Milestones

Match Group has unveiled a fresh look for both its website and logo. The redesign comes as the company focuses on its global strategy and adds more interactive and entertainment-based content, indicating a shift from traditional swiping.

According to Global Dating insights, the new logo moves away from employing its traditional block letters to a more fluid and simple design. The capital M and G flow together in one continuous line with two dots above the “M” to represent two people whose hands are linked. The cursive G connected to the M also represents Match’s focus on the global community and to making connections across countries and demographics. Their new colors are also a cool electric blue and teal to make it more “inviting,” according to Global Dating Insights.

Dating App Tinder launched its new Tinder Explore section, where users can find a more interactive matching experience that is focused on events and areas of interest where users can make connections.

According to Tech Crunch, the new section will offer an events space that includes Swipe Night, its popular interactive series where users can watch and strike up conversations, and “Hot Takes,” the app’s virtual speed dating experience. Swipe Night returns to the platform for a second season later this year, featuring a who-dunnit style mystery. This time, the series will include a “Fast Chat” feature where users can interact with each other without having to match as they watch the story unfold together. 

Tinder’s Hot Takes feature will also be housed in Tinder Explore, where users can start chatting with anyone who’s there. As a timer appears, they will be given a limited time to decide whether to match before their chat expires and they are sent to the next potential match. This feature was tested earlier this year for limited periods of time, and the company says millions have used it so far.

Shares for dating conglomerate Match Group soared in early September, following the company’s new listing to the S&P 500. As of September 20th, Match Group will replace Perrigo Company, according to an announcement by the Dow Jones Indices.

Stocks tend to rise after being added to the S&P 500, as they become a “must-buy” for index funds, which track stocks on the benchmark index. Shares of Match Group are up more than 50 percent since this time last year with after-hour gains according to CNBC. This is more than a year after the separation from its former parent company IAC in July of 2020.

News of the Match Group’s rising share price also follows Apple’s announcement that it will relax its app store rules, which Match Group, Spotify and a number of other companies have been fighting for over a year. Apple agreed that the companies can provide a link to their websites from the apps for users to sign up for subscriptions, allowing the developer to bypass Apple’s cut, which was anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of sales. 

FirstMet has Closed

We first notice that we could not access the FirstMet website at the beginning of September (the last time we accessed FirstMet was on August 31, 2021). Figuring it was just under maintenance we didn't think to much of it. We then checked again a few days later and it was still down. A quick search online did not find any mention of the problem. The FirstMet dating apps where also still available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store to be downloaded and installed.

Fast forward 2 weeks and the website is still down and the apps are no where to be found on the phone app stores. Further searches online did not reveal any additional information. The company which currently owns FirstMet, "The Dating Company LLC", does not have a website so we have no way to reach out to someone to find out any more information.

Since it has been over 2 weeks and everything related to FirstMet is inaccessible the only thing we can deduce is that the service has gone out of business and closed for good. Therefore we will update our FirstMet review indicating its closed status.

Dating app users flocked to dating apps during the month of July, setting a new record for activity and engagement, according to a recent study from Apptopia.

The app research firm has been collecting data since 2015 and found that active daily users on the most popular dating apps – including Tinder and Bumble – jumped to almost 15 million in July, an all-time high, as reported by Bloomberg. 

This follows news from media outlets anticipating a “hot vax summer,” where singles were getting ready to meet dates in person again after a series of lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the distribution of vaccines on the rise, especially in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, dating app users were getting vaccinated and flocking to apps to connect and schedule dates. 

Dating app My Transsexual Date has announced it will be officially changing the name of its app to My Transgender Date.

This isn’t the first time the company changed the name of its app, in light of an evolving discourse on how transgender people would like to be identified. In a blog post the company shared, the app began as “My Ladyboy Date” when it launched in 2013, catering to a mostly Asian audience, and later changed to My Transsexual Date to appeal to a global audience. 

Founder Cyril Mazur wrote in a post announcing the move that when the company changed its name to My Transsexual Date, they did consider using the word “transgender” instead, but Mazur found it to be too Western-centric. He noted that in Latin America, which has a big trans population, the word “transexual” is used more than the word “transgenero” (transgender in Spanish), and he felt this was more inclusive among the global population.