BLOOMBERG - The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois did not accept Bumble's plea to dismiss a class-action lawsuit over supposed violations of biometric privacy related to a verification feature in its dating app, Badoo. The court stated that further jurisdictional discovery is needed to clarify whether Bumble and its two subsidiaries, Buzz Holdings L.P. and Bumble Trading LLC, are subject to the court's jurisdiction due to uncertainties in Bumble's involvement with its subsidiaries. Kemelle Howell, a Badoo user since 2016, initiated the lawsuit in 2021, alleging that the companies violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act through its verification tool.
191 posts categorized "Badoo"
Bumble Can't Dodge Biometric Class Action Over Badoo App Yet
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Bumble Q2 2023 Results
BUSINESSWIRE - Total revenue increased 18.5% to $259.7M, compared to $219.2M. This includes an unfavorable impact of $1.6M from foreign currency movements YOY. Bumble App Revenue grew 23.4% YOY to $208M, compared to $168.5M in Q2 '22. Badoo App and other revenue increased 2% to $51.8M, compared to $50.7M. Total paying users increased to 3.6M, compared to 3M. Net earnings were $9.3M or 3.6% of revenue, compared to net loss of $5M, or (2.3)% of revenue.
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Badoo Launches 'Family-Approved' Features Allowing Loved Ones to Help Construct Dating Profiles
METRO.CO.UK - Dating app Badoo has introduced its 'Family-Approved' features, allowing users' family members to help construct their dating profiles. According to Badoo's research, 71% of users struggle to present themselves on dating apps, and 44% find profile building embarrassing. The new features include a 'family-approved' badge and the option to add a video clip featuring a family member endorsing the user. Prompt questions also allow family members to share what they would say about the user to potential matches. Badoo's research found that users have the most confidence in their siblings and parents/guardians to provide positive feedback on their profiles.
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28% of Consumers Look for Love on Dating Apps in Early 2023
PYMNTS - Spring and summer are prime dating seasons, and like other human behaviors, the pandemic has increased consumer reliance on digital tools to find that special someone. According to the PYMNTS study "ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report: The Love and Social Media Edition", 28% of US consumers, or ~73M people used dating apps in March. That's a 21% increase from the same month last year. 12% of men use dating apps and sites daily, versus 7.5% of women. Generation Z consumers and millennials also account for a disproportionate number of the consumers who use dating apps and sites. In total, 55% of Gen Z and 50% of millennials use some type of dating app or site. Dating apps were downloaded more than 60M times last year in the U.S., with Tinder, Bumble and Hinge representing 60% of those downloads in any given month, on average. Plenty of Fish, MeetMe, Tagged, Grindr, Badoo and Wink make up the tail end of the online dating market.
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Bumble Announces First Quarter 2023 Results
BUSINESSWIRE - Bumble's Q1 revenue increased 16% to $243M. This includes an unfavorable impact of $7.2M from foreign currency movements year over year. Bumble app revenue grew 26% to $194.3M. Badoo app and other revenue declined 12.6% to $48.7M. Total Paying Users increased to 3.5M YOY, compared to 3M in Q1 '22. Net loss was $2.3M, compared to net earnings of $23.7M last year's Q1. Adjusted EBITDA was $59.3M.
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Bumble Stock Falls as CEO and Blackstone Plan to Sell Shares
BUSINESSWIRE - Bumble, the parent company of Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz, has announced that some of its shareholders will sell 12.5M shares of the company's Class A common stock to the public. The selling shareholders are affiliated with Blackstone, a private equity firm, and Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Bumble. Bumble itself will not be selling any shares in this offering and will not receive any of the money from the sale. Bumble shares declined more than 7% today following this announcement.
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Bumble Q4 Financial Results
BUMBLE - Bumble, the parent company of Bumble, Badoo, and Fruitz, reported its Q4 and the full year 2022 results. In Q4, the total revenue increased 16.7% to $241.6M, while its Bumble App revenue grew 27.7% to $190.8M. Bumble App paying users grew 133K sequentially in Q4; added 502K paying users in FY22 compared to FY21. Badoo and other revenue declined 11.9% to $50.8M, compared to $57.6M. For the full year, Bumble's revenue increased 18.7% to $903.5M. However, the company's net loss for the year was $(114.1)M, compared to net earnings of $281.7M in 2021. The company's CFO expressed confidence in their ability to scale the business and deliver profitable growth in 2023.
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Which Dating Apps Collect and Share the Most Data From Their Users
TECH BUZZ IRELAND - MoneyTransfers.com has analyzed 15 different dating apps to identify which apps share sensitive information with third parties. 67% of dating apps collect users' personal data to share with third parties. Badoo and Her were discovered to be the dating apps that share most of their users' personal data with third parties (35%), including everything from location, contact information, identifiers (IP address and cookies), and usage data. In joint second place were eharmony and Grindr, and in third place came Tinder and PlentyOfFish. There were 5 apps that did not collect any of their users' personal data to share with third parties. These apps were Hinge, Thursday, Flava, Once and Raya.
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Bumble's Q2 2022 Results, Bumble Revenue up 33%, Badoo Down 14%
GLOBE NEWSWIRE - Total Revenue increased 18.4% to $220.5M, compared to $186.2M. This includes an unfavorable impact of $9.4M from foreign currency movements YOY. Bumble app revenue grew 33.2% to $169.6M. Badoo app and other revenue declined 13.7% to $50.8M. Total paying users increased to 3M, compared to 2.9M. Net loss was $6.4M, compared to net loss of $11.1M.
