Online Dating

Match Group is making changes to its executive team and pausing its metaverse plans on the heels of a disappointing second quarter earnings report. Its stock fell 20 percent after the earnings call with investors.

According to reports, Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg is exiting after less than a year at the helm of the app. Bernard Kim, the new Match Group CEO following Shar Dubey’s exit two months ago, wrote this as explanation in his letter to shareholders: “Tinder’s current revenue growth expectations for the second half of the year are below our original expectations as a result of disappointing execution. We need to do more to excite our user base.”

Kim also announced a new COO, chief product officer, chief marketing officer, and chief technology officer according to Gizmodo, promoted from other parts of the company.

Revenue growth for dating conglomerate Match Group has fallen in a disappointing second quarter for the company. The market responded and the company’s stock fell more than twenty percent, bringing its stock price down 42 percent of its value since the beginning of the year.

Match Group held its earnings call with investors, reporting revenue of $795 million compared to $804 million that analysts expected. In addition to this, Match Group lowered revenue forecasts for Q3 from $800 to $790 million according to CNBC News, which includes the impact from foreign exchange rates falling compared to the dollar. To complicate things for Match Group, it also means that there would be no growth at all between the quarters.

There were some hopeful signs despite the news. The company pointed out that overall revenue grew twelve percent compared to this time last year. In addition, the number of paid users increased 10 percent to 16.4 million according to the shareholder report, and revenue per paid user rose three percent to $15.86.

A Russian court recently fined Match Group 2 million roubles ($33,280 USD) for its failure to store user data in Russian territory. Match Group owns the popular dating app Tinder, among others.

According to Reuters, Russia is taking action against American companies for refusing to store user data within the country, including against Meta’s WhatsApp, Expedia Group, and Snap Inc. Last month, the court fined Google’s parent company Alphabet for 15 million roubles because it was storing user information outside of Russia.

The move seems to be part of a larger strategy to penalize U.S. tech companies for controlling the data of its citizens in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Tinder Desk Mode

Image: Tinder

As more people head back into the office after two years of working from home, Tinder has relaunched its popular Desk Mode feature.

Desk Mode is a convenient cover-up if you are browsing profiles on your work computer. When you click on the feature button, a small briefcase icon located in the top left corner of the screen, a decoy “Meeting Notes” screen will pop up on your monitor if your boss happens to walk in and catch you.

If you actually read the screen, Tinder had a little fun with the details. It includes an agenda to “buy drinks” and “order nachos with the works” and ends in a “late night ice cream run.” There’s also a graph showing “swipe stats for selfies” which includes “shirtless selfie” and “pics of my yacht.” Meeting recap notes are listed at the bottom, including “didn’t know the difference between a pale ale and a pilsner.”

Meta announced it will be shutting down Tuned, its app designed for couples, in mid-September. As of the end of July, it is no longer allowing new users to sign up for the service.

Tuned was launched in April 2020 when Covid lockdowns were taking place around the world. It was positioned as a dating app to help couples better communicate by giving them a platform to exchange notes, photos, voice messages and videos, as well as share music via a Spotify integration. Tuned also let users set their moods and supplied a “check-in” feature with prompts so they could have a starting point to talk about their feelings.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to connect with couples. Tech Crunch pointed out that the platform was removed from Facebook Dating and other Meta platforms, which could have impacted its success.

Bumble Gender Options

Image: Bumble

In response to recent criticisms from its non-binary users, Bumble has announced changes to its app to create a better, more inclusive experience.

According to NBC News, Bumble has now updated its gender preference options to include non-binary as its own category for dating profiles. When a user chooses, they are prompted to “add more.” For example, a user identifying as a woman can choose from trans, intersex woman, transfeminine and cis woman, among others. Men can choose from intersex man, trans man, transmasculine, etc. If a user doesn’t identify with any descriptor on the list, they can add their own. Nonbinary users can choose from numerous descriptors, including bigender, genderfluid, gender questioning, and pangender among others.

Prior to this change, Bumble tested a pilot feature where users could choose non-binary as an option for gender preference, but this option was listed under the “male” and female” gender options, one of which had to be selected first.