Online Dating

Bumble beat analysts’ expectations for its first quarter earnings report, with user spending remaining strong despite concerns over inflation and a recession.

According to Reuters, Bumble saw strong user growth during the first quarter of 2023 as more people chose to pay for its features and subscriptions. The news sent the company’s stock up 7 percent in aftermarket trading.

Bumble reported revenue of $242.9 million for the first quarter of 2023, higher than analyst expectations of $241 million, according to Refinitiv data. Total paying users were a bright spot: Bumble reported 3.5 million paying users at the end of Q1, up from 3 million just a year earlier. Total paying users grew 31 percent to 2.3 million for Bumble.

Shares of Match Group stock rose following the company’s second quarter forecasts, despite the decline in earnings for Q1.

Match Group reported EPS (earnings per share) of 42 cents, beating the consensus of 41 cents, per Reuters. It’s also a 5 percent increase from the same period last year. Revenue however was $787.12 million for the quarter, below the expected $793.87 million, and a 2 percent decline from the same time last year according to Yahoo! Finance.

Paying app users decreased by 1.1 percent to 15.87 million, according to Yahoo!, but revenue per payer actually increased to $16.26, up from $16 in the last quarter, a hopeful sign.

Match Group has announced it will shut down operations for its apps in Russia by the end of June, including Tinder.

According to Reuters, the move is due to the ongoing human rights violations happening in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in early 2022.

"We are committed to protecting human rights," Match said in an annual impact report published on Monday. "Our brands are taking steps to restrict access to their services in Russia and will complete their withdrawal from the Russian market by June 30, 2023."

European police agency Europol has said that dating apps were among online platforms being “hijacked” by nefarious actors for human trafficking, who were capitalizing on the unstable environment in the country. This announcement also drew attention to human rights violations happening among Ukrainian refugees, according to Reuters.

Muslim dating app Muzmatch has lost an appeal in its continuing legal battle with Match Group.

Match Group, which owns popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, filed a lawsuit against Muzmatch to change its name due to striking similarities with its own brand. The judge in the appeal upheld the June 2022 ruling calling for Muzmatch to make the name change, and the company has recently complied, changing its name to Muzz per The Times of India.

The original ruling also found in favor of Match Group due to SEO (search engine optimization) issues. Having “match” in the app’s name would mean keywords comprising the word “match” would increase Muzmatch’s chances of appearing higher up in Google searches, which means Muzmatch would unfairly benefit from Match Group’s brand.

Four college students have developed a new AI tool that is aimed to help singles communicate better over dating apps. Rizz generates personalized responses to messages using a screenshot of the chat, so singles can choose one, customize it, and move conversations forward.

The developers are coders who told The Washington Post that they struggled to chat with people, and this inspired them to create the app. "The reason we created this app is that we're experiencing the pain of not fully knowing how to converse with people," co-founder Charis Zhang told The Washington Post.

Rizz’s founders are all sophomores in college, with Zhang, Oliver Johansson and Tobias Worledge at the University of California at Berkeley; and Daniel He goes to school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Tinder has announced the launch of its new Photo Verification feature, which includes an AI-powered update and video selfie requirement.

According to Tech Crunch, the new Photo Verification is to help users prove they aren’t a bot or catfisher on the dating app by taking video selfies that can be analyzed by AI against their photos. Previously, users were required to take a selfie as instructed by the app to compare against a profile photo, but Tinder is strengthening its process even further by requiring the video selfie, so there is no room for error.

The process for verification requires the user to complete a series of videos responding to questions or prompts, and then the AI tool scans the videos and compares them to the photos the user wants to include in their profile to see if they match. The AI tool uses 3D mapping of facial geometry for both the video and photos, according to Tech Crunch.