Tinder

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Chispa, Match Group’s dating app for Latino singles, has launched a summer college tour for select cities, in partnership with Sorry Papi. The tour is aimed at building community and awareness of the app among young college students, the target demographic for the app.

Each event features music, dancing, and opportunities for people to connect on the Chispa platform, according to the company's press release. In fact, those logging onto the dating app during the tour will have a chance to win a trip for two to Puerto Rico or Baja with Sorry Papi.

"We couldn't be more thrilled to team up with Chispa," said Jaqueline Terrazas, Tour and Project Manager at Sorry Papi. "Together, we are bringing together communities in a way that celebrates our heritage and creates lasting memories."

Singles are gravitating towards more targeted dating apps and moving away from the one-size-fits-all platforms like Tinder and Bumble.

According to an article in The Financial Times, specialty apps like Grindr (which serves gay and bisexual men) and Feeld (which serves those looking for non-traditional relationships), are seeing downloads and new users increase. Investors are noticing and are looking to these apps rather than the one-size-fits-all dating apps dominating the market.

Tinder and Bumble have seen a decline in downloads and paying users, which has rattled investors. According to the FT, Match Group which owns Tinder has shed about a fifth of its market value since the beginning of 2023, compared to Grindr whose shares have more than doubled in the same time period.

Tinder, Bumble and Hinge have seen surges in downloads and user activity around the Athlete’s Village in Paris as the 2024 Summer Olympics get underway.

According to The Daily Mail, these dating apps have reported thousands of new downloads. Athletes have gravitated to dating apps in the past to hook up during the Olympics, with the exception of an intimacy ban in 2020 due to Covid concerns.

Paris officials have  a different agenda from athletes, providing single beds made of cardboard so that they would be discouraged from having so much sex during the competitions. This has created a lot of buzz on TikTok, with athletes testing out the sturdiness of the beds by jumping on them. (They don’t break or fall apart.)

A vast majority of 79 percent of Gen Z singles said they have experienced dating app burnout, according to a new study by Forbes Health.

The study found that in the last six months, 49 percent of those who reported burnout were using Tinder, followed by Plenty of Fish at 38 percent and Bumble at 29 percent. Raya users had the least amount of burnout reported, at only 3 percent.

“People who experience burnout with dating apps are exhausted from constantly meeting new people, failing opportunities and lies,” Dr. Rufus Spann, a sex therapist and Forbes Health Advisory Board member, said in an article about the study. “Over time, the unfortunate misgivings of being on a dating app can cause someone to lose hope in the dating process and finding the right person.”

Tinder has launched its new feature Photo Selector, an AI-based tool that helps users choose the best photos to use in their profiles to generate the best match results.

According to Tech Crunch, the new feature uses facial detection technology. When a user uploads a selfie on the app, the AI detects the unique facial geometry to identify the person’s face and pulls up matching photos from their camera roll. The feature then curates a collection of ten photos that will perform best on the person’s profile.

Photo Selector is intended to help users through what can be a time-consuming process of sifting through camera roll photos. According to a recent survey by Tinder, 68% of participants expressed that an AI photo selection feature would be helpful, and 52% reported having trouble selecting profile images. 

Starboard Value has taken a stake in Match Group, the latest firm to join the company’s activist investors and criticize executives for its financial performance.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Starboard has built a 6.6 percent interest in Match Group, the parent company of dating app Tinder. The popular dating app has seen a drop in paying customers for six straight quarters, with little sign that things will turn around soon.

Starboard joins Elliott Investment Management LP and Anson Funds Management LP, two other activist investors who have demanded changes in Match Group’s operations. Starboard is planning to push for selling Match Group if it fails to turn things around, according to Dallas Morning News.