Dating Industry Broadcast VII

The “dating scene” has radically evolved in the last 5 years alone. Have you felt the impact of these changes on your dating life? The only certainty is that this pattern of transformation will continue. What does this mean for the modern dater and how does dating and technology intersect? Get the scoop on what’s new in the dating industry with our monthly Dating Industry Broadcast.

The Dating Industry Broadcast series is inspired by The Staggering Research On Choosing Mates, in which Tawkify Co-Founder, E. Jean Carroll, collected the latest research on our trade and blasted it out to the whole team.

Enjoy this month’s scoop!

FORBES, Tinder Has Been Raided For Research Again, This Time To Help AI ‘Genderize’ Faces, 5/2/17:

In the age of screen shots and data trails, the idea of putting yourself ‘out there’ has gained new meaning, especially as dating apps are increasingly mined for users’ potentially quite personal info. In a new perceived privacy breach, one developer managed to scrape up thousands of daters’ photos so as to teach artificial intelligence some new tricks, and even shared his method for doing it with the world.

Last week, developer Stuart Colianni uploaded a data set representing tens of thousands of ‘scraped’ Tinder profile photos to the machine learning and data science platform Kaggle, which Google recently snapped up. As TechCrunch reported, the facial data set was made available for download as six public domain zip files, comprising over 40,000 photos of the Bay Area’s Tinder population and two sample sets with approximately 500 images of determinedly male and female users each.

Dubbed “People of Tinder,” the data set has since been taken down, but not before it was downloaded hundreds of times, according to TechCrunch…See the full article at Forbes. 

FORBES, ‘STD-Verified’ Dating App Is Startup Culture Via Nutshell: Frank, Unchecked, Inevitable, 5/18/17:

Like many newly launched apps, NeatClub is just starting out on its journey from pitch to platform. 

Unlike dating sites for people who already have specific STIs, Shah said, NeatClub will soon welcome persons of any status onto the platform, provided they keep that status up to date by submitting test results for confirmation every four months. Which is where the term “neat” comes into play–not, as I first guessed with dropped jaw, in deliberate reference to the idea of ‘neat and clean,’ but in reference to cocktails.

If someone’s test results indicate they are without STIs, Shah explained, their profile will display that status as a glass of neat whiskey, which she chose for the alcohol’s strength and popularity. Whereas if a person’s results suggest they do have this or that STI, different garnishes will appear on their whiskey icon–reportedly chosen at random, and not, presumably, because of real-life palatability or resemblance. “It could be neat whiskey with a cherry on top for herpes, or neat whiskey with whipped cream for gonorrhea,” she said. And when infections have cleared up, those indicators go away again, Shah said, which underscores the fact that sexual health can change, and needs ongoing maintenance…See the full article at Forbes. 

THE NEW YORK TIMES, Matchmaker Matchmaker Roll Me A Joint, 4/20/17:

Molly Peckler, the founder of Highly Devoted in Los Angeles is an online matchmaker that connects cannabis-using singles. With a recent Gallup poll reporting that 13 percent of American adults smoke marijuana, and with more states allowing its recreational use, Ms. Peckler said marijuana’s role in fostering new relationships was likely to grow.

“I work with white-collar cannabis consumers,” Ms. Peckler said with a laugh. “That’s my bread and butter, for sure.” Later, she held a dating workshop seminar “about where to find cannabis-friendly partners and dating efficiently and how to get in the best mind-set so you can really take advantage of the situation.

Not everyone is a fan, though. Some medical experts say marijuana use can reduce the chances of making meaningful emotional connections.

“In relationships, where you have to have all your feelings available to be able to navigate intimacy, chronic marijuana use can be a downfall,” said Dr. John E. Franklin, a professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University…See the full article at The New York Times. 

VICE VIDEO, Single Japanese Women Are Buying the Boyfriend Experience…Watch the video here. 
 

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Your Tawkify Team