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bbcnews.com to hold mobile photo contest for South Asia
MUMBAI: BBC News website has launched its first Mobile Photo Contest for South Asia. Themed My Changing World’, the contest will be open till 31 March 2007, with prizes to be won every week. Details of the contest are available on bbcnews.com/contest. |
BBC News Interactive head Steve Herrmann said, “The pictures we receive every day from our audience are changing the way we report the world. This contest is specifically for our South Asian audience. We think this will be a good way to engage with younger audiences across the region, and hope it will be fun to take part in.” |
The contest invites mobile photos from people across South Asia, and offers participants a chance to win BBC merchandise every week. This is in addition to prizes such as an iPod Video, Digital Camera, and Worldspace radio at the end of the contest. Every week, the website will feature some of the best and most interesting picture entries. The BBC News website offers a selection of news, entertainment, business, science, technology, and sport news. The BBC News website claims to receive over 900 million page impressions every month, and has around 40 million unique users a month. |
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
