Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

Could Mandatory Background Checks Curb Trust Issues on Dating Apps?

GIZMODO - A roundtable discussion was held in Sydney to come up with ways to curb harassment on dating platforms. Ministers, victim-survivors, tech companies, and authorities met online with representatives of Bumble and Tinder. Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has warned dating apps that they need to make significant changes and improvements to protect users or face a mandatory code. She's calling on dating apps to be more transparent with their data and what additional safety measures they will implement. Bumble said it had implemented security measures in recent years including a block and report tool that allows users to report any suspicious behavior, photo verification, and Private Detector, which uses AI to detect and blur potentially crude images. The company has also released Private Detector on GitHub, allowing other apps to access the tool. Tinder has photo verification, anti-harassment prompts, and a Trust and Safety team to mediate any reports of concerning behavior on the app. The company also created the Match Group Advisory Council in 2018 to advise Tinder on preventing sexual assault, sex trafficking, and harassment.

by Nikki Main
See full article at Gizmondo

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Netflix Teams up With Bumble so Users Can Bond Over TV Shows

TECH CRUNCH - Bumble is launching a weekly in-app Netflix-themed question game called "Netflix Nights In" that asks users questions about a popular Netflix show. Users can play against their match to see who can answer all the questions correctly. According to a recent Bumble survey, 78% of users think it's easier to talk to matches when they have similar TV and movie tastes. 72% of the survey respondents said they've talked about TV shows and movies on a date. "Netflix Nights In" will start on January 30 and ends on March 13. The question game is available to Bumble users in the US, Canada, and the UK.

by Lauren Forristal
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Apps Like Tinder Are Changing From Dating Tools to Party Places

ACN NEWSWIRE - According to a study by Bumble, 53% of respondents said it is OK to be single. People are more cautious about dating and building a relationship. Despite this, humans' desire for social connection will never wane. Dating apps like Tinder are actively incorporating interactive and immersive features to attract users to congregate. In Sep 2021, Tinder launched "Explore" to diversify social networking experiences, including Hot Takes, Vibes, and Swipe Night. With these new features, Tinder has become more of an entertaining and companionable app. According to Tinder's "Year in Swipe" report, Tinder saw a 49% increase in members adding the phrase "situationship" to their bios in 2022.

See full article at MarketScreener

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Hong Kong Watchdog Takes Swipe at Tinder's Age Based Fees

THE STANDARD - The Consumer Council claims Tinder has an "unfair" pricing mechanism that charges users an annual subscription according to age. The council registered accounts for users aged 18 to 68 with intervals of 10 years.  The highest fees are for 38-year-olds, followed by for 18-year-olds and 58-year-olds. The cheapest are for those whose ages are 28, 48 and 68. The app charges 38-year-old platinum account holders HK$1,318 annually, which is 42% higher than users from the lowest-priced group. The watchdog urged Tinder to make rectifications. The council also found dating apps reveal users' personal information for marketing and advertising after a trial of nine popular ones in Hong Kong between October and December. The nine tested were Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel, Goodnight, Heymandi, OkCupid, Omi, Paktor, SweetRing and Tinder. All were found to have preset permission to use account owners' data, including name, gender, sexual orientation, date of birth, location, e-mail address and phone number for marketing or advertising. Only three apps allowed users to opt-out.  Age is not covered under Hong Kong's anti-discrimination laws, an Equal Opportunities Commission spokesman said.

by Eunice Lam
See full article at Teh Standard

Mark Brooks: Do you think Tinder, and nay, the industry at large, make rectifications? Is age-based pricing logical and justifiable, or just wholly unfair? Your comments, please.

Bumble's Economic Pressures Are Easing. The Stock Is a Buy, Analyst Says

BARRON'S - Shares of Bumble were rising on Tuesday after a KeyBanc analyst upgraded the shares on confidence that headwinds have begun to stabilize. Macroeconomic pressures weighed on Bumble last year. Bumble posted a mixed Q3 and disappointing Q4 guidance in Nov. Bumble cited unfavorable impacts from foreign-currency movements and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Shares of Bumble climbed 7.4% in the last day to $21.53. 

by Angela Palumbo
See full article at Barron's

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How Bumble Is Empowering Women Across APAC

THE DRUM - Bumble, which has a presence in India, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, including Singapore and the Philippines, wants to normalize the idea of making romantic connections through an app, which still carries a stigma in several Asian cultures. Many of Bumble's campaigns focus on normalizing making connections online. In Singapore, 87% of people surveyed believed that men should take the lead, and only 7% said that this is what is expected of women. Bumble's 'It Starts With Hello' campaign for the Philippines and Singapore encourages women to overcome their hesitation by making it as simple as typing "hello". Australia's "Girls will be Girls" campaign takes a bolder approach to Bumble's women-first positioning. The campaign re-imagined what it would look like if women were afforded the same freedom as men.

by Danielle Long
See full article at The Drum

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Apple Allowing Sideloading Has Some Benefits for Dating

SEEKING ALPHA - If Apple were to allow third-party app stores on iPhones and iPads, a process known as sideloading, it would only provide a "relatively immaterial" benefit to companies such as Bumble and Match Group, as Samsung's Galaxy App Store only has Tinder and no other major dating apps. "We estimate that even if MTCH/BMBL are able to get 3% sideloading penetration in the EU, it would only be a ~$2M/~1M benefit to FY23 EBITDA," said the analysts at Morgan Stanley. Shares of Bumble and Match Group soared initially after the report that Apple is considering allowing third-party app stores but eventually closed the Tuesday trading session with more modest gains.

