Types (Niche)

On Sunday June 14^th, people across America were acknowledging Flag Day, an annual tradition, over social media. Coincidentally, it was also the annual celebration of the LGBTQ community – an event known as Pride. So when Coffee Meets Bagel reached out via social media to announce its support of Flag Day, the online dating service mistakenly caused an uproar because of a typo.

The now-infamous tweet which was widely criticized over social media and the subject of a story in the Washington Post, said: “It’s Fag Day. Hoist your colors and don’t forget to LIKE today’s Bagel.”

People on the East Coast were the first to catch the mistake, but many didn’t realize it was a typo and immediately took to Twitter to denounce the dating service, with one person posting: “Got a notification from @coffeeMbagel saying today was "fag day." I'm disgusted at the audacity to say that during pride. #coffeemeetsbagel.”

Many people weren’t aware of Flag Day, but they were aware of Pride celebrations, which made the typo even worse. They thought the company had posted the tweet on purpose.

Coffee Meets Bagel took down the post after they realized the typo. But thanks to the speed at which social media can influence a story, and the incredibly bad timing that the typo happened during Pride, the company had little chance to correct the error. They have since been apologizing and repeating that it was just a simple mistake.

About three hours after the notification went out, users received an e-mail from the company’s head of customer experience apologizing for the misspelling. It reads, in part:

“I would like to apologize wholeheartedly for the message you received this afternoon. The misspelling of Flag Day was a mistake and a complete oversight. We’re updating our process to ensure something like this does not happen again…Coffee Meets Bagel, as a company and as individual employees, celebrates the LGBTQ community and would never use such a word.”

While it might just be a simple oversight, the bigger question is: will it hurt CMB in the long-run, if people associate their brand with a lack of support of the LGBTQ community?

We have all sent emails and social media posts with typos – this isn’t uncommon. What is a shame in this instance is that a company sent an official tweet meant to show support of both Flag Day and the LGBTQ community, and yet, ended up alienating their customers and potential customers in the process.

After two years together, POF has ended its relationship with speed dating and singles event company FastLife.

POF CEO Marcus Frind saw a bright future for the union in 2013. "The direction of online dating is undeniably headed towards a merging of the online and offline worlds,” he said. “Currently our users host over 300 events worldwide each month. Now more than ever, we understand the importance of offering singles innovative, new ways of connecting face to face."

The plan was for POF to invest $30 million into live events over a period of 12 months. Competition in the arena was ramping up. Mega-companies like Match had introduced live events. Services like HowAboutWe were focused on getting online daters off their computers and into the real world. Location-based apps that linked nearby singles for insta-dates were becoming increasingly popular.

The time seemed right for POF to team up with FastLife, a company that held around 2,400 events a year in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. FastLife's exceptional service and venues generated annual revenue of ~$2.5 million. Could rounding out its offerings be what POF needed to take things to the next level?

The answer turned out to be 'no.' POF dropped FastLife in June 2015, 21 months after acquiring the company and 2 months after closing eVow. eVow had been launched to compete with dating sites focused on long-term relationships, but proved unsustainable after 5 years.

Now that POF has lightened its load, what's next for the dating site?

Like many of its competitors, POF is focused strongly on mobile. Frind told an interviewer at the 2015 Traction Conference in Vancouver that 90% of POF's business is now conducted on smartphones. POF is concentrating on keeping its brand strong, so mobile users will continue to choose it over other options in the app store.

POF is also concentrating on maximizing messaging. The more messages a user sends, the more likely they are to get a response. The more responses they get, the more likely they are to go on dates. The more dates they go on, the more likely they are to enter a relationship and have a successful online dating experience. Currently, around 30 million messages are sent each day on POF.

As far as revenue is concerned, POF has opted for a “freemium” model. Rather than a traditional subscription service, POF offers its basic features for free. Users can then choose to upgrade or add features for additional fees. With more than 100 million users and a rumoured $100+ million in annual revenue, it's hard to argue with the POF approach.

Digital dating services have helped millions of people worldwide find love, but critics say they've also increased public health risk. The use of dating sites and apps continues to rise, causing some to believe STIs are on the rise as a result.

Rhode Island health officials recently reported that the state has seen an uptick in a number of STIs over the last year. Between 2013 and 2014, the number of RI citizens diagnosed with syphilis increased by 79%. The numbers of newly diagnosed HIV patients and cases of gonorrhea also increased, by 33% and 30%, respectively.

Rhode Island’s health department says the increase in diagnoses is due in part to better and more frequent access to STI screening, but also believes dating services are at fault for allowing users to easily “arrange casual and often anonymous sexual encounters.”

This is not the first time dating services have been accused of fueling rising STI rates, but others believe the accusations are unwarranted.

In a study published in 2007 in the journal AIDS Care, Dr. Brian Mustanski, a professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, concluded that those already prone to high-risk sex use dating services to meet partners, not that meeting partners online causes high-risk sex.

Still, a number of dating apps have taken steps to address the issue. Gay dating app Hornet, for example, prompts users to update their HIV status every three months. Scruff, another app for gay men, gives free and geographically targeted banner ads to local non-profits that work with the LGBT community, some of which address sexual health. There are also niche dating services that cater to users who know their STI status.

David Semerad, the CEO of STRV, a mobile and digital agency that has helped develop a number of dating apps, told Newsweek “There's so much power in the hand of these apps. If a dating app is a big part of your life, it has a huge impact on your decisions. You need to make it cool to be healthy and get tested often.”

Mustanski also believes dating companies should support larger public health efforts, though he doesn't see a direct correlation between online dating and risky sexual behavior. He says research shows people are most likely to take positive actions regarding their health when they're pointed directly to a place for help, like a dating app offering GPS directions to the nearest clinic for STI screening.

