Location

Apryl Williams, Harvard sociologist and researcher who studies race, gender, and popular culture, has written a new book entitled Not My Type: Automating Sexual Racism in Online Dating.

According to Harvard News, the book is a blend of technical analysis, user interviews, and an “historical look at racism and romance in America,” and is a result of ten years of research.

Williams argues that algorithms in dating apps curate matches based on ranking attractiveness that is “racially informed.” In other words, algorithms match users with others who look like them, reinforcing racial stereotypes and feeding into the idea that certain groups are more attractive and appealing than others.

Grindr’s CEO George Arrison is planning to monetize the app more aggressively, including launching an AI chatbot and putting previously free features behind a paywall.

News website Platformer broke the news about Grindr’s plans to launch an AI-based “boyfriend” chatbot feature that can engage in sexually explicit conversations with users, for a price. Some employees have expressed weariness, as the AI-generated conversations could be based in part on private chats between other human users, pending their consent.

Platformer also learned that Grindr is revising its terms of service to ask people signing up if the company can train their AI models on their personal data, which can include direct messages. This is likely to be a privacy issue going forward for other dating apps who could pursue employing user data to train AI.

BLK dating app has unveiled Spring Mode to help foster more connection among college students during their spring break vacations, when many are traveling and looking to meet people.

According to Blavity, the feature allows college students to place a fun badge on their profiles of the place they plan to visit over their spring break, in case other potential matches might be traveling there, too. Destinations include Hawaii, Cancun, Jamaica, Los Angeles, Cabo, the Dominican Republic, Cancun, Las Vegas, and Miami among other prime locations.

The badges all have unique personality and style, and are modeled after the famous places they represent. The vision behind Spring Mode according to Jonathan Kirkland, BLK’s head of marketing and brand, is in line with the company’s overall commitment to fostering connection and community as well as inclusivity.

LinkedIn is having a moment with romance. In a recent study, more than half of singles are turning to the career networking platform to find dates.

According to Dating News, a majority of 61 percent of singles aged 35 to 40 found dates on LinkedIn. Overall, 52 percent of all respondents ages 20 to 40 have found their dates on the business networking platform, highlighting its unexpected new role.

Interestingly, the second-best way that people say they are finding dates (48 percent) is through being set up on blind dates. Only 45 percent of respondents reported finding luck on online dating sites in comparison.

Older daters are more apt to have successfully met people via dating sites – half of respondents between 35 and 40 years old said they have met people on dating sites compared to only 33 percent of people between 20 and 24 years old, according to Dating News. Gen Z appears more open to meeting people outside of dating sites than Millennials, who came of age when dating apps launched and tend to gravitate to those platforms.

Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones is reconsidering the app’s signature selling point: a dating app where females make the first move. The app is scheduled to relaunch later this year, and it seems everything is on the table.

Bumble’s longtime marketing strategy and company mission was to appeal to women and help them feel empowered while using a dating app. Jones however feels that things have changed, and it has become a “burden for a subset of our customers today," according to Yahoo! Finance.

The company has been testing out alternatives, from sending prompts to help women start conversations (and reduce their anxiety about doing so) or they can choose to let their matches start conversations instead.

Dating app conglomerate Match Group has attracted its second activist investor Anson Funds Management LP, who have built a stake in the company.

Bloomberg, who broke the news, also noted that shares of Match Group fell 0.9% in mid-day trading the day the news was released.

Bloomberg also reported that Anson is trying to “change the composition” of Match Group’s Board of Directors, citing reputable sources. The investment firm also discussed with Match Group’s management about embracing AI in its products, which Match Group has already been doing.