Managing Director Adam Cohen Aslatei, "something more" is one of the most common pieces of feedback that dating apps get from their users. That's where S'More comes in. S'More was founded by Aslatei to provide a dating app to users that goes beyond superficial looks. Rather than scrolling through a feed and swiping left and right, users are served five profiles each day. User profiles on S'More consist of icons, rather than pictures and text, which reveal characteristics about the profile's owner. The company plans to generate revenue through a freemium model. S'More is now launching in beta in Boston and the D.C. area with plans to launch in New York soon.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

Tinder Loops Rolls Out Globally

Posted on July 6, 2018

Tinder loops screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – July 5 – Tinder Loops, the recently announced video feature from Tinder, is today rolling out globally. Tinder has been testing this feature in Canada and Sweden since April, when it was first announced, and has rolled out to a few other markets since then. Loops are two-second, looping videos that can be posted to users' profiles. Users can't shoot Tinder Loops from within the app, but rather have to upload and edit existing videos in their camera roll or upload a Live Photo from an iOS device. Users who added a Loop to their profile saw that their average conversation length went up by 20%. The feature seems to be particularly effective in Japan with users receiving an average of 10% more right swipes if they had a Loop in their profile.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the IDEA team

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
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Is Launching ‘Reactions’

Posted on October 5, 2017

Tinder reactions smallerTECH CRUNCH – Oct 4 – Following in the footsteps of Facebook and iMessage, Tinder has introduced "Reactions," letting Tinder users send each other custom animated responses. These reactions include Hearts, Eye Roll, Round of Applause, Martini Throw, etc. In January of last year, Tinder introduced photo messaging, Giphy support, and bigger emojis. Actress and comedian Whitney Cummings is helping Tinder launch Reactions in a video series called "The Menprovement Initiative," directed by J.J. Adler. The video shows real female employees at Tinder interacting with Whitney Cummings to improve men. Tinder Reactions might make conversation easier between Tinder parties, but it doesn't seem to fit in well with the so-called Menprovement Initiative.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Available On Desktop

Posted on March 29, 2017

Tinder desktopTECH CRUNCH – Mar 28 – Tinder is launching Tinder Online, a web-optimized version of the dating app so people can Tinder at their desktops. Tinder Online doesn't include any of Tinder's revenue features like Tinder Boost or Super Like, for now. Head of Product at Tinder, Brian Norgard, says that Tinder Online is meant to serve users in emerging markets who don't have enough storage on their phone or a big enough data plan for Tinder's image-heavy feed. It's also meant to offer Tinder power users the option to do their swiping and messaging on desktop, which is far easier on power users than a mobile app. Tinder has always been a native mobile app, first on iOS and then on Android. But the company now serves 196 countries across the world, and is learning to be flexible when it comes to giving people options about how they use Tinder. Tinder is currently testing Tinder Online in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Philippines, and Sweden, with plans to launch everywhere 'soon'.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Select Is For Celebrities And Attractive People

Posted on March 8, 2017

Tinder selectTECH CRUNCH – Mar 8 – Tinder has been operating a members-only version of the platform called Tinder Select, which is for only the elite users on the app, including CEOs, super models, and other affluent types.Tinder has invited people to the platform, some of whom have the ability to 'nominate' others. But those who were nominated can't nominate anyone else, which prevents the members-only layer of the app from spreading uncontrollably. It's unclear exactly how Tinder decides who gets invited and who doesn't. One factor that might be included in the Tinder Select criteria could be the Tinder Elo score, which is an algorithmic rating system across all Tinder users. Tinder Select has been around for almost six months. This isn't the first time a dating app has tried to serve its top users. There is Raya and The League. Bumble is relaunching its VIBee "verified" tier which rewards users who make a positive contribution to the Bumble community.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Coffee Meets Bagel Is Launching New Apps – DateSpots.co And Mixtape

Posted on January 3, 2017

Coffeemeetsbagel mixtape logoTECH CRUNCH – Coffee Meets Bagel, the dating app that shows you one match per day, has build new apps with the help of Yelp and Spotify. The first app is called DateSpots.co and it lets people search for the perfect spot for a first date. The second one is Mixtape. Using Spotify's public API, Mixtape lets users build out collaborative playlists with their dates.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder Boost Goes Live Worldwide

Posted on October 19, 2016

Tinderboost_4TECH CRUNCH – Oct 19 – Tinder started testing the feature in late September in Australia, and has finally decided to let it loose across Tinder's global community. Tinder Boost lets users pay $1.99 – $3.99 to have their profile bumped to the front of the feed for 30 minutes.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

The New “Serious Relationship” Hinge Costs $7/Month

Posted on October 11, 2016

Hinge app Oct 16TECH CRUNCH – Oct 11 – Hinge, the newly pivoted "relationship app", has today unleashed an app that it believes is the solution to the "dating apocalypse." The whole idea is to ensure that users are all on the app to find an actual relationship. There is now swiping and a $7/month paywall. The new app looks much closer to Instagram, where users are interacting with each other's content instead of swiping yes or no.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Hinge Will Focus On Serious Relationships

Posted on September 28, 2016

Hinge_apocalypseticket_frontTECH CRUNCH – Sep 27 – Dating app Hinge is launching an entirely new version of the app that will focus on serious relationships. The new app, built from the ground up, will go live on October 11, and it will be a paid app for all users. Hinge is ditching its old app and also the swipe feature.

by Jordan Crook
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team