Weigh in: should dating services help promote safer sex?

Tinder is looking to make a new kind of match: the kind between advertisers and consumers.

Since Tinder's launch in 2012, it has remained a largely ad-free space. Users had plenty to love about that approach, but the model was less successful for a company in need of revenue. To fix the earnings issue, Tinder is joining the trend of dating services offering purchasable ad space.

It's an expected move for Tinder, but a big one nonetheless, and it's uncertain how users will respond. On one hand, an ad-free user experience is preferable because it is seamless and free of annoyance.

On the other hand, users are hardly ignorant to the business side of the services they use. Most understand that a company like Tinder needs money in order to continue, and that selling ad space is an effective way to generate revenue. If advertising allows the app to remain free to download, it’s a reasonable concession for a customer to make.

The question becomes “How will Tinder introduce advertisements in order to minimize backlash?” The app's interface is not conducive to unobtrusive advertising. Facebook Newsfeed ads are easy to scroll past and therefore minimally disruptive, but Tinder doesn't have that option.

An advertisement slipped directly into a user's personal profile would compromise their ability to present themselves accurately on the app. Instead, Tinder will have to create ads that mimic profiles – they'll take up the entire screen, and users will swipe into and out of them. The challenge for brands will be to take advantage of this, by creating thematically relevant advertising content.

Another eye-catching strategy means using video (again with thematic relevance to users). Video could be considered unnecessarily disruptive, so brands will have to tread carefully. Knowing both their own demographic and Tinder's demographic – and making sure they align – will be key. Video ads are a riskier move for Tinder as well, as users may find them too irritating.

How users respond to these kinds of ads remains to be seen, but the experiment is an intriguing one. It’s clear that both Tinder and the advertisers are venturing into largely unexplored territory. OkCupid has seen brands successfully create thematically relevant ad content on its site, while companies like Match and Meet Me have had ads included in their applications for years, but it is still a relatively new practice.

Tinder's audience of tech-savvy millennials may also present a unique set of challenges. It will be interesting to see which strategies prove most effective for that highly sought after market.

Popular dating apps like Tinder and Grindr have a reputation of being so-called "hook-up" apps. While more and more people are turning to dating apps to meet singles for long-term love and/ or a casual affair, this trend appears to coincide with a rise in the rates of syphilis and HIV, too.

Public health officials in Rhode Island released a health report last week stating that there has been a 79% rise in syphilis cases in the state between 2013 and 2014, and that it’s attributable in part to the use of social media and dating apps to arrange casual or anonymous hookups. People having unprotected sex, multiple sex partners, and having sex under the influence of drugs and alcohol were also cited as reasons for the increase in STDs.

“These new data underscore the importance of encouraging young people to begin talking to a doctor, nurse, or health educator about sexual health before becoming sexually active and especially after becoming sexually active,” Rosemary Reilly-Chamma of the Rhode Island Department of Education said in the report.

A rise in STDs, particularly HIV and syphilis, were also reported in New York, Utah, and Texas, where officials have warned of increased risk of transmission. The New York City Health Department announced earlier this year that men in the neighborhood of Chelsea had the highest infection rate of syphilis in the country.

Anindya Ghose, co-author of a study that monitored the rise of STDs along with the launch of Craiglist personals ads, believes that online dating apps have had a similar effect. "Basically what the Internet does is makes it a lot easier to find a casual partner," he told VICE News. "Without the Internet you'd have to put effort into casual relationships, chatting with someone at the bar or hanging out in places, but these platforms make it a lot more convenient and easy. That's essentially what the primary driver is."

Others disagree, citing a lack of education and resources, especially for young people, the largest group at risk. They argue that community health providers, doctors, and even schools should educate people about the risks of not using condoms and other protection when engaging in casual sex. Access to condoms and affordable healthcare are two big concerns.

Social media and dating apps make it easier to meet people, but they didn’t create the problem of STD risk. They magnified a problem that already existed – casual sexual encounters without adequate knowledge of safety and protection leave people vulnerable to risk.

Young singles in Iran have long been using Western online dating sites to meet each other, with over 300 operating within its borders. But now, the government wants to get involved in residents’ personal lives by creating its own online dating website – drawing users away from Western sites, which are perceived to encourage sex before marriage.

The move is prompted by a growing divorce rate among young couples – especially those under 30 – which has the country’s leaders concerned. Government officials link the high divorce rate to the “immoral” tendencies of the way Western dating sites operate, which they perceive are intended for more casual hook-ups. So now, the government is appealing to young peoples’ technologically-savvy tendencies to push their own agenda among online daters. The big question is: will it actually attract users?

In a country where Internet access and social media is tightly controlled by religious authorities, it seems an unusual step for the government to jump on the online dating bandwagon. The Iranian government has long been weary of online dating sites, but now with rising divorce rates, they want to turn things around.

The challenge comes with the dating site itself – hamsan.tebyan.net is run by the Islamic Development Organization, an institution under the supervision of the Supreme Leader that “promotes the Islamic lifestyle,” according to a report by the BBC.

Basic profile information is not shared among users – including pictures, hobbies, and interests like favorite movies or food. Religious authorities deem this type of sharing as “immodest.” Instead, users are only able to see things like a match’s height, weight, and parents’ professions.

There are some government-approved dating websites that operate in Iran, which offer for a young couple to meet and date under the supervision of a cleric, typically in the cleric’s office. The couples’ parents can be brought in if it seems there is likely a match to be made.

Single residents of Iran used to Western online dating sites are skeptical of the government-run site. One told BBC Persian: "Matches would be chosen by the people running the website, and I can't trust that they would make the right decision. Other websites have arithmetic that match candidates according to their likes and dislikes, but this one is entirely arbitrary," he said.

Right now, the service only operates in Tehran, but the government plans to open it to other cities.