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

During Coronavirus Lockdown, Tinder Surpasses Bumble, OkCupid and Hinge Downloads

FOX BUSINESS - Mar 25 - While many businesses have suffered dramatically under the coronavirus, its been a great week for Tinder, which saw an increase in first-time installations of the app in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower. First-time installs of Tinder were up 13% last week in the U.S. compared to the week of March 2, but were down 5% worldwide for the same comparison period. Bumble's downloads fell 10% in the U.S. and 11% worldwide, Hinge downloads fell 7% in the U.S. and 12% worldwide, and OkCupid fell 16% in U.S. and down 20% worldwide.

by Lucas Manfredi
See full article at Fox Business

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OKCupid: "Now Is Not the Time to Go to a Bar"

DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - Mar 20 - Several dating apps have warned users not to meet their dates in person. Most are encouraging some form of virtual dating, either by phone or video chat. Coffee Meets Bagel has even suggested several creative virtual dates Just last week, an OKCupid survey found that 88% of users were still willing to go out on dates - though the situation has been changing rapidly. OKCupid tweeted a message on March 16. "We don't know who needs to hear this, but now is NOT the time to go out with your date to a bar. FaceTime, Skype, call, text, call, message on our app....all very romantic right now," they wrote. Hinge has had a similar message about staying home for its users. "Love in the time of Coronavirus is absolutely possible, and we're here to help you through it," they wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

by Carly Stern
See full article at DailyMail.co.uk

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How COVID-19 Is Affecting Dating Apps for Singles

NEWSWEEK - Mar 18 - With more and more people practicing social distancing, it's unclear how exactly single people are supposed to date as concerns over COVID-19 become increasingly severe. These are the approaches that dating apps and services are taking. In a statement, Hinge wrote that users' safety was most important. On its website, it provided important tips from WHO, including social distancing, washing hands, avoiding face touching and staying up to date. Tinder is sharing a similar message with a new card that appears for swipers, adding that people should carry hand sanitizer and maintain distance during social events. The ethically-non-monogamous-focused dating app #Open is advising users in a message to not meet new partners in person and to instead make use of video and phone calls. Now is not the time to be making new connections," said #Open co-founder David Epstein.

by James Crowley
See full article at Newsweek

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Hinge to Pay Users $100 to Go on a Date This Weekend

THE VERGE - Mar 4 - Hinge is going to give people in the US a $100 Visa online gift card to go on date. The company has $25k set aside for the promotion.

by Ashley Carman
See full article at The Verge

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How Justin McLeod Made Millions From Dating

YAHOO FINANCE - Mar 4 - McLeod is the CEO and founder of Hinge, which launched in 2012, after the then-college business student found himself single, and wanting to meet a new partner. "The idea originated back in 2011 when I tried to reach out to my college girlfriend and get her back, and she said no," said McLeod. "I looked at the options at the time, and nothing really appealed to me." In 2012, he launched Hinge for the first time - which he admits didn't garner a lot of traction. Hinge finished its first year with just a few thousand users and $32K in bank, leading him to make some changes. "What became really clear to me was that people were missing something that was accessible to people my age, but also something that was more serious," he said. He rebooted Hinge and started from scratch. He let go of half the team, threw out the code base and threw out the user-base. Hinge is now $7 per month, and requires users to go through a lengthy vetting process at signup to ensure they're matched with the best possible partner. The app generated $5.2M in worldwide revenue in 2018, and was downloaded 5.5M times globally according to Sensor Tower.

by Anastasia Santoreneos
See full article at Yahoo Finance

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Tinder Got Dumped for Hinge This Valentine's Day

THINKNUM - Feb 28 - Over the past year, the Apple Store ratings for Hinge have grown 123%, while Tinder's rating count has only increased by 52%. Tinder's Facebook 'Talking About' count surged last Valentine's Day at 124K mentions. But this year, that number dropped 80% down to 25K. Hinge's 'Talking About' count peaked on January 2 at 1,400 mentions, likely the result of some New Year's resolutions.

by Julia Gray
See full article at Thinknum

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Online Daters Looking for More Than Endless Swiping

AP - Feb 25 - Some of today's app users are sick of the endless swiping according to industry leaders who are responding with new ways to get users off their phones and out meeting people in the real world. David Vermeulen's The Inner Circle launched in 2012 and curates users looking for meaningful connections, and hosts offline events in cities around the globe for 2+ million members. People have become "Tinder tired". Justin McLeod launched Hinge in 2011, and in 2016 removed the swipe option to encourage more interaction. Vermeulen plans to add an automated response to anyone who just messages "Hi" as an introduction, which he said is often a dead-end to dating. "We're gonna say, OK, this is not the best start for a conversation. You have to do better."

by Louise Dixon
See full article at AP

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Hinge CEO Justin McLeod: "5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a CEO"

THRIVE GLOBAL - Feb 20 - Justin grew up in Louisville, KY. After a few years in consulting, he attended Harvard Business School, then founded Hinge in 2011.

