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.

All the awards have been handed out for the 12^th annual Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards. These awards honor the best dating apps and sites of 2018 in 11 different categories. The dating services listed below are the ones worth checking out in 2019 for those interesting in participating in online dating to find a partner.

Our top award is the Single's Choice Award which is decided by our readers. To participate all you had to do was cast a vote in our poll which ran from October 1^st 2018 until December 31^st 2018. The poll asks you to recommend your choice for the top dating service (app and/or site) from a selection of the ten leading dating services on the internet. The top three dating services who receives the most votes will be the recipient of a Gold, Silver, and Bronze award.

Single's Choice Award

Recipient Tinder

Our Gold Single's Choice Award for 2019 goes to Tinder. This dating app popularity grew in leaps and bounds and is the most popular dating service on the internet today. Thanks to its ease of use and gamification of matching with swiping, it has won over the new and old generation alike.

For full award information see the article: 2019 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient POF

Our Silver Single's Choice Award of 2019 goes to Plenty of Fish. The first popular free dating service, POF remains a top choice for singles thanks to the number of members they have and all of the free features offered. With POF, you can keep your online dating experience as simply or as detailed as you like.

For full award information see the article: 2019 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient OkCupid

The 2019 Bronze Single's Choice Award recipient is OkCupid. This dating service allows users to fashion their own questions for matches or pick from others created by OkCupid staff and members. OkCupid members are real fans of the service and their approach to matching.

For full award information see the article: 2019 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

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.

Image: WongMJane

Details continue to surface about Facebook’s much talked about dating service. The latest news comes courtesy of tech tipster Jane Manchun Wong, who revealed that Facebook Dating will allow users to share information about their dates with friends and family on Messenger. The innovative feature is a precaution designed to keep singles safe as they use the dating platform.

Wong shared a screenshot from Facebook Dating on Twitter. “Share your plans in Messenger,” reads the screen’s headline. “Let your friends and family know when and where you’ll meet your date. Choose whether to share your live location and provide updates in Messenger.”

Meeting a stranger in person after you’ve matched on a dating app is an inherently risky proposition. Though most users are genuinely interested in making connections, the potential dangers shouldn’t be overlooked. Dating platforms have taken an interesting array of measures to increase safety for their users, including verified profiles, anonymous browsing, behavior pledges and strict punishments for terms of service violations.

Recipient of Gold
Tinder

Recipient of Silver
POF

Recipient of Bronze
OkCupid

The 2019 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll was launched in the afternoon of October 1^st, 2018. It ran for 3 months and then closed for voting on December 31^st, 2018. 437 people cast their votes in the poll. The poll asks the following question:

Which dating app or site would you recommend for the Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award?

Voters could choose 1 dating service from a selection of 10 of the top dating services in 2018 as selected by the Editors. For this award the top voted dating service for the above question receives the Gold, second place gets Silver, and for third, Bronze.

In previous years for this award we had split the poll into 2 questions asking which free and then which paid dating service the voter would recommend. This year we decided on one question which the selection includes both free and paid services. We feel this better reflects the current online dating industry. This year also marked a fairly big change in the results. The top 3 results differed by only 5% in votes. The Gold recipient only differed by less than 10% with the service which came in last place (10^th). In previous polls the difference is around 30%. The race for the most recommended dating service was very tight this year.

The recipient of the 2019 Single's Choice Gold Award is Tinder. Tinder received almost 17% of the vote which works out to 73 votes. Last year Tinder came in second of the free services, so this is a step up for them.

The recipient of the 2019 Single's Choice Silver Award is POF (Plenty of Fish). Another free dating service in the top 3. POF drops to second place this year with almost 13% of the vote (56 votes). This is just 4% less than the Gold recipient.

The recipient of the 2019 Single's Choice Bronze Award is OkCupid. It was a tight race between Silver and Bronze this year with only a 1.5% difference in votes. OkCupid got 11.5% of the votes which works out to 50 votes exactly.