BUSINESS INSIDER – June 14 – Tinder Select is a secret version of Tinder for "celebrities, models, and millionaires." Tinder has never officially acknowledged Tinder Select exists, and there's a lot of misinformation out there about it. It functions the same way regular Tinder does. There is no separate feed where users can swipe only on selected members. When Tinder Select users run across someone who is also a Tinder Select member, they appear with a blue border around their picture, and a badge that says "Select" along the top. There's a supercharged algorithm that pushes profiles toward the front of the feeds of people they had swiped "yes" on. Right now, Tinder Select simply seems like a way to make its top users happy, and perhaps more likely to stick around on the app.
Category: Reporters – Nathan McAlone
Tinder’s VP Of Product Is Leaving The Company
Valentine’s Day: The Most Active Day for dating apps
BUSINESS INSIDER UK – Feb 1 – Dating app Happn says its most active day in the US is February 7, one week before Valentine's Day. This makes sense, in a slightly depressing way. People don't want to have a first day on Valentine's Day. A second date on Valentine's Day seems much more reasonable. Happn also saw a spike in the week after New Year's. New year, fresh start in finding a soul mate, it seems.
Dating App Hinge Offers A $99-a-month Personal Assistant
Sean Rad Steps Down From Tinder CEO Role, And Launches ‘Swipe Ventures’
UK.BUSINESS INSIDER – Dec 9 – It's the second time Rad has stepped down from the top job at the company he cofounded four years ago, but he's not going away. The Tinder CEO position will be filled long-term by Greg Blatt, who is also the CEO of Match Group. Rad will remain the online dating company's chairman and help to guide strategy. He will also lead a new entity within Match, called "Swipe Ventures," which will be focused on buying companies to help Tinder.
It Looks Like Hinge Is Going Back To Freemium Model
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 4 – In October, Hinge launched a totally new app focused on relationships (versus hookups). After a free trial everyone on Hinge was supposed to pay $7 per month. Hinge's CEO was shunning the freemium model. He said the people who pay tended to be "power users" of swiping apps. Now it seems that he has changed his mind and is not going to force everyone to pay. This is what the app sent to its users today: "As an Early Member, you've helped create a community of people who want more. To thank you, we'd like to give you Hinge free, forever." What Hinge is offering is a "Basic Membership" with limited features.
Tinder Now Lets Users Use Music To Find A Date
Hinge CEO Is Not Afraid Of Making Big Changes
BUSINESS INSIDER – Sep 17 – When Hinge was floundering in 2012, Justin McLeod spent $25k on a huge 2,000-person launch party to kick-start its growth. The company only had $32k left in the bank at the time. It worked. Now McLeod hopes another big bet can save Hinge. The app is bleeding users and has plummeted to a 1.5-star rating as McLeod and his team has been working on something totally new. The new product will be unveiled this week.
by Nathan McAlone & Biz Carson
See full article at Business Insider
Dating Apps With Highest % Of Women
BUSINESS INSIDER – Jun 3 – SurveyMonkey Intelligence looked at the numbers to see which dating apps have the highest proportion of women. Christian Mingle scored the top spot, with women-friendly apps like Coffee Meets Bagel and Bumble also scoring high. Tinder and Happn ranked lower, while, unsurprisingly, gay app Grindr fell in last place.
Tinder CEO Sean Rad Has Hired 6 People After Matching With Them On Tinder
