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Millennials Are Too Broke to Date
THE MOTLEY FOOL - Oct 31 - According to Match.com, 33% of young singles believe that their financial situation is getting in the way of dating. 20% don't even think they should be dating at all until they achieve a particular income level. According to a study on underemployment by The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), in 2018, 11% of young college graduates were underemployed, up from 9.4% in 2007 and 6.9% in 2000. The term underemployed includes graduates who are unemployed as well as those who could only find part-time jobs. Other research puts the total unemployment rate for millennials at over 12%, which is much higher than the national average. A study by The Ascent found that 63% of millennials still depended on their folks financially to some extent. In 2018, the average cost of a date - including two dinners, one bottle of wine, and two movie tickets - was $102.
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This Is How Dating Apps Influence Our Decision-Making
THRIVEGLOBAL - Oct 31 - Dating apps are creating a paradox effect. They are giving off the illusion of many choices while making it harder to find viable options. We can find a match in milliseconds but that limits us to just what we think are ideal physical characteristics. Also our brain only focuses on the things we expect to see. When it comes to dating decision-making, our brain will discount data when we are actively searching for our match. Essentially, what is happening is that we're overlooking good candidates. In my Your Happiness Hypothesis study, 65% of the active online dating users found that 90% of the time they were overlooking ideal candidates because they kept using the same parameters for their searches. Only when we were able to explore the subconscious factors that led their search for their ideal partner were we able to change the quality of their dating approach.
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TAIMI is Implementing Apple ID Login
MEDIUM.COM - Oct 31 - TAIMI, the LGBTQI+ social network and dating app is adding more features. The latest update comes as Apple continues to roll out updates to iOS 13. iOS 13 offers people the ability to "Sign in with Apple ID". Since introducing the "Sign in with Apple ID" TAIMI saw an increase of 30% in terms of subscription conversion in comparison to other sign up options currently available to its users. Currently, TAIMI has ~100K daily active users and growing.
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Korean Dating App Chemi Uses AI Voice-based Algorithm
KOREATECHDESK - Oct 30 - Korean startup HAII (Human-AI-Information) has launched Chemi that uses AI to match singles with the right person by using AI to analyze the characteristics of the voice.
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Muslim Speed Dating
BBC - Oct 30 - Some young Muslims in London are turning to speed dating to find love. A recent session was organized by Mmm Dating.
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IAC Must Face Tinder Co-founder's $2 Billion Lawsuit
REUTERS - Oct 30 - A New York state appeals court has rejected IAC's bid to dismiss a $2B lawsuit by a group of Tinder founders, executives and early employees who said it undervalued the dating app to avoid paying them billions of dollars. The decision affirmed a June 13 ruling by New York State Supreme Court Justice Saliann Scarpulla in Manhattan. IAC and Match separately sued Rad in January, accusing him of having secretly copied files and other proprietary information. They also filed a $400M countersuit in September accusing him of having recorded conversations with his superiors without their consent. Rad has sought to dismiss the January lawsuit, and in an Oct. 17 court filing Rad's lawyer called the countersuit "legally without merit" and an effective attempt to bankrupt Rad.
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The Top Dating News for Oct 29th - The Meet Group, Hornet, Millionaire Match, and BHOC
OPW - Oct 29 - For the top weekly dating industry news in ~2 minutes subscribe to OPW's Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor.
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The Meet Group Launches NextDate, a Livestreaming Dating Game
BUSINESSWIRE - Oct 29 - NextDate allows users to star in their own dating game. It works like speed dating, except that there's an audience and the contestant gets to choose the specific people they'd like to connect with. In NextDate a streamer has 90s to tap "Next," which ends the current pairing and skips to the next contestant in the queue, or "Date," which enables the two users to connect by 1:1 video chat in the future. NextDate is now available on MeetMe and Skout.
See full article at Businesswire
See all posts on The Meet Group
See all posts on MeetMe
See all posts on Skout
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Tinder and Other Dating Apps Don't Comply With Dutch Privacy Laws
NL TIMES - Oct 29 - Dating platforms Tinder, Happn, 50plusmatch, Parship, and Paiq are in violation of Dutch privacy law, according to consumers association Consumentenbond. They place tracking cookies without users' permission and their privacy statements are intentionally vague about who they share information with, according to the association. The consumers' association addressed the dating sites on this violation of the General Data Protection Regulation. Happn, 50plusmatch, and Paiq adjusted their cookies policy. Tinder and Parship did not.
by Janene Pieters
See full article at NL Times
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Bumble Has Re-launched Its Anti-Ghosting Campaign
BUSTLE - Oct 29 - For the second year in a row Bumble is celebrating Halloween by launching an anti-ghosting campaign. Bumble has teamed up with their in-house ghosting expert Kate Leaver to empower Bumble users to have the confidence to strike up difficult conversations about ending relationships in a nice way. Bumble found that 69% of Bumble users admit they would use text to let down someone after a first date if they didn't intend on seeing them again. However, 62% said they would welcome advice on how to break it off with someone and 89% of people would prefer to know why someone didn't intend on seeing them again after a date.
