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

Dating Apps and Environmental Advocacy

DW - Dating apps like OkCupid, Bumble and Tinder have noticed more and more of their users mentioning climate issues on their profiles - and have integrated features to help them connect with each other. On Bumble, users can add badges to their bios as as a way of aligning with different causes. Tinder says that "climate protection" was one of the most mentioned phrases on German Gen Z members' bios last year. OkCupid has reinstated its climate change advocate badge, which was first rolled out in 2021 and is only available for April, Earth Month. When it was introduced last year ~400K people used the badge.

See full article at DW

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Petromasculinity Is the Leading Dealbreaker for Dating App Users, OKCupid Says

FORTUNE - New data from OKCupid shows that climate denial, also referred to as "petromasculinity," was the biggest deal-breaker for dating app users. Of 250K users surveyed worldwide by OKCupid, 90% of users said it was important for their match to care about climate change. Over the past three years, 6M users have been surveyed, and results show that 81% of users were concerned about climate change.

by Carmelia Chirinos
See full article at Fortune

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Clarifai Accused of Scraping Biometric Data From OKCupid Photos

BLOOMBERG LAW - An OKCupid user sued Clarifai in Delaware federal court, alleging that the AI company (Clarifai) violated Illinois privacy laws when it used the facial geometry of thousands of OKCupid users to train its facial recognition algorithms.

by Samantha Hawkins
See full article at Bloomberg Law

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Which Dating Apps Got the Most Press Coverage Last Year?

OPW - Last year, we mentioned 281 internet dating industry brands in 1,066 posts. Although Match Group and its brands are clearly dominating this list, Bumble takes first place this time, even though only by one post. Here is the full list of companies with the most press coverage for last year.

1. Bumble (131 posts)
2. Tinder (130 posts)
3. Match Group (96 posts)
4. OkCupid (43 posts)
5. Hinge (42 posts)
6. Match.com (35 posts - shared)
7. Grindr (35 posts - shared)
8. The Meet Group (31 posts)
9. Blued (23 posts)
10. Spark Networks (22 posts)

See the full post at Courtland Brooks Blog

Dating Apps Join Forces for Valentine's Vaccination Push

ADWEEK - Tinder, Ourtime, Match, OKCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and Grindr are promoting vaccinations to their users. Ahead of Valentine's Day, the apps have allowed users to display vaccination badges and stickers on their dating profiles to advertise their Covid-19 status to increase their chances of finding a match. Data from Hinge has claimed that its users who share their vaccination status on dating apps receive 30% more matches than those who don't. OKCupid has seen ~1M of its users add a badge stating "I'm Vaccinated" to their profile pages, while Grindr also claims that the badge is among its three most popular.

by Stephen Lepitak
See full article at AdWeek

How OkCupid Transformed From an Online Quiz Site to a Radically Inclusive Dating App

THE DRUM - Founded in 2004 by Chris Coyne, Christian Rudder, Sam Yagan and Max Krohn - the Harvard students who also created SparkNotes - OkCupid has its roots in what was once called SparkMatch. The platform allowed users to connect based on the results of a personality assessment. After selling SparkMatch to Barnes & Noble, the team built what is now OkCupid. In 2011, they sold the business to Match Group. Despite the platform's advances, the brand was tired and lacked freshness. So OkCupid appointed its first global CMO in 2017. Melissa Hobley, a former Walgreens executive, went to work on reinventing the brand's image. The app introduced new ways for daters to set their preferences and to signal to potential matches what their values and politics entail. The platform has also rolled out 'badges' - icons that users can choose to display on their profiles that indicate, for example, that they're pro-choice or that they believe in combating climate change. In August 2021, the brand rolled out its newest effort - its irreverent and wildly inclusive 'Every Single Person' campaign featuring creatives developed by sculptor Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari. Made in partnership with Mekanism, the campaign is a natural expression of the brand's mission to be a platform where everyone is invited to be exactly who they are and vocalize what they believe in.

by Kendra Clark
See full article at The Drum

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MTA Rejects OkCupid Ads

MORNING BREW - In September 2021, OkCupid introduced its "Every Single Person" campaign, which CMO Melissa Hobley described as an inclusive campaign created to make all types of daters feel welcome on the online dating service. The MTA rejected four of the "Every Single Person" campaign images that it had previously approved only months prior, citing both its new cannabis advertising ban and its recently expanded definition of a "sexually oriented product or service," according to OkCupid. One image referencing "tokers" was rejected due to the MTA's ban on ads promoting "cannabis or any cannabis-related product," while the other three were nixed due to the MTA's ban on references to "sexual activity."

