GLOBAL NEWS - Mar 17 - Grindr was launched in March of 2009 and now has millions of daily users. The app's rise in popularity is no big surprise, as it turns out online dating in general has become the most popular way to meet people, especially within the LGBTQ community. New research from Stanford University and the University of New Mexico says ~70% of American same-sex couples who met recently did so online.
Q&A With CEO of Lunch Actually Violet Lim on Class95 Radio
RADIOSINGAPORE - Mar 18 - The presenters on "People In Our Neighbourhood" radio show chatted with Violet Lim, dating expert and CEO of Lunch Actually, about what's it like playing cupid in an age where the dating scene has changed so much due to technology.
Q: Why did you decide to set up a dating company?
A: At my first job at a bank I came across a lot of different people. I was surprised that a lot of my colleagues were single. I noticed that most of my friends who were getting married met their other half at the university. So I realized that if you miss that window, it is very hard to meet somebody later on. I had this idea of "lunch dating" and I could see how it would fit into the busy lifestyle of my colleagues.
Q: How do you help people?
A: Our focus now is on how to help people maximize their chances of meeting someone. Because just sending them on multiple dates might not help.
Q: How has Tinder and other dating apps affected your business?
A: They have actually helped our business. Before, people were not as open to using dating companies as they are now.
Q: How gratifying is to see people getting married?
A: It is very gratifying. One of the reasons I left the bank was that I could not see how my work translates to results.
Q: Do you have a secret book where you write down your successes?
A: 8 years ago, I published a book called Lessons from 15000 first dates. I have a new book coming up – What Dating Apps And Algorithms Do Not Tell You.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in the dating business?
A: Be very sure why you are joining this industry. It is very personal. Make sure this is your passion and you really want help singles find love. Understand it's not always an easy path, be a good listener, and don't be judgmental.
See full article at People In Our Neighbourhood
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TechTO: Malgosia Green, CEO of POF, Presents Portrait of a POF Dater
STARTUP HERE TORONTO - Mar 18 - In her presentation, Malgosia shares some of the learnings she's had since joining Plenty of Fish. Who is the POF dater and what makes the app compelling? "POF is the most diverse dating app in terms of education and location", she said. "If we were to describe POF as a party, most of our users would say BBQ - open, inviting, nurturing and pressure-free. On POF we have more conversations than on any other dating apps.
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Tinder Users Have Low Sexual Disgust Sensitivity, Study Finds
INQUISITR - Mar 17 - A new study by Barış Sevi of West Virginia University sheds light on the link between sexual disgust and Tinder use. Published in Evolutionary Psychological Science, the study builds on Sevi's past research, which has shown that, although Tinder users have different motivations for using the app, casual sex is the most common one. For the study, he surveyed 271 American adults. Study participants were asked to rate, for instance, "hearing two strangers having sex" and similar sexual situations as more or less disgusting. Results showed that Tinder users have lower sexual disgust sensitivity compared to non-users, and that Tinder users generally engage in risky behaviors unrelated to sex, such as driving without a seat belt, or drinking heavily.
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Tinder No Longer Uses Elo 'Desirability' Score
THE VERGE - Mar 15 - RIP to the mysterious Elo score. Tinder published a blog post on the subject. The Elo score ranked people by attractiveness. The more people that swiped right the higher their score. The most desirable people interacted with one another. "Today, we don't rely on Elo, though it is still important to consider both parties who Like profiles to form a match." Tinder adjusts potential matches a user sees every time someone acts on his or her profile, it says. It sounds like Tinder uses something similar to the Gale-Shapley algorithm, or the algorithm Hinge has said it uses, which identifies patterns around likes. If I like one guy, and so does another woman on the platform, she and I might have the same matching taste. If she's liked someone on the platform that I haven't seen yet, Tinder could show me that profile in the hopes that I might like it, too.
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'Unveil' Dating App Encourages Users to Consider Personality Before Looks
ABC6 - Mar 15 - With Unveil, users record a short audio clip detailing who they are and what they're looking for, instead of a profile picture. The catch? The user's face is blurred. Potential matches unlock the face on the other side of the obscured image by actually talking on the phone. More of the photo is "unveiled" with each conversation.
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Learn How to Set Up Your Database Like a Pro
OPW - Mar 17 - The Chief Scientist at Tinder Xue (Steve) Liu just co-authored this book on cutting edge techniques for setting up searchable storage in the cloud.
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Momo: High Growth, Stock Still Cheap and a Special Dividend
SEEKING ALPHA - Mar 15 - Momo is a mobile platform in China. It consists of the main Momo app, which combines live video streaming, chatting, gaming and TanTan, the Tinder of China. On Tuesday, March 12, Momo jumped 12% after it had released its Q4 and FY 2018 earnings before the market opened. Momo has beaten expectations every single time since its IPO in 2015. Momo is hugely profitable. And without Tantan's financial impact, the profitability would even have been higher. Momo invested heavily in 2018. With an extra 57% spending, a lot of companies would see their bottom line wither. But not Momo. Tang Yan, Momo's founder-CEO, was righteously very proud of the bottom line margins, which grew despite the very heavy investments. Because of that huge profitability, Momo is able to give a present to its shareholders: a special dividend. The special cash dividend is $0.62 per ADS, a 1.64% one-time yield at the current price ($37.76 at the moment of writing). The total amount of cash dividends the company will have to pay will be ~$128M. Tantan has still less users than Tinder. The dating app started the monetization only in Q1 2018: in January it started its VIP service. Then later, in July, it added two extra paying services: A See Who Likes Me stream and Super Exposure. With these three services, TanTan already has 3.9M paying subscribers which is already 90% of Tinder's number of subscribers. In Q4, TanTan's total revenue was $33M up 36% QoQ. While this is only a small number, I think the Chinese dating market could still be in its infancy and I expect it to grow for at least a decade.
