New Tinder Charges Whatever It Wants

Twitter Vets Launch OneShot, An App For Highlighting And Tweeting Screenshots Of TextTinder’s “Rewind” functionality just went live, finally giving users the ability to go back in time and swipe right instead of left.
The “Rewind” feature is included in the premium tier of the service, Tinder Plus, which was unveiled today and costs anywhere between $9.99 and $19.99 in the United States, depending on the age of the user. That’s right. Tinder Plus costs $19.99 for users older than 30, while it costs just $9.99 for folks who are younger than 30.
However, in the TechCrunch office we’ve seen Tinder Plus offered at the price of $14.99/month for a 30+ female user. We’ve reached out to Tinder to get a clearer picture of the Tinder Plus pricing structure and will update as soon as we know more.
For now, however, we do know that pricing not only ranges based on age but by location. Users in emerging countries (Tinder is currently available in 140 countries across the globe) will pay as little as $2.99/month, while users older than 28 in developed markets like the UK will be paying approximately $23/month (and nearly 4x as much as their over 28-year-old counterparts).
Tinder has been testing pricing in various markets for the past few months, but even without the complete information, it’s easy to get an idea of the general landscape here. Older users, who theoretically have less supply and offer less demand, should pay a greater amount for extra dating tools. Plus, they likely make more money than younger users.
It’s Uber’s Surge pricing model applied to romantic endeavors.
Tinder Plus also includes Passport, which allows users to search for matches anywhere in the world through the drop of a pin, as opposed to being locked into your current location.
Tinder Plus also allows users to buy themselves out of advertisements, though Tinder has yet to launch any ad products just yet. Sources say that the ad product will launch later this month, but it’s unclear what exactly those ads will look like.
As for the features launching today, they make a lot of sense given the current user behavior on Tinder. Rewind, in particular, appeals to just about anyone who has swiped left when they meant to swipe right.
The company has seen over 6 billion matches in total, though it’s hard to say how many of those matches become anything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Tinder. The point is that it has become an addiction, with people mindlessly flipping through potential suitors and swiping based on a gut reaction.
It’s only natural to accidentally swipe left when you meant to swipe right, and when the stakes can feel as high as potentially throwing away your next boyfriend or girlfriend, the question isn’t whether or not people will pay but simply how much.
Other features like Passport appeal to a more engaged user, one who has gotten good at making Tinder work for them and could use the added functionality while traveling. You know, to plan ahead.
If you want to check out Tinder Plus, you can see a CNN interview with CEO Sean Rad right here or visit the Tinder blog for more information.

By: Unknown On 22:05

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Tinder Plus Will Launch On Monday

