Milestones

This week, Match Group announced it has acquired dating app Hinge. According to the press release, the deal gives Match Group a 51 percent stake in the company. Match first started buying shares in Sept of 2017 and has the option to buy remaining shares of Hinge within the next year.

Hinge has spent the last few years revamping its image and features, creating an app that countered Tinder’s hook-up reputation, and aimed to create a space for more serious daters. This included dumping its initial Tinder-like swiping feature and allowing clients to build profiles more like traditional online dating sites. Interestingly, Match Group (which owns Tinder) initially invested in Hinge in the fall of 2017, soon after it debuted its new design.

Hinge is most popular among “urban, educated millennial women looking for relationships,” according to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg. It has also grown its user base to “five times what it was a year ago,” according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, making it an attractive purchase for Match Group.

DateHookup.com on April 28, 2018

Well after waiting a bit and some more digging (and thanks to the Way Back Machine) it is official that DateHookup.com closed for good on May 9^th, 2018.

We initially reported at the beginning of May DateHookup was experiencing technical difficulties and by May 10^th the service was no longer accessible. We did find out that in the last 2 weeks of April, Datehookup.com did display a message (as seen in the photo) in bright red on their homepage stating:

Datehookup will discontinue services on May 9, 2018. Please contact support@datehookup.com for any questions.

Image: bumble

Bumble announced the launch of its new creative endeavor: granting five female filmmakers and screenwriters in the U.K. $27,000 each to make a short film. This marks the company’s first official move into the original content space, following in the steps of Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.

Bumble’s content shingle, dubbed The Female Film Force, came to fruition after the 2018 awards season, where only 15% of Oscar winners and 20% of BAFTA winners were female. Bumble wanted to ensure more women’s voices were heard and reflected in film, so its executives decided to launch this initiative.

Bumble writes on its website:

Datehookup.com in October, 2017

At the beginning of May someone in our forums noted that the SSL security certificate had expired for the domain DateHookup.com. With the expiry all interent browsers would present someone who visits DateHookup.com with an error message explaining that the certificate is invalid. At this point the visitor has the option to continue on to the site or not. A SSL certificate allows the use of the https protocol and any information that passes from the internet browser to the DateHookup web server would be encrypted. If the certificate is invalid or the website uses only http protocol then the information traveling between the web browser and the server could be retrieved by a hacker with the right tools.

Updating your SSL certificate usually is an easy process and I am surprised to see that it was not done.

Finding love on Facebook? It’s complicated.

At least, it used to be. At this year’s F8 developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage for an announcement many would call long overdue: Facebook is launching a dating feature.

“We’re building a feature for dating and relationships within the Facebook app. People already use Facebook to meet new people, and we want to make that experience better,” the company said in an announcement. “People will be able to create a dating profile that is separate from their Facebook profile — and potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends.”

The social networking platform is rife with matchmaking potential. According to Zuckerberg, one in three marriages in the U.S. begins online and 200 million Facebook users list themselves as singles. Facebook’s dating feature “is going to be built around long-term relationships, not hook-ups," he insisted, taking subtle aim at competitors like Tinder.

Match Group, the company who brought online dating into the mainstream first with iconic dating site Match.com and then with its acquisition of Tinder, is looking for new business opportunities outside the dating industry. This week at CES, the company announced the new app Ripple for those wanting to network for career opportunities.

The app is positioned to be a direct competitor of LinkedIn, a popular career building and networking site. According to Ripple executives, LinkedIn’s framework is too stagnant for users to effectively network, and ends up being primarily a database of resumes. LinkedIn also doesn’t do much to create stickiness for people to update their profiles and check in regularly, unless they are actively seeking clients or trying to find a job.

Ripple borrows the matching game from Tinder to help with its stickiness. When you launch the app, Ripple presents you with people who might be a good professional match, based on interests, people you are connected to, events you’re attending, and groups you are part of. Ripple also includes your social networks like Twitter and Medium, so potential employers or work colleagues can see what you’re posting and what is most current (encouraging you to be more active). Users are able to decide whether someone is a good fit, and then connect with them.