United Kingdom

Online dating revolutionized the way we meet and is seen worldwide as a modern approach to finding love - but according to a recent study from the University of Oxford’s Oxford Internet Institute (OII), the experience of online dating is not nearly as progressive as the technology is.

Researchers at the OII analyzed 10 years of eHarmony UK user data to find out how gender norms and social attitudes have evolved over the last decade. The study, Computational Courtship: Understanding the Evolution of Online Dating through Large-scale Data Analysis, reveals their surprising conclusion: little has changed, and what has is not for the better.

Traditional gender roles continue to dictate how men and women connect online. The study found that men are 30 percent more likely than women to initiate conversation on a dating service. The number has actually increased over time, from six percent in 2008 to 30 percent in 2018. When women do initiate, the response rate drops by 15 percent.

The dating world just got a little weirder. A British divorcee seeking a wealthy boyfriend via a ritzy matchmaking agency sued the company over a lack of suitable dates - and was awarded over $16,000 for her trouble.

Tereza Burki, a 47-year-old from London, joined premium dating agency Seventy Thirty in 2013. According to reports, she was looking for a “sophisticated gentleman” with “a lifestyle similar or more affluent than her own” and “multiple residences.” Lemarc Thomas, Seventy Thirty's managing director at the time, assured Burki that the service only dealt in the “creme de la creme” of daters and had “a substantial number” of potential matches who met her requirements.

Burki shelled out a staggering £12,600 ($16,141 USD) to join, an investment she soon regretted.

Image: bumble

Bumble announced the launch of its new creative endeavor: granting five female filmmakers and screenwriters in the U.K. $27,000 each to make a short film. This marks the company’s first official move into the original content space, following in the steps of Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes.

Bumble’s content shingle, dubbed The Female Film Force, came to fruition after the 2018 awards season, where only 15% of Oscar winners and 20% of BAFTA winners were female. Bumble wanted to ensure more women’s voices were heard and reflected in film, so its executives decided to launch this initiative.

Bumble writes on its website:

Are you a private school alum living in the UK? You’re in luck – a new dating app called Toffee will be launching to connect you with other private school types.

Toffee was founded with the notion that "people who hold similar views and values, and have shared the same life experiences (such as going through the same education system) are more likely to be attracted to each other and stick together," according to its website.

There has been mixed response to the buzz the app is generating. Instagram posts and a short introductory video on the app’s website point to an elite clientele, with young men dressed in suits and tuxes and attractive women decked out in evening gowns, champagne at the ready. Many reviews are labeling it as another elite dating app, geared to help connect wealthy people.

Huggle Marketing Team

Image: BusinessCloud

While Bumble battles Match Group over intellectual property, another women-led dating app is celebrating a more positive 2018. Huggle, a British friendship and dating service launched in 2016, and its all-female marketing team has been acquired by Badoo.

Huggle matches users based on the places they love to visit. Simply indicate what you’re looking for – a date or a friend – and your search preferences, including your ideal age range and how many places you must have in common. Huggle uses GPS to automatically check you into locations you visit and notifies you of profiles that share your interests.

Founders Stina Sanders and Valerie Stark believe this approach to dating offers a more effective way to assess compatibility.

That dating services sometimes make dubious claims should surprise no one, but rarely do their fishy fabrications make headlines. Unfortunately for eHarmony, a recent misstep has proved to be the exception.

The company's claim that it uses a "scientifically-proven matching system" has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority after appearing on a billboard in the London Underground.

"Step aside, fate,” the advertisement boldly proclaimed. “It's time science had a go at love."

In the smaller print below, it continued: "Imagine being able to stack the odds of finding lasting love entirely in your favour. EHarmony's scientifically-proven matching system decodes the mystery of compatibility and chemistry so you don't have to. Why leave the most important search of your life to chance?"