Match Group

Popular dating app Tinder is rolling out a new service to attract a younger crowd. Tinder U is for college students, and gives users the option to match only with others at their school or at nearby campuses.

To use the service, customers must have a .edu email address and must also be geolocated on a college campus, according to website The Verge. Their Tinder U profile page will also include the name of their school, and when users swipe, their school logo will appear at the top of the screen, and their match’s school will appear in the bottom left corner of each profile. The app’s functionality is the same, with students viewing profiles and swiping left or right as they choose. It is important to note that using the Tinder U service will match students in the same area, regardless of whether they attend the same college or university. Members who join Tinder U will also be able to toggle between and use regular Tinder if they wish.

Sean Rad, Co-founder of Tinder

Former and current Tinder employees slapped a lawsuit against parent company Match Group, claiming the popular dating app was purposefully devalued at the time Match Group was valuating stock options. The Tinder employees suing Match Group were placed on administrative leave, according to a report by MSN.

The ten former and current Tinder employees initiating the lawsuit include founder and ex-CEO Sean Rad along with co-founders Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen. Tinder’s VP of Communications Rosette Pambakian has also joined the lawsuit, and claims that IAC/ Match Group executive Greg Blatt sexually harassed her at a company party. (IAC changed its name to Match Group, but the company is still owned by media mogul Barry Diller.)

Pambakian wrote an email to Tinder employees explaining her decision, as reported by Fortune Magazine:

Match Group, the parent company of popular dating apps such as Tinder, OkCupid, and PlentyofFish, reported second quarter earnings of $421 million, exceeding industry analyst expectations.

The rise in profits was thanks to its star app Tinder, which gained an additional 300,000 subscribers in Q2 alone, and has seen a record 3.8 million subscribers to date. Match Group expects to earn $1.72 billion this year, with Tinder expected to exceed $800 million in revenue, according to Fortune Magazine. Match Group’s subscribers for all apps total about 7.7 million.

“Retention and conversion were a bit stronger than we thought they would be,” Chief Executive Mandy Ginsberg told website MarketWatch.

Are you more progressive or conservative? Turns out it makes a difference in your love life. OkCupid recently found that among its members, ACLU supporters, who are generally associated with more progressive political views, get more dates.

Talking politics on a date has historically been tricky, especially now with the U.S. so divided. Because politics is front and center in our lives today, online daters like to know where allegiances lie before they decide whether to like or pass on a person. Political beliefs do matter when it comes to dating, which is why OkCupid came up with a way for users to identify someone’s politics up front, offering badges to show what causes the user supports, like the ACLU.

Dating app OkCupid recently launched a new marketing campaign centered around the popular yet derogatory dating phrase “DTF,” but giving it new meaning in the age of #MeToo. The campaign is also a dig at Tinder, which is known for its hook-up reputation.

Instead of employing DTF with its usual meaning (which is widely seen as demeaning to women and refers to Down to F@#k), OkCupid has turned the term on its head to engage people to try the app. For instance, one campaign poster defines it as “DT Fall Head Over Heels” with a picture of one woman lovingly carrying another who is holding a rose (the symbol of romance). This nod to inclusivity for the LGBTQ community did not go unnoticed, with couples recreating the shot next to OkCupid’s campaign posters and posting them to social media.

Other campaign posters include optional endings as well, such as “DT Feel Fabulous” “DT Forget Our Baggage” or even slightly more irreverent “DT Four Twenty” or “DT Fight About the President.” (Note: OkCupid has seen a 64% increase in political terms being employed in user profiles over the last year.)

Tinder has announced that users will be able to add Bitmoji when messaging matches.

The popular dating app is utilizing the personalized-avatar service Bitmoji to help users be a little more creative and expressive when they communicate and share with their matches. Previously, Tinder did not allow users to send any images in messages to other matches because of potential abuse and sensitive content (a.k.a. “dick pics”). Users had to rely on curated photos (up to nine total per profile) to express their personalities and preferences, which many people felt was insufficient for something as personal as online dating.

Adding Bitmoji cartoons and caricatures allows users to be creative and express themselves to matches without worrying about the potential problems of sharing photos.