by Chris Ciaccia
See full article at Seeking Alpha

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Bumble's Cyberflashing Campaign Helped Ensure It Was Included in the Online Safety Bill

THE DRUM - Bumble's CyberFlashingIsFlashing campaign achieved its goal when it managed to get the UK government to agree to make cyber flashing a criminal offense in its proposed Online Safety Bill. Bumble made this happen by briefing 576 MPs across England and Wales and got its community to send ~7,500 letters to MPs, as well as securing a meeting with the former secretary of state, Nadine Dorries. During the campaign, Boris Johnson was even asked if he would bring forward legislation to criminalize cyber flashing – to which he said yes. On social, the #DigitalFlashingIsFlashing garnered 1M views and interactions. This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for PR 2022.

See full article at The Drum

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Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd Hires Drena Kusari as Bumble App GM

FORTUNE - Whitney Wolfe Herd, who built Bumble into a $765M company, is hiring someone else to run the app for the first time. Drena Kusari, former Lyft executive, will become GM of the Bumble app, while Whitney Wolfe Herd will remain the CEO of Bumble Inc.

by Emma Hinchliffe & Paige McGlauflin
See full article at Fortune

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Bumble Rolls out 'Compliments,' a New Message-Before-Match Feature

TECH CRUNCH - Bumble now allows users to send a note before they decide to connect. Users can send one Compliment per day, and there's a 150-character limit per Compliment. The purpose of the new feature is for users to stand out and "be even more intentional about starting the conversation in a positive way".

by Lauren Forristal
See full article at Tech Crunch

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Bumble Partners With StopNCII.org to Help Prevent the Sharing of Private Images

BUMBLE - Bumble has joined forces with UK-based nonprofit SWGfL on their StopNCII.org project to help stop non-consensual intimate images from being shared online alongside industry peers TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. StopNCII.org uses first-of-its-kind hashing technology to prevent private, intimate images from being shared across the tech platforms participating in this initiative. 

See full article at Bumble website

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How Dating Apps Master the Art of Marketing Matchmaking

CAMPAIGN - According to Data.ai, dating app global downloads have increased 173% from 293M in the H1 2017 to 799M in the H1 2022. Global consumer spending on dating apps increased 320%, from $643M to $2.7B. "Dating apps give singles 'the paradox of choice' - when we have too many choices, we end up not making any," says Violet Lim, co-founder and CEO of Lunch Actually Group, the largest dating agency in Southeast Asia. Lunch Actually differentiates itself from others by focusing on handpicked matches and real dates rather than casual dating. Other apps, including Coffee Meets Bagel, are entirely dedicated to helping daters find serious relationships. Coffee Meets Bagel continually celebrates their #CMBcouples - couples who have met and formed serious relationships on the app - and this continues to drive word of mouth. Bumble has seen success with campaigns like 'It Starts With Hello' that ran in the Philippines and Singapore. The campaign was driven by the insight that some women might be overwhelmed by the idea of starting the conversation on Bumble, so the campaign encourages them to overcome their hesitation by making it as simple as typing 'hello'.

See full article at Campaign

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AI Will Transform Online Dating

THE SUN - AI will transform the way people around the world find their matches online, according to Christopher Gulczynski, one of five Tinder's founders and the CEO of the social media platform Niche. "People are hungry for more quality interactions rather than quantity," he said, adding that Tinder and Bumble are more focused on the latter. People could soon carry their online profiles in a chip that would work like a digital wallet. AI could then be used to match people based on factors such as the networks they are in or the hobbies they enjoy. 

by Germania Rodriguez Poleo
See full article at The Sun

Bumble Reveals Dating Trends in 2023

MASHABLE - Bumble has released its annual predictions for what we can expect in the new year. Emotional needs are high on people's list of priorities.

1. New year, new me(n) (74% of men say they've looked inward and analysed their own behaviour more than ever and have a clearer understanding of toxic masculinity.)
2. Guardrailing (63% of daters say they're clearer about emotional needs and boundaries.)
3. Love-life balance (54% care more about their work/life balance than their career status.)
4. Open casting (One in three daters are now more open to considering dating beyond their "type")
5. Ethical sex-ploration (53% believe it's paramount to express sexual wants and needs early on in a relationship.)
6. Wanderlove (33% of people on Bumble are now more open to having relationships with people not in their current city.)
7. Dating renaissance (Per Bumble's data, 39% of people on the dating app ended a marriage or serious relationship within the past two years. Some of them are using dating apps for the very first time.)

by Rachel Thompson
See full article at Mashable

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Google Play to Pilot Third-party Billing in New Markets

TECH CRUNCH - Google is expanding its user choice billing pilot, which allows Android app developers to use other payment systems besides Google's own. The program will now become available to new markets, including the U.S., Brazil and South Africa, and Bumble will now join Spotify as one of the pilot testers. Google additionally announced Spotify will now begin rolling out its implementation of the program starting this week. Developers interested in adopting user choice billing have to follow certain UX guidelines set by Google that detail how to implement the feature in their apps. While the general terms offer a 4% reduction in commissions paid to Google when user choice billing is used, Spotify wouldn't comment on its confidential deal with Google, but notes it meets the company's standards of fairness. It's unclear if the streamer has been offered more favorable terms as an early adopter.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

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