WATSON - July 12 - A Swiss start-up that operates Dua.com, a Europe-wide dating app for Albanians, is confronted with data protection issues. Dua.com has been installed ~350K times so far. It was developed by a start-up run by the Eastern Swiss entrepreneur Valon Asani, who now operates from Zurich and Kosovo's capital Prishtina. Dua.com is designed for people of Albanian origin, and a Romanian version of the app is coming soon. Most recently the company has encountered data protection issues. Some users accused the app of sharing their data with third parties for marketing purposes. Mr Asani said he was serious about data protection. Dua.com has appointed a data protection officer which is required by law when "particularly sensitive data" is processed.
Mark Brooks: The CEO of Dua refutes these claims and says, "The news about dua.com is actually wrong. We had only accusations without any facts. We declared those are not true. So, we don't "face privacy issues"."
EXCHANGE4MEDIA - July 12 - In the fun video released on Instagram, the mother-daughter duo will be seen bonding over making the first move and sharing tips on how to Bumble better.
AITHORITY - July 10 - Spark Networks has begun to record revenue from Zoosk Live! a livestreaming service offered via a partnership with ParshipMeet Group. Zoosk Live! is the result of Spark leveraging ParshipMeet Group's Live video Platform as a Service (vPaaS) product, which powers some of the world's largest livestreaming video dating apps by monetizing user videos. The service offers a range of livestreaming options, including challenges, events, and interactive features like NextDate, a speed dating game.
KNOWTECHIE - OneRep is an online privacy service that protects users from the worst parts of the internet. They can set up your profile in just a couple of minutes, and then it finds and deletes their personal information on ~100 people-search sites with the push of a button. If you've never opted out of a people-search site, chances are you're currently vulnerable to identity theft, doxxing, spam, and even reputational harm. That's where OneRep comes in. Rather than opting out of these sites by hand (just to have your information pop up again), OneRep removes and keeps you off of over 100 data brokers. What's So Dangerous about Data Brokers? There's a big market for selling personal data, which explains the thousands of data brokers on the internet. These sites track down personal information and gather it into a profile that others can view or purchase. This can include phone number, occupation, salary, address, and plenty more.
LTR - July 12 - Barbara Soltysinska, CEO and Co-founder of indaHash, is a pioneer in the emerging influencer marketing movement. Social media influencers enjoy a strong and dynamic relationship with their fans and followers. In a time when traditional media has lost significant credibility with the public, influencers present a powerful opportunity to serve as brand ambassadors. Additionally, major platform companies like Apple are seeking to restrict access to private consumer data. The connection and trust that exists between influencers and fans can provide an avenue for continued targeting of interested audiences. Over 75% of top brands are using influencer marketing in some capacity. Online dating companies would benefit from a properly managed influencer marketing campaign. A key part of indaHash's strategy is engaging quality influencers at all levels of reach. Barbara Soltysinska, along with VP of APAC & China Ashwin Chandoesing, share valuable information on influencer marketing in the latest video in the LTR Conference series.
LTR stands for Love, Technology, Relationships and the online conference covers the Internet dating and Online Social Communities space. It is for members of IDEA and OSCA.
BETTER LOVE MOVEMENT - July 7 - I interviewed with Anita Stoudmire, a professional relationship counselor, for her podcast 'Better Love Movement.' We talked about the dating industry, tips for users, and how RealMe is helping dating apps improve safety. - Mark Brooks
ANITA STOUDMIRE RealMe is an online reputation platform dedicated to cultivating safety and trust online, building a new era of trust and transparency, empowering users with a trustworthy reputation and background information through instant access to more than 275 million verified reputation profiles. RealMe's platform uses public records to source background information that can include criminal records, sex offender status, personal reviews, and more to make online interactions and transactions safer while empowering consumers to manage their own online reputation.
MARK BROOKS Safety and security are paramount. Just making sure people are who they say they are. Nothing can foul a date faster than showing up on a date and not recognizing the person in front of you.
A lot of information is publicly available, but it's a real hodgepodge! So if you want to know if someone is who they really are, you can do that with very high certainty in the USA. And if you want to know, if someone is a felon, you can do that with a very high certainty, also sex offender status. But it's a real hodgepodge of databases. So what RealMe has done beautifully is brought this hodgepodge of data together. There are 275 million people that they've got records on. What they do is provide some certainty, some verification, some authentication of the person you're about to meet. We all think that that's super important in the context of dating. You're putting yourself out there and you don't really know who you're meeting. So it's our responsibility within the dating industry to help people have more reassurance.