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Can Online Dating Burnout Be Stopped?
BBC - "Decision fatigue", also called "dating app burnout" is a prevalent phenomenon in the app-based dating world. People grow tired of the endless scroll of potential dates. A recent Badoo survey showed more than three-quarters of singles felt burnt out by unrewarding interactions and inappropriate matches from platforms and apps. Hinge also found that 61% of users were overwhelmed by the dating process, which sometimes feels like "a second job". The design of dating apps can also create frustrations for burnt-out users. Many useful features are behind a paywall. It's also tricky to navigate multiple dating apps at once. Hopping between different interfaces can cause problems. Bumble's relationship expert Caroline West suggests approaching dating apps with more intention and to focus on quality over quantity. Bumble has a feature allowing fatigued users to "snooze" their activity so they can take a break and alert matches that they're doing so. For some people, a dating pause is exactly what they need.
by Jessica Klein
See full article at BBC
Mark Brooks: This is a fascinating problem! I keep hearing this come up. Let's talk about this on Swell. Please join me and share your spoken opinion at https://www.swellcast.com/t/
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Why Some People Are Turning to Face-to-Face Apps First
THE CONVERSATION - People are eager to meet in person, and there are apps that focus on bringing people together in person. One of these is Thursday. It is live just once a week (on Thursdays) and gives users 24 hours to arrange a date. This cuts down on the onerous swiping and messaging. Thursday also hosts in-person events. Using dating apps does take time and effort. A large survey by Badoo found that millennials spend on average 90 minutes a day looking for a date, by swiping, liking, matching and chatting. In 2016, Hinge's data found that only one in 500 swipes resulted in phone numbers being exchanged. This may lead to online dating fatigue.
by Martin Graff
See full article at The Conversation
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Background Checks on Dating Apps
EYEWITNESS NEWS - One study found 81% of online daters misrepresented some aspect about themselves, be it height, weight, or age. The Federal Trade Commission says phishing and dating scams on apps cost victims $304M in 2020, double the amount of the previous year. Top10.com researched the background check and user verification processes for the most popular dating apps and websites.
Match Group
The company announced in March 2021 a partnership with nonprofit background check technology Garbo. The app provides historical information about domestic violence and abuse.
Badoo
The app makes sure the person is legitimate by having users take an image in a unique pose to verify. Badoo also allows users to further verify using a phone number or social network account and marks verification on their profile.
Bumble
Bumble uses a combination of AI and human-led monitoring systems to review accounts and messages for violations of their terms of service. These include imagery or language that discriminates against someone's race, ethnicity, disability, gender expression, and a range of other criteria.
AdultFriendFinder
AdultFriendFinder doesn't do background checks. While users are to accept sole responsibility for their own interactions with other users, users have recourse to report account abuse, and moderators are also looking out for abnormal behavior on the site.
Ashley Madison
User verification and background checks are counterintuitive to the goal of Ashley Madison.
Happn
Similar to Badoo, Happn users have the opportunity to certify their profiles by taking a video posing with unique head gestures, as instructed by the app. While Happn claims noncertified profiles are not fake, they do not provide any additional background on whether a vetting process exists for noncertified profiles.
Zoosk
Zoosk provides online dating safety tips for people new to dating online. Although, in those tips, it's suggested that users do their own research on potential suitors because Zoosk asserts it does not "routinely screen our members, inquire into the background of our members, attempt to verify information provided by our members, or conduct criminal screenings of our members."
Eharmony
While the dating service does not conduct an official background check, it does provide users with an 80-question survey to narrow in on the specificity of the website's services.
Grindr
Grindr notes in its terms of service that it does not conduct criminal or other background screenings of its users and doesn't verify the information users provide.
by Vivian Muniz
See full article at PA Homepage
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Russia's App Store Lost 7K Apps Since Its Invasion of Ukraine
TECH CRUNCH - The Russian App Store has lost 6,982 mobile apps since the start of the Ukraine invasion, as numerous companies have now pulled their apps and games from Apple's iPhone and iPad App Stores in the country. Amid the widespread exits, several Big Tech companies' apps continue to rank highly on the Russian App Store. Russia is not the only country being impacted in this way. Many publishers also removed their apps and games from the App Store in Belarus. That country has now seen a loss of 5,900 apps since the invasion's start. Bumble and Badoo are gone, too.
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Badoo: Younger Users Date Differently
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - While a visit to a swanky restaurant or fancy cocktail bar may be the top choice for some singletons, Gen Z daters have a totally different idea when it comes to romance. According to Badoo, young people are snubbing typical dating spots for crafting classes, gym sessions or even 'dawn dates' - where singletons meet up for coffee or breakfast before starting work. Tina Wilson, who founded dating app Wingman, says Gen Z singletons are 'cutting to the chase', when it comes to meeting potential partners.
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Badoo Parodies Dating App Behavior That Would Never Fly in Real Life
ADWEEK - Badoo parodies some of these maligned actions in a campaign calling for better dating etiquette. "Let's Fix Dating" comprises five relatable vignettes that bring awkward exchanges common on apps into the real world.
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