Dating Services

How in love are couples in America? What exactly makes a relationship thrive? For the second year running, eHarmony has released The Happiness Index: Love and Relationships in America to answer these questions and others. The national survey took place online between December 13, 2018 and January 3, 2019, with 2,327 interviews conducted by Harris Interactive.

eHarmony wastes no time announcing the good news: 83 percent of Americans are happy in their romantic relationships. Those who are blissfully paired up say the secret to their success is having a monogamous relationship with open communication, a healthy sex life, and an equal partnership between both halves. Only one in nine people say they are unhappy with their partner or spouse. These troubled couples are often together for companionship rather than love, have infrequent sex, and feel a sense of inequality in their relationship.

This year, a strong correlation between romantic happiness and an interest in social justice issues emerged. Couples who reported shared awareness of important cultural movements, such as #MeToo, also reported increased relationship happiness. Additional links emerged between relationship happiness and openness about mental health, honest political discourse, and voting in the 2018 midterm elections.

Is OkCupid the latest dating platform to fall victim to hackers? That depends on who you ask.

A news story from TechCrunch reports that an OkCupid user reached out to the tech news site after a hacker broke into his OkCupid account, reset his password and changed the email address on file. OkCupid instantly accepted the address change, he said, without sending an email asking for confirmation that the change was correct. When he contacted OkCupid’s customer service about the issue, he was told the company was “not able to provide any details about accounts not connected to your email address.”

The user is now locked out of his account with no way to reset his password and regain access. Making matters worse, the hacker began harassing him with “strange text messages” from his phone number that was taken from one of his private messages.

The “coolest” new dating trend? If Samsung has a say, your smart fridge will soon be your go-to matchmaker. The electronics giant has recently announced its most surprising venture yet, a dating platform they’ve punnily dubbed Refrigerdating.

Refrigerdating promises to help singles find love based on the contents of their fridge. “In a world of social media, polished pictures and perfect surfaces, it can be hard to find out who truly is The One,” says Samsung. “But there is one space in our homes to which the polish hasn’t reached.“ That space is the inside of your refrigerator, which, if Samsung is to be believed, can say a surprising amount about who you are and what you’re into.

"We hope people can meet under more honest or transparent circumstances with the help of the contents of the fridge, because that can tell you a lot about the personality," said Elin Axelsson, PR manager at Samsung Electronics Nordic.

Dawoon Kang hosts Reddit AMA

Image: dawoonkang

What can users do to increase their success on a dating app? What advice do you have for someone who is trying to get a startup off the ground? Is the first Sunday of the year really the busiest day for online dating? Why made you turn down $30 million from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank?

When Dawoon Kang, co-founder and co-CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel, hosts a Reddit AMA, no question is off limits. The entrepreneur went live on r/IAmA on Tuesday 22nd January to answer users’ burning queries about getting noticed on a dating app, the ongoing battle against bots, starting a business, what the name ‘Coffee Meets Bagel’ means, and more.

Dawoon launched Coffee Meets Bagel with her sisters, Soo and Arum, in 2012. Since then, CMB has made over 50 million matches with a focus on meaningful connections and an algorithm that prioritizes quality over quantity. Though turning down a multi-million dollar offer from one of the world’s biggest investors may seem mad, the Kang sisters have proved they’re a family force to be reckoned with.

The 2018 Winter Olympics brought a flurry of Tinder activity to South Korea. Competitors in the Olympic Villages received free Tinder Gold upgrades, while premium users around the world used the Passport feature to change their location to PyeongChang in hopes of matching with an athlete. Tinder reported a 1,850 percent increase in “passporting” swipers and a 348 percent increase in overall Tinder usage in the Olympic Villages.

Outside of the Olympic Games, it’s a different story for Tinder. The dating platform has struggled to outdo local services in South Korea, where meeting a romantic partner via a mobile app is not yet as socially acceptable as it has become in many western nations. Despite these difficulties, Tinder CEO Elie Seidman believes South Korea is a crucial testing ground for the service, and in a press conference in Seoul, Seidman indicated the company would take a different tack as it looks to expand in Asia.

Match Group announced that it has fully acquired dating app Hinge, owning 100 percent of the company along with other high-profile brands like Tinder and OkCupid. This news comes on the heels of Match Group’s announcement that it exceeded revenue expectations in the last quarter of 2018, causing its stock to rise.

Previously, Match Group stock had been downgraded from hold to buy by Deutsch Bank analysts. But with the earnings report, its stock climbed more than 5 percent.

Part of the appeal of Match Group to investors is that it has acquired a host of popular dating apps, including Hinge. The app has been through a rebrand over the last year, focusing on attracting more serious daters.