General News

A dating app called Girls Around Me has hit the news last month, and not in a good way.

According to Macworld magazine, its makers have been under fire for helping men stalk unsuspecting women at bars and other public places because of how it collects and shares information from social networks. The way it works is that the app collects information from women checking in on FourSquare, and combines that with Facebook data. Then men who downloaded the app were then able to see how many single women were at a particular nightspot, along with their names and what they looked like. The women didn't know that the information they shared over their social networks was being distributed in such a way. There's no "opt in" requirement for the app. So the men who have downloaded it can look around the room and find the women suggested to them by the app, and make their approach.

FourSquare forced the app's developer to pull the app from the iTunes store, claiming it violated its privacy policies. The problem is that the developer didn't illegally obtain the information through hacking or other aggressive methods. Rather, it collected the information that was already shared publicly, aggregating information to their benefit.

Facebook's standard privacy settings have been the subject of much debate. The default settings allow for a lot of information to be shared, unless the user specifically adjusts the settings to prevent anyone else from seeing or using the information. Consumer advocates argue that many people don't realize how much information they share publicly over social networks, especially Facebook, because they assume standard privacy settings will protect them.

The issue at its core is an ethics question. The developers maintain that if someone's information is public, there is no problem in collecting and organizing it to develop a product that many people find useful or valuable. But for those of us who are innocently logging in to FourSquare when we meet our colleagues for drinks, or posting our pictures from that trip to Mexico for our friends on Facebook, we don't want our information to be exploited and handed out to just anyone. It's inherently unsafe.

So the outcome of this debate will be interesting. The makers of Girls Around Me are trying to figure out a solution so the app can be available for download once again. So far, it has been downloaded 70,000 times.

On January 27, 2012 Keating Capital Inc. made a $3 million investment in Zoosk. Keating Capital purchased Series E Convertible Preferred Stock of Zoosk.

The last time we heard about someone investing in Zoosk was back in 2009 when they received $30 million in Series D Funding from Bessemer Venture Partners (see Story). From our calculations it looks like Zoosk has received about $43.5 million over the last number of years from investors.

For more information on the story you can read this page from The New York Times. To see what this dating site has to offer, please read our Zoosk review.

Pinterest is having a moment. There's just something about pinning pictures to virtual billboards and sharing your finds with dedicated followers that's irresistible and addictive. Even I've succumbed to the joys of Pinterest, after weeks of resisting and complaining that I didn't understand what all the hype was about.

Pinterest seemed to be one step closer to total world domination earlier last month, thanks to the "debut" of PinPal, a "causal dating service for Pinterest fans." I know what you're thinking...did cyberspace really need a dating site dedicated to Pinterest fans? The short answer is no, it didn't. And the long answer is that it wasn't needed and it didn't actually exist. That's right - it didn't exist. Despite generating some excitement online, PinPal turned out to be nothing more than an elaborate April Fools' Day prank.

PinPal.net claimed to combine "the visual magic of Pinterest with the connecting power of your favorite social networks to help you find your perfect PinPal!" Though supposedly in beta, the site purported to have a limited number of members in San Francisco and New York that were taking it for a test drive.

FriendFinder Networks (FFN) released their 4th quarter and year end results for 2011 last month. Revenue for the 4th quarter was $81.7 million. This was down compared to last year due largely to a decline in subscribers in the European market. Net loss for this quarter was $10.2 million. A large part of this net loss is due to stock compensation expense. In response to the loss FFN are taking measures to reduce yearly overhead by about $10 million.

For the year ending December 31, 2011 revenue for FriendFinder Networks was $331.3 million. This resulted in a net loss of $31.1 million. This net loss is the result of paying down their principal debt of $505 million.

Based on a number of initiatives for 2012 (including a launch of a new platform in quarter 2) FFN estimates it will generate additional revenue which will result in $340 to $350 million in revenue for 2012.

For more information on the 2011 Q4 financial report please read the news release. For more information on some of FFN dating sites you can read our review of FriendFinder and our review of Asia FriendFinder.

Related Story: FriendFinder Networks Third Quarter 2011 Financials

It looks like Zoosk is planning to move their headquarters to a larger office space in Central Market located in San Francisco. Their new location is 52,000 square feet and will become Zoosk's global headquarters. This location of San Francisco is becoming a hub of technology companies. Zoosk will be sharing the building with Zendesk and the neighbourhood with companies like Call Socket and Twitter.

This move will more than double Zoosk's space for their 102 employees. Zoosk also plans to expand to 160 employees by the end of 2012. It is estimated that the office space could hold up to 340 employees.

For more information on this story you can check out the press release. To find out what makes this company such a popular dating site you can read our review of Zoosk.

Good news, visual learners: I come bearing a new infographic.

Everyone knows that online dating is big business. According to a popular dating site, the booming industry now has 40 million users and rakes in $1.9 billion in annual revenue. But the question is: does online dating actually help the lovelorn singles it was created for? Or does it only help out the companies who are scooping up their hard-earned cash?

MBAPrograms compiled an infographic of research from a range of different sources to figure out who the real online dating winners are. Here's what they found...

We're almost all liars:

• 81% of people lie about their height, weight, or age in their profiles.
• Women, on average, claim to be 8.5 lbs lighter than they really are and use profile photos that are 1.5 years old.
• Men, on average, describe themselves as 2 lbs lighter and add a half inch to their height. They also use outdated photos, but show a preference for pictures that are only 6 months old.

Despite the lies, the online dating industry is making a mint:

• In 2007, 20 million people visited or used an online dating site and the industry made $900 million.
• In 2012, 40 million people visited or used an online dating site and annual revenue has reached almost $2 billion.

Online daters are a time-crunched bunch:

• The average couple who meets online waits 18.5 months to get married.
• The average couple who meets offline waits 42 months to tie the knot.

Although online dating is hugely popular, it may not be changing the marriage landscape as much as you think. The ways in which married people met their spouses have remained relatively unchanged in the past few years:

• At work or school: 36% in 2006/2007, 38% in 2009/2010
• Through a friend or family member 26% in 2006/2007, 27% in 2009/2010
• On an online dating site: 17% in both 2006/2007 and 2009/2010

If it's not having a massive impact on marriage, yet it's making major cash for the industry, why bother with online dating at all?

• You can get to know your date from the comfort of your own home.
• First date jitters are lessened when you've already "met" your date in cyberspace.
• Your search for love is wider than your local dating pool.
• You can show your interest (or lack thereof) without the fear of face-to-face rejection.
• You can easily weed out incompatible matches.

For more facts on online dating, check out the original infographic here.