Match Group

Tinder has launched its new feature Photo Selector, an AI-based tool that helps users choose the best photos to use in their profiles to generate the best match results.

According to Tech Crunch, the new feature uses facial detection technology. When a user uploads a selfie on the app, the AI detects the unique facial geometry to identify the person’s face and pulls up matching photos from their camera roll. The feature then curates a collection of ten photos that will perform best on the person’s profile.

Photo Selector is intended to help users through what can be a time-consuming process of sifting through camera roll photos. According to a recent survey by Tinder, 68% of participants expressed that an AI photo selection feature would be helpful, and 52% reported having trouble selecting profile images. 

Starboard Value has taken a stake in Match Group, the latest firm to join the company’s activist investors and criticize executives for its financial performance.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Starboard has built a 6.6 percent interest in Match Group, the parent company of dating app Tinder. The popular dating app has seen a drop in paying customers for six straight quarters, with little sign that things will turn around soon.

Starboard joins Elliott Investment Management LP and Anson Funds Management LP, two other activist investors who have demanded changes in Match Group’s operations. Starboard is planning to push for selling Match Group if it fails to turn things around, according to Dallas Morning News.

Hinge and Grindr are two standout dating apps as they continue to grow in a tough market; powerhouses Tinder and Bumble are seeing more users leave their platforms.

In general, dating apps have had a rough couple of years, with the coveted Gen Z market looking to other options besides dating apps to meet singles, including in-person events, running clubs, and social media platforms like LinkedIn.

“Online dating trends have continued to decelerate industry-wide, showing minimal relief from the recent struggles,” wrote Morgan Stanley analysts Nathan Feather and Brian Nowak in their research, according to Quartz.

Tinder is rolling out a new ad campaign inspired by 90s rom-coms, featuring young singles playing out their meet cute moments on the app in real life.

According to AdWeek, the ads continue with “it starts with a swipe,” the tagline from its previous global campaign.

One video starts out with two people meeting in the library, with a young woman stumbling over her words as she falls off a ladder in the stacks and a young man catches her. “Thanks for making my day with your hace,” she says, shaking her head and correcting herself: “Face. Typo.” It then becomes clear that they are voicing their text messages.

A majority of dating platforms have signed on to a new dating safety code in Australia, in an effort to crack down on dating app users who violate policies.

According to News.com, dating app users who “harass, threaten, or share unwanted explicit photos” could have their accounts terminated across multiple platforms at the same time, intended to create a safer space overall for online dating. Seventy-five percent of companies operating in Australia have signed on to the new industry standard, including Match Group (which operates Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid among others), Bumble and Grindr.

A recurring problem with dating apps is user safety, specifically surrounding the growing number of users who receive unsolicited images. If a perpetrator is banned from one platform, they can easily move on to other platforms, so the new safety standard is intended to prevent this from happening.

BLK dating app has launched a new initiative in celebration of Pride which highlights queer event curators in select cities.

The campaign “It’s Giving Space: Celebrating Queer Event Curators” will offer three compelling narratives of LGBTQ+ party collectives, according to Black Enterprise Magazine. One such collective is Party Noire in Chicago, a cultural hub which celebrates Black femmes, Queer Women of Color, and Black womanhood along the gender spectrum with a focus on trans, queer, and genderqueer Black people.

Another collective, Global Warming in Brooklyn, is dedicated to uplifting Black and Brown queer and trans people by providing safe spaces where they can dance, celebrate “and experience joy,” according to Black Enterprise. It was co-created by DJs Adair and Boston Chery.