 We Sample The Goods At The Dogfish Head BreweryTinder Plus, the dating app’s first step into the wonderful world of freemium monetization, will launch on Monday for $9.99, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Tinder Plus includes at least one highly requested feature and a few others that are meant to add broader functionality to the service, which essentially boils down the usual online dating experience into a simple location-based “hot or not.” Tinder has since added features meant to boost engagement, such as Tinder Moments (photo messages sent to all of a user’s matches), but this is the first time Tinder has asked its users to start paying for a product.
Tinder has been testing pricing on the app in a number of markets over the past few months, with prices ranging from $.99 all the way up to $19.99/month. Though sources say that pricing will vary from market to market, they also say that they expect the service to hit the U.S. market at a price under $10.
So what will a Tinder Plus subscription do to up your smartphone-based dating game?
The most attractive and highly requested feature on Tinder Plus is the Rewind function, which lets users go back on the very last person they swiped left on. Instead of losing them forever, you can pay a little extra to bring them back and get a second look.
Tinder Plus also includes a Passport feature, letting users search for matches anywhere in the world instead of being locked into their actual location.
Photo Feb 28, 6 16 23 PM Photo Feb 28, 6 16 49 PM Screenshot 2015-02-28 18.18.40  View Slideshow Previous Next Exit
But perhaps more interesting, from a business standpoint is the fact that Tinder Plus will also remove ads from the network. That’s right. Get ready to see some good-old-fashioned native ads as you scope the virtual watering hole for suitors. Re/code reports that Tinder is already working on an ad product.
It will not be included with the initial launch of Tinder Plus, but will launch in March, sources say. Tinder has a unique opportunity to natively advertise at a potentially high conversion rate.
Take Uber, for example. Uber has been talking to various dating apps with the hope to get a direct integration, and has already taken the step to hook up with Hinge as part of its API launch in August 2014. Uber continues to have discussions with dating apps, including Tinder, about offering an actionable “next step” in the online romantic process.
But Uber is one of many services that could offer users’ real-life options other than “Wanna meet?”
Back in January, Tinder acquired an ephemeral messenger called Tappy for an undisclosed sum. Though Tappy’s product was very similar to Tinder Moments, Re/code reports that Tappy’s Brian Norgard is heading up advertising at Tinder. This matches up with comments made by Sean Rad earlier this year:
We’re very good at connecting people, but there’s this ‘what happens after that?’ moment that we want to improve. We not only want to get better at the way we use criteria to connect people, but we want to broaden the reasons for connecting in the first place. The Tappy team will help us tackle both fronts, the pre-match experience of creating that first connection and the post-match experience of communicating with that person.
Tinder has the opportunity to serve local ads for bars, restaurants and coffee shops each time a user makes a match. Given the nature of Tinder itself — where the premise is to browse, then chat, then potentially meet — these ads may be more relevant and effectual than we’d expect, thanks to location and time and even intent based on the context.
But that’s just one type of new advertising Tinder could potentially introduce. The company also has the opportunity to serve up ads the same way they serve potential matches, asking users to swipe right or left to get better romantic matches or even unlock deals.
Of course Tinder is still in the process of building out those relationships, and we won’t know exactly what Tinder ads will look like until they arrive later in March.

By: Unknown On 15:24

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If You Think Tinder Needs More Cute Pets, BuzzFeed Has The App For You

Oh, BuzzFeed. Don’t ever change.
The company just released what it says is its second ever mobile app, called Cute Or Not. As you might expect from the name, you’re asked to rate pets as (duh) cute or not, through a Tinder-style swiping interface. You can also upload photos of your own pets to see how they’re rated by other app users.
If you’re confused about why the company is launching a silly app like this (especially while building out its editorial team by hiring respected journalists), BuzzFeed Vice President of Product Chris Johansen knows where you’re coming from — he just published a blog post titled “What The Hell Are We Doing With Apps?”
The gist of Johansen’s post is that it’s become “increasingly apparent that shoehorning all the ways to experience BuzzFeed into one app doesn’t make sense,” so we can expect more one-offs like this in the coming year.
“We don’t see it as ‘unbundling’ as much as focusing,” he writes. “Instead of having one baseline for all types of stories and media, we need to build apps that can excel at providing the best experience for each.” (And yes, that means releasing a more serious, news-focused app, as well.)
I found this particularly interesting since the first time BuzzFeed really made sense to me was when then-COO Jon Steinberg (now at Daily Mail) pitched it as a modern version of the newspaper bundle, only it puts cute animals (rather than a fancy real estate or travel section) next to its serious news coverage.
A BuzzFeed spokesperson also told me that thanks to the acquisition of startup GoPop, the company now has two main app teams, one focused on the core BuzzFeed app and the other on experimental products. Cute or Not was a collaboration between the editorial and experimental mobile teams based on a previous project.
Anyway. The animals are pretty cute.

By: Unknown On 10:34

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Save A Swipe—This Bot Selects Tinder Dates For You

and this one doesn’t just dumbly swipe right on every potential date like a drunk trying to undo their shoelaces. It’s got visual smarts, thanks to an Eigenfaces algorithm that analyzes the facial features of each potential mate

By: Unknown On 11:01

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