Category: Reporters – Megan Rose Dickey
Thurst – A Dating App For Queer, Trans And Gender Non-conforming People
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 20 – Earlier this year, trans people reported that they were getting banned from using Tinder. What seemed to be happening was that transphobic people were reporting those transgender users on the app. "Everyone is welcome on Tinder," said Tinder spokesperson. Still, Tinder only offers two options for gender identification: male and female. Thurst, which is currently in beta, hopes to launch early next year.
Zoosk Relies Heavily On Spam
BUSINESS INSIDER – Apr 17 - Zoosk recently filed to go public on the NYSE. It grew 44% from 18M registered users to 26M. In its filing, Zoosk acknowledges that email and text message campaigns are an important means to drive member and subscriber engagement. "We send a large volume of emails and text messages to members and subscribers notifying them of a variety of activities on our platform."
HatchLabs’ Co-Founder Is Creating His Third Dating App
BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 10 – Sway CEO Adam Huie is currently working on his third dating app. All of Huie's apps – Let's Meet, Sway, and his new one, Tryst – use a similar anonymous matching interface in which couples can only find out more about each other if they both agree to do so. Sway just partnered with Bravo TV and its new show "Online Dating Rituals of the American Male." Sway specifically created this new app for the show. Previously, Huie co-founded Hatch Labs, the mobile incubator that launched Tinder. In June, Huie became CEO of dating startup Let's Date. He left Let's Date for Sway, which is essentially Let's Date with a different name and a slightly tweaked user interface.
Tinder On Android: People Have To Beg For It
BUSINESS INSIDER – July 12 – Tinder is one of the most buzzed-about apps in the online dating space. Since its launch last October, it has generated ~75M matches and 50 couples have gotten engaged. The app is only available for iOS. In order to launch on Android, ~1M people need to request it via Twitter of Facebook. There are a ton of Android smartphones out there running different versions of the operating system with different screen sizes and internal hardware that complicate development. Once the demand is there, that's when Tinder will launch for Android.
Let’s Date App Lets Friends Match Their Friends
BUSINESS INSIDER – Mar 5 – Let's Date, an app that launched out of beta last month, introduced a new feature called "Wingman." Everyone on Let's Date has a dater card, which features basic information like age, sex, and interest. Once you're in the app, you swipe through dating cards and if you like what you see, you can click "Let's Date." If that person hits "Let's Date" on your profile, the two of you will be able to chat and plan your first date. With the new Wingman feature, your friends can browse through the app to help find potential matches for you.
OkCupid Founder Says His Dating Site Has Created A Blind-Date Algorithm
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 27 – OkCupid co-founder Sam Yagan said the company uses data to understand its users, gain insights, and use that data for marketing purposes. He claims that the company knows "quantitatively and anecdotally" that its users find better, more compatible matches on OkCupid than on other dating sites. OkCupid could use its data to set up a date between two people who won't know what the other looks like until they meet in person, a classic blind-date scenario, but arranged by algorithms rather than acquaintances.