Marketing

Tinder took the online dating world by storm a few years ago when it launched, changing the way people connected for dates. Instead of crafting elaborate profiles, Tinder’s appeal was its ease and visual component, its mobile interface – you like a photo, and you swipe.

But now, other apps who have tried to copy its example, creating swipe-like features of their own, have found that this is not the best way to stay competitive in the dating app space. So instead of making as many profiles available as quickly as possible, other apps are looking to curate their offerings and make it a more selective process, specifically for female users.

Gay men and women are now allowed to search and meet through dating site Christian Mingle, one of the largest niche dating sites in the industry. The site opened its platform to gay users after settling a lawsuit that claimed that it violated California’s non-discrimination law on the basis of sexual orientation.

According to the conditions of the settlement, Spark Networks who own Christian Mingle among other dating sites, will change their homepages to allow users to specify if they are a man or a woman, and also if they are looking for men or women. While Spark also agreed to create a more comprehensive and tailored matching service for users seeking same sex relationships within the next two years, the dating site Christian Mingle as it exists for gay singles can be frustrating.

In June, Facebook announced a small change to its algorithm. The platform will now be promoting your friends’ posts in your Facebook feed over news posts from relevant media, publishers and businesses. While this is great in theory because it can cut down the clutter you might not want, it puts a lot of businesses in a bind.

According to an article in International Business Times, more than 50 million businesses use Facebook Pages — from big brands like McDonald’s and Nike to small local businesses and tech startups. They will be forced to pay advertising dollars to reach people over the social media platform and increase visibility, instead of relying on Facebook’s grassroots appeal.

The biggest losers in the new algorithm changes however, are dating apps, because many don't even have the option to advertise. Back in early 2014, Facebook introduced restrictions on the dating industry that required all companies, no matter the size, to be pre-approved for advertising. It was an effort to crack down on dating services that were abusing their advertising privileges with suggestive images and messaging to potential users, because their content could be interpreted as too explicit or inappropriate.

As a result, all dating apps are paying the price. Even traditional and reputable dating apps that boast large followings like Match are prevented from advertising until they go through an application process to be whitelisted. Some dating services that applied over two years ago are still waiting to hear if they have been approved.

The rules for approval and advertising guidelines were decided by committee - a roundtable Facebook held with some of the largest dating advertisers in the industry, including Match and Zoosk.

The basic process is this: after being accepted to advertise, approved dating services have to adhere to certain standards, such as only targeting people 18 and older who list themselves as single and interested in meeting men or women. Sites that have a sexual emphasis are not permitted, nor are dating sites that use any suggestive or pixelated images.

Dating apps like HER, which markets to the lesbian community but is a platform for forming friendships as well as dating, was affected negatively by the new policies. In fact, 30% of their users are in relationships, but they use the app to find groups of friends with similar interests. HER is not allowed to advertise to these users over Facebook, only the single users.

More dating apps as a result have been turning to Twitter and YouTube for advertising their services. While Twitter doesn’t allow explicit advertising, their platform is less restrictive for dating services overall. And this might change the way dating services appeal and market to potential customers, as they leave Facebook to spend their ad dollars on other platforms.

Pokemon Go took the world by storm when it launched this summer. The app has successfully gotten people up off their couches to explore new neighborhoods in order to play, so it’s only natural that its positive momentum to connect people can influence the online dating sphere, too.

And now thanks to Project Fixup, a US-based dating and matchmaking service, you can sign up with a new service dubbed PokeDates in order to find your “PokeMate.”

PokéDates aim is simple: it offers single Pokémon Go players a chance to meet up at a prearranged "PokéStop” or "PokéGym" before exploring their city for various Pokemons, adding a social – and potentially romantic – element to the hugely popular game.

Here’s how it works: Pokémon Go players answer a few questions about themselves and what they’re looking for in a potential date, plus whether they have any deal breakers. Next, players/ users add in dates and times when they’re available to play the augmented reality game with a potential date. Then the Pokédaters each get an email with all the details about when and where to meet their match. After that, it’s up to the players to see if there's chemistry.

Sounds great, right? You can play the highly addictive Pokemon game, which had crowds at Central Park last week searching together madly for a rare Pokemon, and potentially meet the love of your life while doing it.

There’s a catch, however.

The first date is free with Promo code POKEDATES2016, but after that, it costs $20 per date to play, which is kind of pricey by online dating standards. It’s currently available in the US and Canada, but only for players 25 and older.