ANITA STOUDMIRE Here in America, a lot of this information is public record. You can kind of look it up, but I like the idea of, like you said, it's all there in one place. You don't have to go to a lot of different places. You can just click on that link on the dating profile. So I love that.
MARK BROOKS We're in the information age. We should be providing more information.
ACCESSWIRE - July 9 - Loosid, the top sober social network in the U.S., introduces "Recovery Voices." Recovery Voices is a unique offering on the sober educational and social platform where Loosid members can access exclusive interviews of well-known individuals sharing their intimate stories of addiction and their inspiring journeys to recovery and sobriety. Sober App's Lineup of Exclusive interviews includes celebrities, athletes, musicians, authors, addiction experts, and others sharing stories of addiction & recovery.
MYNEWS LA - July 8 - Match Group will pay $2M to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the online dating service charged customers for automatic renewal without their consent. Match Group is additionally required to clearly disclose its automatic renewal terms, to get consumer consent via a checkbox before charging for automatic renewals, and to email customers a confirmation of transactions after they pay with a clear statement of the automatic renewal terms. Consumers also must be allowed to easily cancel service online or otherwise and there must be no misleading online sales information or payment systems.
KASPERSKY - July 8 - Kaspersky, a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, surveyed ~18K people in 27 countries, of whom 84% were either currently using a dating app (37%) or had used one in the past, to learn more about their experiences.
Key findings:
79% succeeded in promoting their social media on dating apps.
48% of people use dating apps to 'meet new people' making it the most popular reason.
15% of dating app users have been scammed in some way.
64% of people felt the algorithm understands their preferences.
39% of people believe it's dehumanizing to be rated by an algorithm.
42% of people have would only date people who were vaccinated or had coronavirus antibodies.
PR NEWSWIRE - July 8 - Hinge has promoted Michelle Parsons to Chief Product Officer. Michelle will focus on both enhancing the user experience through product innovations and developing internal systems that will help scale product development. Tim MacGougan, Hinge's current CPO, is stepping into the newly-created Chief Design Officer role as the company doubles down on its goal to have the most effective app design.
WALL STREET JOURNAL - July 8 - Dating apps are getting friendlier. More younger people see no problem swiping left or right to find friend matches rather than dates or hookups. Millennials and Generation Z have been comfortable using dating apps to meet platonic friends for a few years now, especially when moving to a new city. During the pandemic, the practice boomed. In a recent survey of 300 members of Generation Z aged 16 to 24 in the U.S., 35% said they have used dating apps to make platonic friends over the past 12 months, according to OnePulse, a consumer insight app and web portal. 27% said they used dating apps to make friends because they were lonely in lockdown. More women than men - 39% vs. 29% - said they used dating apps to make platonic friends.
TECH CRUNCH - July 8 - SwoonMe aims to fix the problem with superficial dating apps, where users primarily make decisions based on how someone looks. Instead of swiping through profiles, SwoonMe's idea is to use a combination of avatars and audio to encourage users to connect based on someone's personality. To use the app, users take a selfie which SwoonMe converts into an avatar. They then record a voice clip to tell others about themselves and what they're looking for in a partner. The idea for SwoonMe comes from Tanvi Gupta, a former Facebook product specialist who was involved with a number of high-profile products, including those that shipped in Messenger and in Instagram Direct, such as Messenger reactions, a Messenger redesign, chat heads on Android, and more. Currently, SwoonMe is targeting the dating markets of San Francisco and L.A., but is open to anyone who wants to try it. The startup is a small team and currently working to raise $1M in seed funding.
HIPHOP-N-MORE - July 8 - BLK, the largest dating app for Black singles has found a unique way to encourage people to get vaccinated. The app has partnered with rap legends Juvenile and Mannie Fresh, turning the iconic classic 'Back That Thang Up' into the new vaccine anthem 'Vax That Thang Up'.
APN NEWS - July 7 - Matrimony.com, India's leading online matrimony company, has signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100% stake in Boatman Tech Private Limited, promoters of ShaadiSaga.com (a Delhi-based fast-growing online wedding services company) as approved by its Board of Directors. Founded in 2015, ShaadiSaga is a leading player in the Wedding Services industry, with 40K vendors across multiple services and catering to customers across 15 major cities in the country. Following this acquisition, ShaadiSaga's founders - Himanshu Kapsime (CEO) and Manish Garg (COO), along with another key leader - Niraj Patel (CPO) will join Matrimony.com in senior leadership roles.