by Phoebe Bain
See full article at Morning Brew

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OkCupid Lets Users State Their Views on Abortion on Their Profiles

MEDIA POST - OkCupid's subway campaign invites people to make their pro-choice views on abortion part of their dating profile, with each "Pro-Choice" sticker triggering a donation to Planned Parenthood. The new campaign starts this week in New York. Ads will roll out to additional U.S. and global cities beginning March. It's all part of the brand's ongoing mission to have users bring their entire selves to the dating process. "We want you to bring your issues - pun intended - to dating," says CMO Melissa Hobley.

by Sarah Mahoney
See full article at Media Post

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Dating Trends Experts Are Predicting for 2022

BUSTLE - It's been hard to separate the pandemic and dating over the last couple of years. However, some of the biggest dating apps have big predictions for 2022. "If 2020 was the year of reflection, 2021 has been a year of discovery and we expect to see that continue into the new year," said Naomi Walkland, Head of Bumble UK and Ireland.

Top UK Dating Trends
In 2022 Pre-first date video calls became the norm. The Inner Circle has said that this is one way that app users can work out if they have a connection with someone. Experts at Dating.com agreed, arguing that audio and video dating will redefine how we date in 2022, with 90% of users saying they plan on doing it in the new year. And Tinder said that video dates have been mentioned 52% more times in people's dating profiles. Being vaccinated (or not) will continue to play a big role in dating in 2022. While 2021 may have been the year of hardballing, 2022 is going to be the year where daters hold nothing back. OKCupid has identified a 17% increase in BDSM terms in users profiles and there's been a 125% increase in users saying they wanted children.

by Alice Broster
See full article at Bustle

OkCupid Data Reveals Top Dating Trends

OKCUPID BLOG - Here are the top 10 dating trends you can expect to see in 2022: the year of exploration in dating.

• More Singles Will Be Looking for a Match to Start a Family With - At the beginning of 2021, we saw a 125%+ increase in users saying they wanted children.
• Daters Will Explore Their Sexuality - Since the end of last year, we’ve seen a ~10% increase in users identifying as pansexual. Also a 250% increase in users identifying as bisexual compared to last year, and 29% increase in users identifying as non-binary.
• Kink Will Be Even More of a Thing - Each year OkCupid sees the taboo around kink and BDSM lessening. Daters are more open to it, and more vocal. In 2021, users saying they're kinky is up 55%: "BDSM" mentions in female profiles is up 17%.
• Money Will Matter Less - The likelihood of a single saying wealth is very important in a match nearly doubled during the pandemic. However, if we continue to see employment increase in 2022 we will see this number decrease.
• There Will Be More Open Relationships - Monogamy isn't out, but non-monogamy is definitely in. The majority of OkCupid daters seek monogamous relationships. In 2021 users seeking non-monogamous relationships increased 7%, and mentions of "non-monogamy" and "throuple" in profiles is up 21%.
• Politics Will Be the Biggest Dealbreaker - Political terms are up 10% increase in profiles.
• Safe Sex Will Be Hotter Than Ever - There's been a 16% decrease in singles who say they never or rarely discuss STD status, also a ~10% increase in singles who say they get tested.
• Divorced Singles Will Be Getting Back Out There - Since 2017, there's been a ~300% increase in profiles mentioning being recently divorced.
• Sober Dating Will Become Increasingly Popular - Over the past 5 years, daters have become 2x less likely to say that a date being sober was a dealbreaker. In the past month there's been a ~10% increase in terms such as "sobriety" and "sober dating" in OkCupid profiles.
• 2022 Will Kick Off With a Huge Boost for Dating! - Historically, we've seen up to a 70% increase in user activity the first dating Sunday of the year.

See full article at OkCupid blog

Mark Brooks: OkCupid does a great job of bubbling up these kinds of numbers and analysis. Kudos to OKCupid for pulling back the veil.

