Online Dating

Dating in China just got a whole lot harder. The country's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, has closed down 128 online dating sites suspected of violating regulations and supplying false information.

The websites were shut down for a lengthy list of allegations, including organized prostitution, disseminating pornographic images, promoting vulgar content, allowing user information to be distributed illegally, and not having complete sets of registration records.

This crackdown comes after the CAC joined forces with several government agencies – including the Ministry of Public Security, the All-China Women's Federation, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs – to conduct a clean-up operation. The offensive began in February, driven primarily by tips from the public. Users are still encouraged to report illegal websites through hotlines, e-mail or mobile apps.

"The operation has achieved a good result. It acted as a deterrent to violators and also had positive impact on the industry's development," said the CAC in a statement. With the way paved, the plan is to create guidelines to ensure dating sites provide fair and honest service.

Other dating services have expressed support, saying the new policies will be good for the industry's long-term development. Wu Linguang, CEO of leading Chinese dating site Jiayuan.com, has come out in favor. The CEOs of Baihe.com and Youyuan.com have also both expressed support for the campaign.

Aside from targeting prostitution and fraudulent practices by service providers, the CAC's crusade tackled the issue of authenticity. Some services were accused of failing to enforce controversial 2012 regulations requiring users to give their real names and national identification numbers upon registration. These sites have been asked to enforce real-name registration to protect users against dishonesty and scammers.

Some believe these are advantageous moves that will help maintain a fair and competitive online market, and improve legal consciousness. Others are less convinced by the ostensible motives.

Chinese internet users have poked fun at the crackdown and questioned its intentions. Critics claim campaigns purporting to safeguard moral standards and related laws are merely a pretext for political censorship.

This is not the first time China has made such a bold move. Last year, in a similar effort to stamp out prostitution and pornography, the country closed nearly 1.8 million social networking and instant messaging accounts.

Not the first time, and likely not the last.

It's been a year of bumps and bruises for Zoosk.

After reaching 26 million users in 2014, the online dating network announced plans for a $100 million IPO. It was major news, but now Zoosk has submitted a regulatory filing to withdraw its plan to go public.

In an email to VentureBeat, Zoosk chief executive Kelly Steckelberg offered the following explanation:

“Since the time we filed, the market condition around comparables that would be used to help value our company, like Angie’s List and Care.com, have not performed well. While the overall market might seem receptive to a public offering, subscription businesses have suffered.”

The canceled IPO isn't the only wound Zoosk has suffered recently. The company's founders, Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr, abruptly handed over executive control to former CFO Steckelberg at the end of 2014, leaving some to wonder what happens when a founder-led company loses its founders.

In the wake of those major developments, Zoosk implemented a new strategy focused on its customer base and on attracting fresh talent behind the scenes. The company reduced its workforce by approximately 15 percent to better align with its new strategy, leaving morale at an all-time low. The company was in desperate need of reevaluation.

Vice President of Marketing, Carol Mahoney, worked with a team of 3 human resources professionals to identify four areas of improvement. First, to serve customers better. Second, to boost engagement of employees. Third, to get clear on the company's vision and mission. Fourth, to achieve sustainable growth.

According to CIO.com, Mahoney found that transparency was a key issue. Employees were desperate to know what was happening in the midst of such upheaval and sought open communication from top-level executives.

"We realized we had to over-communicate about everything that was happening to make sure people knew we cared about their fears and their anxieties,” Mahoney says. “Now, we talk about our profits, our subscription base, hiring, attrition -- everything. People need to trust that we're honest about the ups and downs of the business if they're going to stay.”

Zoosk also highlights company culture to set it apart from the fierce competition in its native San Francisco. Dogs are allowed in the office. Weekly happy hours are hosted with beer on tap. Employees are encouraged to volunteer in the city's most disadvantaged areas. Three-day hackathons are held to develop new ideas.

Although Mahoney says there's still work do be done, she's feeling positive about the future. “We've made huge strides and we're going to be stronger than ever because of the emphasis we've placed on retaining our talent," she says.

Infamous hookup app Grindr may quietly be looking for a hookup of its own: a hookup with a buyer.

Word on the street is that the LA-based company has hired Raine Group LLC to advise on a possible sale. Bloomberg reports that “the sale process is early and no deal is assured,” so for the moment Grindr is keeping details under wraps.

Joel Simkhai founded Grindr in 2009 with $5,000. Since then, the explosively popular app has gained more than 5 million users in 192 countries. It claims to be the biggest male mobile social network in the world, and has become a bona fide pop culture phenomenon.

Oddly, despite its meteoric rise to the top of the gay dating app heap, Grindr remains self-funded with no outside investors. Revenue comes from a premium subscription service called Grindr Xtra, a paid upgrade that offers increased functionality and eliminates advertising for $12 per month.

In 2011 Simkhai launched Blendr, a dating app for both men and women that uses similar geolocation technology. So far it has yet to soar to the heights reached by its predecessor.

The problems Grindr and Blendr currently face are not unique. The dating industry is massive and cutthroat. Research by IBISWorld found 3,924 dating services in the US alone, which add up to revenue of about $2 billion. Competition is in ample supply, and it isn't easy for paid services to go head-to-head with free options.