• It's not the idea that counts. It's the people and the market. What really drove our success was the group of smart, creative, loyal, gritty people I recruited, and the fact we were in an undervalued market.
• Be a coach, not a commander. I had to learn to stop directing people, and start coaching them, setting clear objectives, then asking how I can help them get there and show I believe they can!
• Focus on the customer, not the competition.
• Spend less time debating, more time experimenting. Survey, prototype, test.
• Routines and rules are the key to sanity. Daily yoga, meditation, and journaling (to zoom out and get perspective), and a weekly date with myself (usually ecstatic dance) and a date with my wife. Kate and I have a deal where neither of us spend time on our computers or devices from 8pm to 8am - every day!

My vision is for Hinge to not just be a dating platform, but a trusted expert that guides our members through the process of connecting with the person best for them. Hinge Labs is launching at the beginning of 2020 to address this.

by Carly Martinetti
See full article at Thrive Global

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Why Hinge Employees Bet a $200 Dating Stipend

YAHOO FINANCE - Feb 11 - Dating and relationships are at the heart of the company's culture, said McLeod, CEO of dating app Hinge. Employees of Hinge enjoy perks, including a $200 a month stipend to go on dates. "They're encouraged to use the money to do something that they wouldn't have typically done without the $200," he said. McLeod said even he uses the benefit for date nights with his spouse.

by Reggie Wade
See full article at Yahoo Finance

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Q&A With Hinge CEO

YAHOO MONEY - Feb 11 - Hinge is one of the fastest growing dating apps in North America. The app's active user base has increased 400% YOY. Founder and CEO Justin McLeod discusses the state of the dating apps, how the space has changed since Hinge's creation, Facebook Dating, users privacy and the company's $200 dating stipend for employees.

See full article at Yahoo Finance

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OPW Podcast - The Top Dating Industry News for Jan 14th

OPW - Jan 14 - Hinge's online merch shop, UK online dating survey, Momo's video social app Duiyan.

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 , Stitcher , Overcast , Radio Public or Apple Podcasts .

Hinge Opens Merch Store With 'Delete Day' Goods

THE DRUM - Jan 8 - Dating app Hinge has opened a merch store for users to mark the day they deleted the app with Hingie memorabilia. Hinge first introduced its fluffy, accident-prone mascot back in August. The ad campaign proved to be a hit, increasing Hinge's monthly downloads by 47%, with an 18% increase in users deleting the app because they found love. It also earned the app 153K more Instagram followers. Among the online goods, recent deleters or Hinge current users can buy a Hingie pinata, a Hingie bath bomb and a Hingie ring box. Customers can also buy a 'Delete Date' necklace with their delete day date on a 14-carat gold necklace with real diamonds.

by Imogen Watson
See full article at The Drum

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Hinge's Founder Leans Into Data to Set the Dating App Apart From Other Apps

MASHABLE - Dec 3 - Hinge, which at one point called itself "the relationship app," is one of the many apps now owned by the Match Group but still strives to set itself apart. Its founder, Justin McLeod, set out to make an app less shallow than Tinder - but with a younger demographic than eHarmony and Match. Hinge ditched swiping in 2016 and charged seven dollars for the app to weed out non-serious users. By 2017, the mandated membership fee was gone, but they did not go back to the swipe model. After being acquired by Match Group, Hinge went through another rebrand that included a design makeover and a new tag line, "Designed to be deleted." Hinge has been fine-tuning their algorithm and figuring out what leads to better matches. Using data to help users get into relationships is partially the inspiration behind Hinge Lab, the app's new data department. Hinge Lab is like personal trainers at the gym.

by Anna Iovine
See full article at Mashable

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Tinder or Bumble - The Clichés of 'Big Dating'

USA TODAY - Nov 21 - Swiping to find a date came into the cultural lexicon when Tinder launched in 2012 and revolutionized the online dating scene. "It's a game, it's fire and it's fun," said online dating consultant Mark Brooks about Tinder. Brooks said the app can skew toward audiences looking for a "casual" encounter, whereas other apps, like Hinge, tend to build more "meaningful" relationships. "Since Match Group bought Hinge, they positioned Hinge as 'long-term' and Tinder as 'casual'," Brooks says. "I always regret going on a date from Tinder," said 28-year-old Justyna Kedra, a frequent user of Hinge, Bumble and, sometimes, Tinder. "I feel that people are very transactional. There's no depth." Hinge's approach tends to focus more on getting to know someone based on their politics and religion. According to Hinge's global head of communications Jean-Marie McGrath, 99% of the app's users are college-educated. The app gained recognition when 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg publicly said that he met his partner on Hinge.

by Coral Murphy
See full article at USA Today

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Mark Zuckerberg Let Tinder Get Special Access to Users' Data