Sarah Press, Project Fixup CEO cofounder, said in a statement: "Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm and it’s more fun to play with a companion. We hope PokéDates will bring singles together to experience the joy of the game and explore their city while getting to know one another."

Of course, you could just meet other Pokemon Go players while you are out playing, as long as you take some time to strike up a conversation. But where’s the fun in that?

According to Business Insider, PokéDates claimed to have over 2,200 new signups within eight hours of being live, with 10-15 new ones occurring every minute.

And according to US Weekly, Since Pokémon Go launched in early July, it has broken records as the fastest mobile game to hit 10 million downloads.

There has been speculation that Match Group’s star performer in the online dating space – dating app Tinder – would cannibalize its other online dating companies. But so far, contrary to analysts’ reports, this hasn’t happened.

Tinder is by far the dating app industry giant, with over 25 million active users and about 1 million paid subscribers in its tiered program. Some analysts have feared that because of Tinder’s rapid growth and free platform, it would mean users would leave other popular online dating sites in Match Group (like Match, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid) to join Tinder, making them obsolete.

What they found instead was that Match Group’s overall earnings were up in the first quarter of 2016, thanks in part to the POF acquisition and Match Group’s strategy to grow and invest in Tinder’s rivals.

Overall revenue came in at $285 million in its first quarter, $3 million over expected revenues.

Greg Blatt, chairman and CEO of Match Group, said in the first quarter earnings release: "Match Group posted very strong revenue and Adjusted EBITDA growth in the first quarter, driven by exceptional growth at Tinder, solid performance of Meetic and Match, and the PlentyOfFish acquisition."

Bank of America Merrill Lynch explained that "even without Tinder, Match would have grown its core Dating subscribers by 6% (up from about 1% last quarter) and its Dating revenue by significantly more."

The POF acquisition is an important factor in the revenue numbers. The dating website grew tremendously itself over the years with 70 million registered users, and operated for many years on a shoestring budget with one employee, Markus Frind, who created the dating site and sold it to IAC (Match Group’s parent company) for $575 million in 2015.

Over time if Tinder’s popularity continues to grow, and the app itself makes improvements that resonate with its users, then there could be an impact to Match Group’s other businesses. For now, POF, Match, and OkCupid are still going strong.

One solution that has been floated in the media is for Tinder to advertise other Match Group properties on its app. (Tinder’s revenue comes mainly from paid advertising, rather than its tiered service.)

For the most part, online daters are not beholden to one site or app, preferring to join two or more at any given time. Because of Tinder’s growth, it has grown the entire online dating industry in just three short years, and made online dating a more acceptable practice. Numerous dating apps are launching every week, hoping to cash in on Tinder’s market share and success.

It seems to be a win-win for the online dating industry as a whole, even in a saturated market.

Tinder is looking to be more social – or at least hook you up along with your group of friends to connect with other friend groups out in the real world. The problem? Tinder users are being opted in to this feature by default, so you don't have a choice. Which means Tinder Social automatically displays which of your Facebook friends are also using Tinder.

This can make for some awkward conversation, especially for those who would rather keep their dating practices private.

To make matters more uncomfortable, Tinder Social presents a list of your friends along with their dating app profiles so you can not only see they are using the app, but how they are presenting themselves on Tinder. (Sexy photos, anyone?)

And worse yet, some Tinder users think Tinder Social is a way to meet others for group sex (and considering the whole hook-up reputation, it’s not that far of a stretch).

The new feature is only in the testing stages in certain parts of Australia, so chances are you haven’t encountered the feature just yet. This will give Tinder some time to refine it. The company will need to make some changes to reassure people about their privacy on the app. Over the years, it has stressed to users that their social networks would not be compromised, and that anything they do on the app wouldn’t be seen on Facebook or in their other social networks.

While there’s currently a way to opt out of the friend-finding feature, Tinder users are automatically opted in, so you actively have to disengage. A good fix would be to make it an opt-in feature only, so Tinder doesn’t risk alienating users who didn’t realize their profiles were being put on display among their social media friends.

Finding circles of friends seems to be a new wave in the dating app space, and an untapped market for an already attentive dating app population. CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe announced the company would be unveiling a similar group friend-finding feature on their app, and Grouper, a dating app that’s been around for a few years, offers group dates for people who don’t want the pressure of one-on-one dating. There’s also MeetUp, a networking site that has been around for a while to help people find friends in their communities through activities and other interests.

Many other apps are jumping on this new friend-finding bandwagon, hoping to capitalize on the social networking market. We’ll see if Tinder or another app can get people excited about the friend-finding potential of apps.