Tinder and Match Asking Users to Urge Senators to Pass Violence Against Women Act

THE HILL - Match, Tinder, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa and Plenty of Fish, all of which are part of Match Group, have prompted their users to send an email to their senators "with one click," urging them to support the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The Violence Against Women Act, originally enacted in 1994, lapsed in 2019 and has not been reauthorized since. The bill would provide grants to state and local governments for programs addressing domestic abuse, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking, in addition to further narrowing the so-called boyfriend loophole to prohibit dating partners convicted of domestic violence or abuse from buying or owning guns. Current law only restricts gun purchases for spouses or formerly married partners who were convicted of abuse or are under a restraining order.

by Mychael Schnell
See full article at The Hill

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How Do the Best Dating Algorithms Work?

MASHABLE - Tinder: The Tinder algorithm used to be based on the Elo rating system, which was originally designed to rank chess players. The "Elo score" gauges how other profiles interacted with yours. It logged your swipes. Elo is no longer used. Now, the most important thing a user can do is...use the app. The more data Tinder has on you, the more Tinder knows your preferences and the algorithm is based on how your profile is Liked or Noped.

Hinge: The dating app "designed to be deleted" doesn't have swiping. Hinge uses the Gale-Shapley algorithm. This Nobel-prize winning algorithm was created to find optimal pairs in "trades" that money can't buy - like organ donations. Say there are 10 women and 10 men. How do they get paired up? Well, tell one group (either the men or women) to pick their first choice, and if they get rejected they move on to their second choice. Continue until none of the people left want to get matched anymore. Tell the app when you've met a match in person and Hinge understands who you're interested in.

OkCupid: OkCupid has 4k questions. There's 60 sexual orientation and gender options. OkCupid calculates a match percentage. If another user has similar search preferences and responses to questions as you, and is looking for the same things relationship-wise, you'll have a high match percentage.

Bumble: Bumble is similar to Tinder in that it uses a swipe model. Bumble declined to comment about its search algorithm.

Grindr: Grindr only uses algorithms for security purposes, like detecting spam accounts. There's no recommendation algorithm to speak of on Grindr today.

by Anna Iovine
See full article at Mashable

Mark Brooks: Frankly, I'm surprised at the lack of substance here. Our job is to bring clarity to a complex problem. Who to date? Who to marry? Who to raise a family with? (...and perhaps guide people further on how not to screw it up). This is not an unsolvable problem, but it is highly nuanced. Culture, religion, values, and lifestyle preferences compound the problem. Also, what people say they want and what they are willing to accept can be quite different. i.e. stated preferences vs revealed preferences. Observing people's behaviors and getting feedback after each date is key. Also, we really need to know when we have been successful. When we have clear visibility on this, at scale, then AI becomes useful for helping us solve for long-term compatibility.

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OkCupid Introduces Feature in Support of Abortion Rights

NEW YORK TIMES - OkCupid has introduced a way for users to clearly indicate their support of abortion rights: a "pro-choice" badge that appears prominently in a dating profile. The feature was created in response to the passage of Senate Bill 8, which has made abortion illegal in Texas. For every profile that adds the badge, OkCupid will donate $1 to Planned Parenthood. In recent years, OkCupid has offered users different badges to signal their stance on various political issues, including a "Black Lives Matter" badge and a "Voter" badge. In May, the company added an "I'm Vaccinated" badge.

by Valeriya Safronova
See full article at New York Times

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In Online Dating, Being an Entrepreneur Is an Advantage

INC - Aug 24 - According to data from OkCupid, more people have been proudly owning the title "entrepreneur" while looking for love online this past year, says Melissa Hobley, the company's global CMO. And for some, it's a clear advantage. From July 2020 to July 2021, use of the terms "entrepreneur" and "self-employed" in the US OkCupid profiles increased by 10%. And users who identify themselves as entrepreneurs in their profiles have a better chance of getting a match's phone number, according to the company.

by Sophie Downes
See full article at INC

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OkCupid Survey: 65% Indian Daters Choose Freedom Over Money

IANS - Aug 14 - OkCupid asked its users what they find most liberating, and data collected based on users' responses to in-app questions suggests that 39% of users find financial freedom to be the most liberating, closely followed by 'Travel' (30%), 'Sexuality' (22%) and 'Art' (9 %). When posed with a choice between 'Freedom' and 'Money', 65% of users opted for more freedom.

See full article at Telangana Today

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