FORBES - Nov 8 - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg considered entering the online dating business as far back as 2014, but he put the idea on the back burner, instead giving Tinder special access to its users' data, leaked emails between top executives show. The leaked correspondence is part of an ongoing lawsuit between Facebook and Six4Three, a now-defunct app developer that sued Facebook in 2015 for restricting user data access, alleging the actions were uncompetitive. The correspondence shows how perilously close Tinder came to losing key access to Facebook user information that helped Tinder grow rapidly in its early years, when members often used their Facebook logins to access the app. When Facebook further restricted the kind of information third-party apps could access after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke in March 2018, Tinder's app crashed. Tinder was on Facebook's radar in 2013. Zuckerberg wrote in January 2014 to two executives: "Tinder's growth is especially alarming to me because their product is built completely on Facebook data, and it's much better than anything we've built for recommendations using the same corpus." In 2014, Facebook announced it would start preventing third-party app developers from having access to data on users' friends, including birth dates, photos and pages they liked. The company gave a May 2015 deadline for developers to comply with its new set of access rules. However, Zuckerberg made some companies and apps an exception. Tinder was one. Facebook agreed to give Tinder a special data-sharing agreement, internally known as "whitelists," if the dating app shared trademark rights on "MOMENTS." which was the planned name for a photo app that Facebook wanted to launch, an email exchange in March 2015 showed. When asked about this agreement in 2018, a spokeswoman for Tinder said: "Tinder never received special treatment, data or access related to this dispute or its resolution." Other dating apps that had whitelist agreements with Facebook include Bumble, Badoo, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge and jSwipe.

by Angel Au-Yeung
See full article at Forbes

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CEO of Hinge: What the World Will Be Like in 50 Years

QZ - Nov 4 - Justin McLeod is the founder and CEO at Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted. McLeod founded Hinge in February 2011. Upset by the negative hookup culture dating apps had created, he relaunched the app in October 2016 as more serious dating app. The company's user base has grown 400% in the last year.

Q: What kinds of companies will be the most important?
McLeod: Companies that serve our deeper human needs and help us feel connection, not validation.

Q: What will cause the biggest conflicts?
A: The same thing that causes the biggest conflicts today. As Pascal put it more than 400 years ago, "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." With constant distraction in our pockets, we seem to be connected to everything and everyone - except ourselves.

Q: How will people earn a living?
A: Empathy, connection, and companionship.

Q: How will we communicate with each other?
A: My hope is that we can engineer ways for people to communicate and connect on a deeper level than many of us are used to via social media updates and small talk.

Q: How will we entertain one another?
A: We'll be doing it in-person. I believe screens will fade out of existence, though augmented reality will certainly be part of our daily lives.

Q: How will we find love?
A: I believe choosing a partner will become an informed, data-driven decision.

Q: What kinds of stories will we tell?
A: We will look back on today with shock at how tethered we were to our phones.

Q: What will our most valuable resource be?
A: Love. The scarcest resource will be giving one another our time, care, and attention.

Q: What technology will bring about the biggest change in society?
A: Nanotech, augmented reality, AI, and connected devices.

Q: What's your best prediction for the world in 50 years?
A: Screens will become a thing of the past as we become disenchanted with our phones and tablets, and we learn to make real life more exciting through connected devices, augmented reality, and biological innovations.

See full article at QZ

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Top Dating News for Oct 22nd - Hinge & OpenTable, MyLife Offering, SD Ventures Merger

OPW - Oct 22 - News about Hinge and OpenTable partnering, MyLife's Offering, and SD Ventures merger with SOL for $215m to form Dating.com Group.

Here's the top dating news in ~2 minutes. Subscribe to the Two Minute Tuesdays (TMT) podcast on Breaker, Google podcasts, Spotify, Anchor or Stitcher.

Hinge and OpenTable Launch 'Date Night Matchmaker' to Help Plan Date Night

ASKMEN - Oct 15 - Dating app Hinge and restaurant reservation service OpenTable have launched Date Night Matchmaker, a service that will help users plan the date night by asking about budget, desired style of dining and the overall vibe or ambiance.

by Christina Majaski
See full article at AskMen

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Hinge to Launch Podcast With Ghost Stories

OPW - Oct 3 - Ghoster is a person who ends a relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation, withdrawing from all communication. Dating app Hinge is about to launch a podcast called "Ghost Stories", which will feature real daters talking about their own experiences of ghosting.

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Facebook Dating Is a Threat to Match, But Not to Tinder

SEEKING ALPHA - Sep 20 - Facebook Dating isn't likely to kill Tinder, but investors seem to be forgetting that Match also owns other dating properties that may be under threat from Facebook. Facebook Dating focuses on long-term relationships and skews towards older people, which puts it in direct competition with apps like Hinge or OurTime. Match's current valuation is also far higher than when Facebook Dating launched.

See full article at Seeking Alpha

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