OkCupid

Match Group has named new key executives, including its first CTO and a new President and CFO, as well as a new focus on four key businesses – Tinder, Hinge, Asia and Evergreen & Emerging.

According to the company’s press release, Gary Swindler was named to the top position of Match Group as President and CFO, and Will Wu joins as chief technology officer, a newly created position, to oversee product innovation across all apps. Swindler was promoted from his position as CFO and COO and Wu joins from Snap Inc., where he oversaw the commercialization of Snap’s developer platforms and spearheaded the creation of its most famous features like “Discover” and the “Chat” messaging feature, as well as Snap’s social gaming feature. 

Match Group is betting big on Wu, who brings an impressive background with developing one of the earliest revenue streams for Snap, as well as developing Snap’s primary social engagement driver.

Image: OkCupid

A new study by OkCupid found that 87 percent of its female users are pro-choice, and about half (49%) said that a date’s differing opinion on abortion would make them think twice about dating them. The company noted that more than one million users added the “I’m Pro-Choice” badge to their profiles.

OkCupid also found that views on abortion were more polarizing than competing views on politics (where 30% said they would think twice about dating someone with different views). And last year, 72 percent of women said they would not move to a state where abortion was illegal, and 37 percent said they would move out of their state if abortion became illegal there.

The new study comes as the landmark ruling of Roe v Wade would have turned 50 this year. It was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June of last year, which removed federal protections for those receiving and providing abortions. Since then, many states have opted to place severe restrictions on who can access abortion care, with some banning the practice outright. Texas enacted some of the most extreme anti-abortion laws, rewarding people for turning in to authorities anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion.

OkCupid recently surveyed its users regarding their attitudes about dating going into 2023, finding that singles are more interested in open relationships and discussions about sex.

OkCupid had nearly 10 billion responses to matching questions in 2022 which revealed what singles will be looking for in 2023.

In addition to the pandemic’s impact on dating habits in general, younger daters are driving conversation around mental health, sober dating, and attitudes towards relationships and sex, according to OkCupid’s blog. Open relationships have been around for a while, but now young daters are challenging the stigma that has always been attached to them. Over the summer, OkCupid found that there was a 26 percent increase in mentions of “ENM” or “ethical non-monogamy” compared to the beginning of 2022, and a 42 percent increase compared to last summer.

Attitudes towards open relationships have shifted globally – with 30 percent of OkCupid users saying they would be interested in an open relationship (about 8.5 million singles), with Gen Z and Millennial daters being the most interested in ENM. The numbers are highest among European daters, with 49 percent of singles in Spain saying they would consider an open relationship, 46 percent in Switzerland, 40 percent in the Netherlands, 39 percent in Germany, and 37 percent in Italy. Brazil, Australia, and Canada had 35 percent, 34 percent and 31 percent of users interested in open relationships, respectively.

Image: OkCupid

Dating app OkCupid recently surveyed its users to assess the state of dating around the world in 2022. The company found that users are increasingly interested in discussing mental health and inflation concerns with potential dates.

Nearly all 1.6 million respondents from around the world said that mental health was as important as physical health, a noticeable shift in what daters are willing to talk about as they are getting to know each other. In fact, there was an 18 percent increase in people mentioning “mental health” and “therapy” on OkCupid profiles compared to last year. Part of the reason according to OkCupid is that Gen Z is driving these conversations and are a growing demographic. Discussions about mental health have also increased in the wake of the pandemic.

One of the most-asked questions on the platform is “are you sensitive?” and more than 90 percent of singles surveyed said they are (51 percent said sometimes, and 42 percent said all of the time). The company noted that admitting this seems to garner more attention and better response, especially for men.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is suing Match Group for hindering its investigation into OkCupid. The dating app, owned by Match, shared a user’s photo with facial recognition company Clarifai.

According to Bloomberg and BiometricUpdate.com, the FTC found that Clarifai was using the image without the user’s consent or knowledge, violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The government agency also said that it filed the lawsuit because its investigation was being “stonewalled by Match Group.” OkCupid originally shared the image with the AI company back in 2014.

OkCupid user Jordan Stein, whose image was shared without her knowledge or consent, brought a lawsuit against Clarifai as a result, but in March of last year, a judge ruled that Clarifai could not be sued for violating Illinois’ law because it was out of its jurisdiction. 

In time for Pride Month, dating app OkCupid announced it has added compatibility questions for users to find matches who support the LGBTQ+ community.

The new questions focus on a range of topics, including what Pride means to a potential match and whether they advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and whether it is “OK to silently support the transgender movement.” Other questions include how they would want to have children (via surrogate, adoption, fostering and other options), and whether it’s important that their dates care about LGBTQ+ rights, according to PRWeek. 

In addition to the new questions, OkCupid will also show specific definitions for the 20 sexual orientation options and 22 gender identity options the app offers for users to add to their profiles, so that daters can be clear on exactly how they identify. In addition, users can choose up to five options so they are not boxed into only one.