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Interview With BHOC Director Dan Wohlfeiler
OPW INTERVIEW - Oct 29 - TellYourPartner.org is a new STD prevention tool launched by Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC). It allows users to anonymously text or email a sexual partner that they might be at risk of an STD. We have interviewed BHOC director Dan Wohlfeiler about how dating apps can help stop the spread of record high STD infections among their users.
What dating apps have signed up to assist?
Grindr includes the link to TYP in its sexual health FAQs. Daddyhunt is currently designing new reminders to get regular sexual health check-ups, and what tests those should include. GROWLr, Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Daddyhunt have incorporated suggestions on profile design related to sexual health options.
How are they working with TYP, and BHOC?
BHOC works closely with apps to help customize HIV and STD prevention strategies. We've worked with them to design profile options that help users exchange information about whether or not they are taking Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), have an undetectable viral load, and/or prefer to use condoms. This helps users make informed choices, and importantly, promotes norms about taking active steps to promote sexual health. BHOC has worked with apps to help users sign up for automatic testing reminders at their choice of three or six-month intervals. Based on app owners' requests, BHOC also developed an extensive sexual health information resource guide, and continues to update it regularly. We've also worked with apps to help inform users about outbreaks. We're also partnering closely with Grindr to promote home-based testing. We have also partnered with apps to produce public service announcements, and are developing a clearinghouse of campaigns for public health organizations to share. This will reduce their need to invest in developing new creative, freeing up more funds for ad placement.
What would you like to see dating apps support TYP and BHOC?
One key strategy is to regularly and consistently promote getting tested, and let people know about TYP and the other resources that BHOC has available. Our research shows that app users look favorably on apps that take proactive steps to support their health, so it's a win-win for the industry and for public health. Profiles should have options to enable users to exchange clear information about sexual health strategies. Dating apps can also show support by promoting our digital anti-stigma campaign, NiceAF.org, and by offering discounted ads for public health departments and non-profit organizations, all of which have extremely limited budgets.
How is BHOC funded at this stage?
BHOC has been funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Google, Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, and private donations. Additionally, our public health partners and apps have dedicated considerable time and energy in helping obtain and provide input from their members and users that guide our work. We're particularly grateful to those apps that have made changes in their platforms, such as profile options and testing reminders. They serve a life-saving role in the same way as banking curves on a freeway reduces automobile accidents. Once they're in place, they provide a huge benefit to the health of the entire community.
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Gay Dating App Hornet to Offer "Verified" Profile Badge
BBC - Oct 28 - In a bid to tackle fake profiles and fraudsters, gay dating app Hornet plans to offer a sort of "verified" badge to identify authentic members. But rather than moderators checking ID, the app will use algorithms to decide who gets a badge. So why do gay dating apps not offer a "verified" profile badge, like on Instagram or Twitter? "Not everyone wants to or even should be identified," said Eric Silverberg, CEO of dating app Scruff. ID checks would create a list of "verified LGBT people" that could be used by those wanting to do harm, including governments. Hornet says its system will not involve checking ID. Instead, algorithms will evaluate how people behave on the app over time. Profiles that are judged to be genuine will display a "Hornet badge" as an indicator of trustworthiness.
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Tinder Has 50 Gender Options But Transgender People Are Being Banned
PINKNEWS.CO.UK - Oct 26 - Despite having 50 gender options, and nine sexualities, trans people say Tinder condones "discrimination" against trans people using the app, partly because of poor customer support for trans people who have been banned. A Tinder spokesperson said in a statement: "We recognize the transgender community faces challenges on Tinder, including being unfairly reported by potential matches more often than our cisgender members. This is a multifaceted, complex issue and we are working to continuously improve their experience."
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Bumble Automatically Blurs Nude Images
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK - Oct 28 - By utilizing AI, Bumble's Private Detector Tool captures images in real time with 98% accuracy in order to detect if a user has been sent content that is inappropriate. The feature was championed by Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, and Andrey Andreev, founder of MagicLab, which owns dating apps Badoo, Bumble, Lumen and Chappy. Wolfe Herd recently worked with lawmakers in the US state to make the sharing of unsolicited lewd photographs a punishable crime, legislation that came into effect in August. When a Bumble user is sent an image or message that the Private Detector tool has deemed inappropriate, a message appears on their screen to alert them. They are then offered the option to tap to reveal the picture or message in question.
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