The business model itself offers a special set of challenges. Dating services struggle to retain customers and sustain revenue growth for an amusingly obvious reason: because ideal use of the service means no more need of it. A success story ends in finding love, settling down, and never needing to date again.

A short-term solution to the problem, at least for Simkhai himself, is a sale. IAC (InterActiveCorp) could perhaps be a likely buyer, as it controls the majority of the online dating market in America through ownership in platforms like Tinder, OKCupid, and Match.com. Grindr would be a powerful addition to IAC's already-powerful lineup.

It is not known how – or even if – a sale would impact users, but it's probably safe to assume drastic changes aren't on the way for an app that's already had so much success. Although with more money and muscle behind it, who knows how much growth could be in store for Grindr?

Now that Tinder has announced the integration of Instagram into its dating app, daters might become more self-conscious about posting selfies or an abundance of food photos. After all, if someone’s interested in your profile and wants to look further, it gives him/her more reason to judge you and move on.

That can be pretty stressful to your low-key dating style on Tinder. But if you are watching what you post – and want to put your best face forward, so to speak – then you might want to consider these tips about the kind of photos to avoid posting.

No drunk shots. It might seem festive to include a picture of you downing that margarita for Cinco de Mayo, but it might make your dates wonder if you party too much. Avoid polarizing potential dates based on a few weekend nights out having fun – find activities that represent who you are in your normal, every day life.

Keep group photos out. If you post a group photo, not only will potential dates wonder which one you are, but they are more likely to want to date your friends. Don’t fall into this trap – everyone has friends, so there’s no reason to promote it, and if you want to show off how attractive yours are, it will backfire.

Ease up on duck faces. The rise of the selfie has also resulted in the popularity of making duck faces at the camera. While you might rock your pout, don’t advertise it on Tinder. People don’t want to see your Kylie Jenner impression, they want to know who you are and what you really look like. Also, try smiling instead.

No posing with celebrities or ultra nice objects, like sports cars. I know you’re proud of that photo you took with George Clooney, or that you just bought a new car. Please don’t pose next to them for your Tinder photos. This is really screaming to potential dates: “I’m desperate for attention.”

Include a body shot. If you have nothing but shots of your face, people will make assumptions about what you’re not posting – your body. They might assume you’re hiding something, or you’ve lied about your weight or appearance in some way. Don’t let this happen. Be straightforward, and try to have a little fun with it.

Avoid all those photos of your pet and/or your food. You've heard this before, but please avoid posting all those pics of your adorable dog or cat making faces, sleeping, cuddling, whatever. Show these to your friends, not your potential dates. The same goes for food, no matter how artfully you’ve captured that plate of sushi. Endless pictures of food doesn’t tell your date anything about who you are, what you like, or how you spend time – except that you like to eat pretty things. The focus of your profile should be you.

For more about this dating app you can take a look at our Tinder review.

Tired of meeting flaky people over dating apps like Tinder? Turns out, there’s a reason for all the disappearing acts: a recent study by GlobalWebIndex reported that up to 42% of the population on Tinder are already in relationships. And incredibly, 3 in 10 users are married. Before you start bashing men, the report also broke down information by gender, and it turns out that married and taken women on Tinder outnumber the men on the app who are already in relationships.

In response to this, and perhaps to further differentiate themselves from the popular dating app, Hinge has announced that in the latest release of its dating app, it will publish whether or not you’re in a relationship, engaged or married.

Hinge did its own study among its users, and found that 1.6 percent of them were either married or engaged, while an additional two percent were already in relationships. While Hinge wins hands-down over the high percentage of cheaters on Tinder, it still wants to do better. So in Hinge version 3.5, users who reveal they are “married,” “engaged” or “in a relationship” on Facebook will have that information pulled and shared on their Hinge profile, in an effort to shame cheaters everywhere. And if you remove your relationship status from Facebook to avoid this problem? Then you may have to explain it to your spouse or partner.

Hinge utilizes Facebook to match people who are in the same circles – Facebook friends of friends who are also using the service – so you’ve never really meeting a total stranger. At least, you will have a Facebook friend in common, which helps daters reduce the anxiety about online dating.

The new version adds another great benefit, which is more transparency in dating. Instead of finding yourself devastated to find out several dates later that your match is otherwise involved, it’s out in the open.

This might be a problem for female daters, according to the GlobalWebIndex study, since the majority of cheaters on Tinder happen to be women – the target market and primary user base for Hinge. Hinge appeals to women because of safety issues, especially those who are nervous to try a dating app, because users are matched within their own social networking circles. But if married women take to the app (and perhaps they won’t – and don’t – because they would be called out by their mutual Facebook friends), they have to go to greater lengths to hide their movements.

Regardless, it is a positive step for online dating in general to create more transparency for those who are truly looking to date other single people.

Spark Networks – owner of ChristianMingle.com, JDate.com, BlackSingles.com, and more – has released financial results for the first quarter of 2015.

Revenue in the first quarter of 2015 was $13.5 million, a decrease of 19% compared to the year ago period and a 5% decrease from the prior quarter. The decrease was primarily driven by a 25% drop in average paying subscribers, particularly in the Christian Networks segment.

Direct marketing expenses in the first quarter of 2015 were $6.1 million, a decrease of 47% compared to the year ago period and an 18% increase compared to the prior quarter. Much of the decrease resulted from a new marketing strategy for Christian Networks.