TECH CRUNCH – Feb 8 – Tinder will launch a series of new features based on location in 2018. Match Group has been fairly vague on what these new features will entail, having only described them as something that will blur the "distinction between digital and real-life dating, and dating and simply engaging in your social life." Tinder remains one of the biggest drivers of revenue for Match Group, accounting for ~30% of its parent company's revenue in 2017.
Category: Reporters – Sarah Perez
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Dating App Hinge Rolls Out A New Feature To Reduce ‘Ghosting’
TECH 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%.
Plenty Of Fish Adds New Conversation Features To Differentiate Itself From Tinder
TECH 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.
Tinder Is Testing A Feed Of Real-time Updates From Users’ Matches
Tinder Tests A.I Feature That Suggests Who To ‘Super Like’
TECH 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.
Hinge’s New App Lets Users Play Matchmaker
Tinder Adds More Gesture-Based Navigation
TECH CRUNCH – July 18 – With new tappable gestures, Tinder's photos become more like Stories. In the updated app, photos now take up more screen space. The way users move between photos and profiles has changed too, as they now tap on different parts of the screen to navigate between the photos and the text. Swiping is taking a back seat. Users can now move backward and forward between photos just by tapping instead. For example, to move to the next picture, they would tap on the right side of the screen; and to go back to the last photo, they'd tap on the left. A tap on the bottom of the photo will open up the user's profile.
Dating Apps Are Embracing Video
by Sarah Perez
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