Features

Badoo Selfie Feature

Popular online dating service Badoo has announced the release of its latest feature “Selfie Request,” which aims to provide more security for female daters using the service.

The new selfie feature allows women to request a photo from a male user after they have received an initial message, so that they can confirm their potential match is genuine and using a real photo. From there, a male user can either send the requested selfie or decline. (The selfie is taken on the spot to confirm the match is genuine.)

Selfie Request is positioned to help the ongoing problem of catfishing in online dating, where users hide their identity behind fake profiles and photos in order to exploit other users. According to Pew Research Center, 54 percent of online daters have felt that someone misrepresented themselves on their profile. This new feature update from Badoo is intended to help avoid this recurring problem by addressing the online safety of females, who are largely the targets of catfishing as well as the main recipients of unwanted and harassing messages.

While Tinder is expanding its market share in the dating industry, Whitney Wolfe, one of Tinder’s ex co-Founders and now CEO of dating app Bumble, wants to take her app in a new direction outside of dating: business networking.

Bumble began as a dating app where women make the first move. Guys aren’t allowed to message or see a woman’s profile unless she allows it first, putting her in control of the interaction. Her app has gotten some buzz (excuse the pun), and has in the past year expanded its search and connection capabilities for friendships as well as romantic hook-ups with its feature BumbleBFF.

And according to recent articles in Gizmodo and The Verge, it seems the app wants to help you in another aspect of your life: your career.

EliteSingles is an online dating service aimed at professionals who take their love lives as seriously as their time at the office. The site's intelligent matching algorithm prioritizes long-term happiness and compatibility using a thorough personality questionnaire and profile, helping marriage-minded singles escape the casual nature of most modern dating.

The formula has proved to be a winning one. EliteSingles has seen significant user growth, particularly in the UK where it reported year-on-year growth figures of 37% in Q1 2016. Overall, the company is currently growing at a rate of 25-30% each year.

The latest figures from the UK come hot on the heels of a rebrand in March. EliteSingles’ global makeover includes graphical and user experience improvements to the website and app, as well as significant improvements to the "Wildcard" function, which enables users to enjoy more potential matches every day. The UK, the United States, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa have all been updated with the fresh functionality, logo, and colour scheme.

Two years of solid growth inspired the rebrand. The site receives an average of 215,000 new member sign-ups per month across all its English speaking EliteSingles platforms, with 100,000 from the US, a further 40,000 from the UK, and 20,000 monthly sign-ups in Australia.

EliteSingles has become a premier online dating destination for professional singles looking for long-term relationships since its launch in 2013. The site’s average user is aged between 30 and 45, and the majority (85%) are university educated to at least a Bachelor degree level. All profiles on the site are manually verified and, using a sophisticated algorithm, matched based on a combination of education, profession, and personality.

New users complete an extensive questionnaire upon sign-up that analyzes unique personality traits. After completing the questionnaire, users fill out an in-depth profile that covers passions, hobbies, desires, dealbreakers, strengths, and more. From there the site takes over, presenting users with 3-7 matches each day that meet their personality and search criteria. The system is a perk for busy professionals who have little spare time to dedicate to dating.

Jeronimo Folgueira, CEO of EliteSingles, says “As our business rapidly grows, we want our brand to better reflect our positioning and to stick with our target audience. By adopting a more modern, friendlier, green logo we hope to increase our appeal among our core demographic of university-educated professionals as well as emphasise our commitment to delivering the best premium online-dating experience on the market.”

“Together with the redesign of our mobile app,” he continues, “we want our new more-recognisable brand aesthetic to embody the combination of assurance and excitement our users feel when they join EliteSingles.”

For more on this dating service you can read our review of Elite Singles.

Tinder, one of the world’s largest dating platforms, has been available to users as young as thirteen since the app launched almost four years ago. Tinder’s practice of letting teens use its app has been an anomaly in the industry, and one that hasn’t gotten as much attention as its reputation for quick hook-ups. But as of this month, the company has raised its minimum user age requirement up to eighteen.

This leaves many people asking: Tinder, what took you so long?

Online dating has been the subject of both opportunity and scorn in recent years. It's been a great way for people in different social circles to meet and expand their networks, but it has also posed a security risk, mostly due to a small percentage of users misleading other online daters by setting up fake profiles. Understandably, this has caused concern among parents whose teenagers have been using the popular dating app to find others to meet.

Tinder’s age verification is tied to Facebook, and the app has only let users who are younger than 18 see other users who are between the ages of 13-17. This would be fine in theory, but in practice it’s another story. This works only if the underage user has also set up a Facebook account with an accurate profile in which they reveal their real age. However, there is room for abuse if someone sets up a fake profile on Facebook, claiming to be eighteen or older, in order to continue using the app while underage.

Also understandably, this poses a problem for Tinder users who are reaching out to other users who they believe are age appropriate, only to find they are still teenagers. So while the restrictions are a move in a positive direction, it’s not a foolproof protection against fake profiles and catfishing.

All of the other popular online dating sites, including Match, eHarmony, and POF (Plenty of Fish) have had restrictions in place from the beginning when it comes to the ages of their users, and they all have a minimum requirement of eighteen. POF takes it one step further – if you are a female between 18-21, no guys over 30 years old can message or contact you over the service.

Tinder is attempting to make its platform a little more user-friendly, female-friendly, and age appropriate. It is also aiming to make daters of all sexual and gender identities feel more welcome. Recently, the company announced its plans to include transgender identification in profiles along with preferences.

So why did Tinder allow younger daters to use its app? Like all online dating services, it’s about the numbers. But since Tinder has a popular brand and large database of users now, it’s time they put the restrictions in place.

For more on this dating app, chck our our review of TInder.

According to a recent article in Bloomberg News, Tinder expects its paid subscriber base will double by the end of the year.

The Tinder app is free to use, but about 1 million users are currently paying for its tiered service, which provides special features, such as the ability to “super-like” a profile. Super-like allows you to let the person know you think they are extra special, instead of just swiping right as usual. Other paid features include “Rewind” where users can return to a previous profile they swiped left on, or rejected, for the opportunity to choose differently.

Tinder announced recently that it will launch a new social feature to its app to connect groups of friends who share common interests. There is no news on whether that will be part of its free platform or a new paid feature, too.

Gary Swidler, chief financial officer of Tinder's parent company, Match Group Inc., described efforts to monetize the dating app as being "ahead of schedule."

Subscribers aren’t Tinder’s only source of income. The company originally started drawing revenue from ad sales.

Tinder’s huge database of more than 9 million daily users and its well-known brand, especially among the coveted Millennial age group, makes the app a great advertising vehicle for many companies looking to expand their brand awareness. Users of the service spend roughly 35 minutes per day on the app and swipe left or right 140 times, according to company executives. This means a captive audience, which is also appealing to marketers.

While Tinder will continue to sell advertising over its platform (one of the drawbacks of using the free app), they will also push forward with gaining more subscribers and developing more paid features. Tinder garnered criticism last year for charging more money to users over 30, but the company has not since changed its pricing policy.

Because of the growth in Tinder’s revenue, the management team told Bloomberg they feel confident in adding new features to the service and “taking some swings,” in terms of taking chances with the features. The company admitted it hasn’t made any significant changes to the app since adding the “Super-like” feature last November, though recently they were testing the social feature which links you through your Facebook friends to other friend groups and garnered criticism for its lack of privacy. (Users could see their Facebook friends’ Tinder profiles without their knowledge.)

Tinder is owned by Match Group, which also owns popular dating platforms Match, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish.

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.