Dating app usage has increased significantly this year, in part due to the global pandemic. But as we go into cuffing season and usage continues to skyrocket, privacy experts from the Brookings Institute are cautioning dating app users to be careful with sharing their personal information.

The research firm notes that online dating has been increasing rapidly in the last decade, especially since the debut of dating app Tinder in 2012. Thirty percent of American adults had tried online dating in 2019, compared to just 13% in 2013.

This year however, there has been an explosion of new online daters. Match Group (which controls 60% of the dating app market with apps like Tinder, OkCupid, and Hinge), reported a fifteen percent increase in new subscribers in the second quarter of 2020, and a record-breaking 3 billion swipes on Tinder in one day in March when lockdowns began. From March to May of 2020, OkCupid saw a 700% increase in dates and Bumble had a 70% increase in video calls, Brookings points out.

Dating app conglomerate Match Group has announced its partnership with RAINN, the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the country, to help combat sexual assault via its online dating platforms.

According to Business Insider, the company has asked RAINN (The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) to conduct a “comprehensive review” of how it handles sexual assault reporting across all of its apps, and to recommend best practices to better address the problem and keep its users safe.  

BLK, a dating app specifically for black daters, has become one of the fastest-growing apps in the Match Group suite of dating apps. Match Group currently owns a substantial portion of the dating app market, including Tinder, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Hinge among others.

According to The Grio, during the first two weeks when COVID-19 was spreading and people were sheltering at home, BLK saw an 18% increase in daily activity. Now seven months into the pandemic, there is a 38% increase in activity month over month. BLK launched in 2017, and since has grown to over four million users. 

Match Group has had a stellar year, with its most recent earnings surpassing last quarter’s by 3.8 percent. Analysts however pointed out that the stock has underperformed based on year over year analysis, despite the company’s increased revenues.

Match Group reported third quarter earnings of 45 cents per share, which was a decline of 13 percent from third quarter 2019. However, Match Group’s revenue paints a different picture of the company’s success, with third quarter reports of $639.8 million, an increase of 18% year over year according to Yahoo! Finance. This was driven by an increase in the average subscriber base this year, likely with more people flocking to dating apps overall as the pandemic raged on.

The average subscriber base increased 12 percent to 10.8 million according to Yahoo!, and average revenues per user (ARPU) were up 4% year over year. Still, analysts are considering how much the pandemic is affecting revenue growth in 2020, and if it will continue as we go into the new year.

Image: OkCupid

As we go into 2021, the pandemic and increased political engagement have shifted dating culture and the priorities of singles, according to a new study by OkCupid. The dating app found that its users are into so-called “Thunberging” and “Advo-dating,” according to Australia’s Body and Soul Magazine.

Advo-dating has come into vogue for 2021, with about 310,000 OkCupid users calling themselves activists, and even more sharing that political values are most important when choosing a match. The global protests for Black Lives Matter played an important role in placing politics front and center in new relationships, especially among young daters, who want their dates to share their values.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is offering its users a guidebook for dating as we enter the new year, after COVID disrupted social norms in 2020.

The company conducted a survey of its users to find that 40% admitted they no longer knew how to date in person, and a whopping 2/3 of respondents said navigating the COVID dating landscape made them uncomfortable. Bumble responded by offering a new guidebook entitled Bumble’s New Dating 101 in 2021 to carve a path forward for these uncertain daters. The guide includes how to have a conversation about dating, how to approach sex and intimacy, and how to safeguard your mental health during a pandemic.