Recipient
Stitch

The 2021 Editor's Top Pick - Innovative award recipient is Stitch. This is a community and companionship website for men and women 50 years and older. It offers many features of a dating service but also a whole lot more. A large part of this service is community members organizing activities allowing people to meetup virtually or in-person. Activities range from book clubs to dinners and can be where just friends are meeting up, or for those seeking romantic possibilities. You can also use Stitch to reach out to other members who are looking to specifically meet someone looking for a partner.

So how has Stitch been innovative?

Washington D.C. has increased its National Guard presence since the riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and these troops are turning to Tinder to find love while they work.

According to Newsweek, there have been reports on TikTok that Tinder has been flooded with photos of men in uniform, which is highly unusual for the Washington D.C. area. While these officers are sharing photos in their fatigues, they are also sharing interests like traveling and video games, according to Newsweek.

People are taking to social media to point out this trend, noting how many more military people are showing up as potential matches. In fact, some users in the DC area said the majority of profiles they see are members of the National Guard. Even a reporter for Sports Illustrated noticed the increase in these profiles.

Earlier today we posted about Lumen shutting down even though the Lumen FAQ mentioned they had a lot of subscriptions which is an indication that the dating service was catching on. In the same article we also mention that ever since Whitney Wolfe Herd became CEO of Magic Lab, the company has been going through a lot of changes.

These changes have them consolidating their brands and re-branding Magic Lab, the holding company for their dating brands, which include Badoo and Bumble, to just "Bumble" (we think...). It is not clear what the name may actually be. Some articles from major media outlets have suggested the name is Bumble Group but the only place that name is mention on the Bumble website is in their Terms and Conditions.

In a not a so surprising move Lumen's parent company Bumble (which was called Magic Lab at one point) has decided to close Lumen down and move all users to Bumble. Lumen was a dating service designed for singles 50 years and older. On November 23rd November 2020 Lumen was fully shut down and access to the service was cut off for all users.

The reason this was not a surprise is that early in 2020 Chappy a dating app for gay singles was also shut down by Bumble. Ever since Bumble's founder Whitney Wolfe Herd took over as CEO of Magic Lab she has been reshaping the holding company and their brands.

Some female Bumble app users are purposely matching with Trump supporters to identify participants in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and then promptly turning them into the FBI.

One Twitter user posted that she had seen dozens of rioters using dating apps in the DC area and wondered whether it would be useful to law enforcement to gather evidence from these platforms. Immigration Attorney Allison Norris responded, saying her friend was already collecting evidence against them: "She's matching with MAGA bros and they’re bragging and sending her pics and videos of them in the Capitol," she tweeted. “She's sending them to the FBI." 

Swiping through a lot of profiles quickly might seem like a benefit of online dating, but according to a new study, too many choices can lead to a “rejection mindset” for daters.

According to PsyPost.com, researchers from the Netherlands found that people tended to close themselves off when using dating apps because they get overwhelmed by the number of choices presented. A seemingly endless stream of profiles increases feelings of dissatisfaction, which in turn causes them to reject even more potential dates, especially the more they swipe.