TECH CRUNCH - Inner Circle, a global dating app, is trying to put a stop to the hurtful online dating experience where people cut off contact with another person without any warning or explanation. Inner Circle dubbed this new group of features "The Date Conscious Suite." The new toolset includes things like anti-ghosting reminders, end conversation options, closure messages, pinned conversations, and decision prompts. Match Group announced a feature in 2021 that nudges users suspected of ghosting so the user can unmatch or send a message that they're not interested. Also, Hinge has a "Your Turn" feature that reminds users when it's their turn to respond. The video-first dating app, Snack, has an anti-ghosting feature that reports users that ghost too frequently. The more someone ghosts, the less a user's profile gets seen. There's even an anti-ghosting dating app called Elate, specifically designed with features that help prevent ghosting.
229 posts categorized "Hinge"
Inner Circle Adds a Suite of Anti-ghosting Features
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More Singles Turn to Dating Apps, But Inflation Puts Dent in Plans
ZENGER NEWS - A survey by Dating.com found that online dating sites worldwide are attracting 12M new users annually, with ~70% of global singles using online dating services. Yet as online dating app usage has increased, dating behavior in a post-COVID world means people face higher costs when arranging face-to-face meetings. "Two out of three say that cost is an important factor when deciding what to do on a date," said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge. 41% surveyed Hinge singles reported they were more concerned with dating costs now versus a year ago. Gen Z is more likely to feel cost pressures. In Japan, in a survey of 50K people, Eureka, which owns the dating site Pairs, found that 59% of respondents stopped looking for partners or ceased dating, due to COVID. Online dating site subscribers worldwide spent $4.2B in subscriptions in 2021, up 30% over 2020, according to App Annie. Of the online sites, Tinder is the global market leader, with $1.35B in revenues in 2021.
by Charles Epstein
See full article at Newsweek
See the top news on Dating.com See the top news on Pairs
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Hinge Adds More Ways to Connect With New Polls and Video-specific Prompts
TECH CRUNCH - Hinge launches two new features, "Video Prompts" and "Prompt Polls," allowing users to answer video-specific prompts as well as publish polls with three unique answers for potential matches to choose from. Users can select from 21 poll prompts such as, "If we on the lottery, let's spend it on," "A dream home must include". Video, meanwhile, isn't new to Hinge. But to add a new video-specific prompt, users can only record within the app. The app has added 16 new prompts designed for video. This includes "Something that's special to me," "Hi from me and my pet," "Rate my fit," and "Quick story time." Users can record a 30-second video to pair with the video prompt. Bumble has begun experimenting with polls, as well.
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Hinge Is Launching in Germany
CASCHYS BLOG - Hinge, a dating app that is designed to be deleted, is now available in Germany. In 2021, Hinge was among the fastest-growing apps in the US, UK, and Australia.
by André Westphal
See full article at Caschys Blog
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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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TikTok Creators Narrate Hinge Ad Aimed at Gen Z Daters
THE DRUM - Hinge is bringing back its furry mascot 'Hingie' for the 3rd installment of its 'Designed to be Deleted' campaign. The ad highlights nine different scenarios showing the more creative side of getting to know someone, be that attending a pottery class, going hiking, or spending an evening stargazing. In the background of each activity, Hingie is happily sacrificing himself. The app and agency Red Antler tapped TikTok creators to voice the campaign, providing reactions and commentary to the dates on screen. The campaign will be rolled out globally with TV spots on Hulu, out-of-home (OOH) activations, plus digital and social media posts.
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Hinge Launches LGBTQ Dating Guide to Answer
MASHABLE - Hinge has a new FAQ guide full of advice specifically about LGBTQ dating. The NFAQ (Not-so-Frequently Asked Questions) guide is full of answers to questions relating to LGBTQ dating and identity, including how to navigate dating when you're not quite ready to come out.