See full article at Seeking Alpha
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Quirky Dating Apps Set to Rival Tinder and Bumble
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - Mar 15 - Growlr, Smell Dating and Unveil are generating successful matches in unique ways - including asking users to talk to each other before seeing their photos and matching people based on celebrities they like.
- Unveil - This app presents potential partners via a blurred photo screen and the only way to 'unlock' their image is to talk to them on the phone.
- Badoo - A new Badoo's feature allows users to name a celebrity they'd ideally like to date and the app will find matches who look just like them.
- Smell Dating - This company will send a shirt to its members that they have to wear for three days without deodorant, and then mail it back only to be sent shirt options from other people who did the same thing. The scent they like the most will then be revealed and contact details exchanged on the app.
by Matilda Rudd
See full article at DailyMail.co.uk
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Time Out Singapore and Paktor Group Partner for a Dating Event
MARKETING MAGAZINE - Mar 13 - Time Out Singapore has collaborated with dating agency Paktor Group's GaiGai to increase brand awareness of its product offering by hosting a dating event called "Find Me a Blind Date". Both Time Out Singapore and Paktor Group will also be presenting this event, while Winestone at Novotel Singapore is the exclusive venue and F&B partner.
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Tinder Offers Up to $1M in Free Ads to Nonprofits
SWIPE LIFE - Mar 13 - Tinder we'll be offering up to $1M in in-app advertising to worthy nonprofits. These ads will appear in front of millions of Tinder users and provide companies with the opportunity to donate and volunteer. In honor of International Women's Day, Tinder launched ads from its first partner, She's the First, an organization dedicated to fighting gender inequality through education. Previously, Tinder donated ~$20K to She's The First as part of #FundHerCause campaign.
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BharatMatrimony Rolls Out a New Safety Feature for Women
OPW - Mar 13 - On Women's Day, BharatMatrimony launched 'SecureConnect', a new calling feature that enables women to receive calls from male members, who have a premium membership, without revealing their contact number.
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Momo Predicts Big Growth in Eastern Markets for Its Dating App Tantan
KR ASIA - Mar 14 - The founder and CEO of Chinese location-based social app Momo, Tang Yan, said the company will pursue opportunities in overseas markets for its dating app Tantan. Momo acquired Tantan last May in a $735M cash and stock swap deal. Tantan is one of the top ten social apps on Android in Nepal, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with ~10M installs. Tantan had 3.9M paying users in the Q4 2018.
by Song Jingli
See full article at KrASIA
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Bumble Is Launching a Podcast to Help People Unsubscribe From Negativity
STANDARD.CO.UK - Mar 14 - Bumble's new show Unsubscribe is about empowering its listeners to remove the negative things in their lives. It is hosted by the app's international VP of marketing and communications, Louise Troen, and mental health and body activist Jada Sezer. Produced by Sony 4th Floor Creative Group, each episode will feature conversations with different guests about being mindful of the effects of our emotions and practices.
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A Brief History of Online Dating
BLOOMBERG - Mar 13 - In 1959 computer scientists used a five ton computer and it took three weeks for couples to be matched. Now it' just a momentary swipe of a finger. And did you know that YouTube started as a dating site? This is the brief history of online dating. (Video by Abigail Morgan, Leila Hussain. Graphics by Christian Capestany)
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Scruff Is Launching a Live Trivia Quiz Show
THE VERGE - Mar 13 - Scruff, a gay dating app, is launching a new live quiz show, called Hosting, that'll live inside the app. There will be a $500 prize for each game, and participants can browse who else is playing and either "woof" at them, which is like a Facebook Poke, or "favorite" them, which adds them to a list of people they might want to revisit. Every show takes place at 9PM ET, and is available in North America. There are three rounds with 10 questions each. Players have 10 seconds to answer each question. Scruff has committed to being an ad-free platform, so it says there won't be ads during the quiz show.
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Dating App Features That Users Want to See
ASKMEN - Mar 13 - 28% of the 1,045 surveyed in AskMen survey chose statistics on how their profile is performing as their most wanted feature. 20% would like to see automatic suggestions for first dates, followed by to see who else your match is chatting with (14%) and how to tell who has blocked you (14%).
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Got News?
OPW - Mar 13 - We protect sources. We're looking for insider news and tips. Got something interesting? We will not share your contact information with anyone. We respect embargoes, and we absolutely will honor your privacy. Send your news directly at tips@onlinepersonalswatch.com.
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Internet Dating Jobs Listing Update - March 2019
OPW - Mar 12 - The new Internet dating jobs listing is live on the Internet Dating Jobs blog.
Below see a couple of this month's most interesting offers:
Match Group
VP, Product
Meetic
Media Acquisition Director
Online Buddies
Chief Operating Officer
POF
VP of Marketing
RubyLife.com
Director, Digital Sales
The League
Creative Director
Tinder
Director, Internal Communications
To see more open positions go here.
Do you have an idating industry job offer which is not included? Please, send it to petra@courtlandbrooks.com and we will add it to the list.
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Momo's Financial Results: 2018 Annual Revenue ~$2B
PR NEWSWIRE - Mar 12 - Q4 2018 net revenues increased 50% YOY to $559M. Net income increased slightly YOY to $96M. Monthly Active Users ("MAU") on Momo app were 113.3M in Dec 2018, compared to 99M in Dec 2017. Total paying users, including 3.9M paying users of Tantan were 13M, compared to 7.8M in Q4 2017. Live video service revenues were $430M in the Q4 2018, up 36% YOY. Annual revenues increased 51% YOY to $1,950M. Net income was $409.5M, up from $320M.
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