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Soaring Prices Are Changing the Dating Game
BLOOMBERG - Surging prices are making it more expensive to wine and dine a love interest, causing daters to reassess their priorities. The consumer price index category for food away from home rose 7.7% YOY, while full-service restaurants climbed 8.9%. Among 3K users on Hinge, 41% said they were more concerned with the cost of dates now versus a year ago, with Gen Z respondents more likely to feel the pressure. "As a result, people are on the hunt for less expensive options," said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge.
Finding a person who is financially savvy is an increasingly attractive quality. OkCupid daters who said they keep a budget have received 16% more matches and 7% more likes over the past three months than those who said they don't.
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The Pricing Puzzle of Dating Apps
A MEDIUM FOR MEDIA - How companies make money off dating apps that are 'designed to be deleted'. Some elite apps like Raya and Lox Club work on memberships. Market leaders Tinder, Hinge and Bumble operate on a "freemium" model. A paying customer is statistically more likely to find a successful match and, as such, has no need for the product anymore. Freemium pricing hooks customers, then lures them to top-ups and premium features. ARPU for dating apps has been steadily increasing, but paying customers represent less than 10% of the total for Tinder (and are below 5% for Hinge and Bumble). Advertising revenues account for a very small portion of revenue. i.e. 3% of revenue for Bumble. Hinge has done away with advertising altogether. Innovative monetization modes include
a. Offerwalls - Users complete virtual tasks for tokens that act as a proxy to premium services.
b. Data Swaps - Virtual tokens used to unlock features in exchange for permissions to sell data to third-parties.
c. Unlocking individual matches - e.g. shaadi.com users create profiles for free, but Shaadi charge them on successful matches.
by Zarir Marfatia
See full article at A Medium for Media
Mark Brooks: How do you think dating apps should monetize in the future? Please join the conversation on this topic, on this Swell. Your opinion matters. Please voice it here. ;-)
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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
See the top news on Badoo
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See the top news on Bumble
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Hinge Helps Daters Be More Upfront With 'Intentions' Feature
METRO.CO.UK - 'Dating intentions' is the name of a new feature that lets users give a heads up to whoever they might be talking to. Hinge users are now able to choose one of the following dating goals to be shown on their profiles:
- Life partner
- Long-term
- Long-term, open to short-term
- Short-term, open to long-term
- Short-term
- Figuring out my dating goals
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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
See the top news on Thursday
See the top news on Badoo
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Swiping Right On AI
FORBES - Jennifer Flashman, Tinder's director of analytics, explained that in leveraging AI to build better user experiences, the future of dating will increasingly occur over texts and DMs rather than blind dates and phone calls. AI apps are only as good as the data behind them. AI can help recommend the perfect TV show, and it can even help us find a life partner. Hinge has a "Most Compatible" feature, which analyzes a user's preferences and sends recommendations of matches that it thinks will be a particularly good fit. Coffee Meets Bagel shares a selection of curated profiles for users to look at each day at noon via their "smart algorithm". AI could even help combat catfishing and creepy messages. Tinder's "Are You Sure?" algorithm scans messages and compares them against text that's been reported for inappropriate language in the past.
by James Freeze
See full article at Forbes
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Hinge
See the top news on Coffee Meets Bagel
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Hinge's Latest Feature Aims to Help Users Spark Conversations About Self-care
TECH CRUNCH - Hinge is introducing a new "Self-Care Prompts" feature that is designed to inspire initial conversations between matches about self-care priorities. Hinge's in-app prompts are conversation starters that users answer as part of their profiles and are displayed to potential matches. There are 15 new self-care prompts that users can answer and add to their profiles.
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Match Group to Accelerate Hinge's Launch in India
ECONOMIC TIMES - Organic traction for its dating app Hinge is exceptionally strong in quite a few untapped international markets and it has huge potential globally, the company said. "We've seen a recent surge in organic traction in India without any localization. So, we want to respond to these types of positive signals, and we are accelerating our launch in India," Shar Dubey, CEO of the Match Group. The app is on track to launch in its first non-English speaking market, Germany, in the Q2.
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