Online Dating

Finding love on Facebook? It’s complicated.

At least, it used to be. At this year’s F8 developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage for an announcement many would call long overdue: Facebook is launching a dating feature.

“We’re building a feature for dating and relationships within the Facebook app. People already use Facebook to meet new people, and we want to make that experience better,” the company said in an announcement. “People will be able to create a dating profile that is separate from their Facebook profile — and potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends.”

The social networking platform is rife with matchmaking potential. According to Zuckerberg, one in three marriages in the U.S. begins online and 200 million Facebook users list themselves as singles. Facebook’s dating feature “is going to be built around long-term relationships, not hook-ups," he insisted, taking subtle aim at competitors like Tinder.

It’s been a wild month for Sina Weibo. On Friday April 13, the Chinese social media network unveiled plans to delete all posts relating to gay culture as part of a three-month “cleanup” effort. A mere three days later, the company announced it would reverse the ban following an outpouring of anger from users.

Sina Weibo initially described the campaign as a removal of images, videos, text, and cartoons related to pornography, violence, and homosexuality. "This is to further ensure a clear and harmonious society and environment," the network said in its statement, as well as to comply with stricter cybersecurity laws enacted by President Xi Jinping.

But to many users, the announcement had sinister underpinnings. Tens of thousands took to the social network to express outrage at the campaign’s discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in China, an issue that persists more than two decades after the country decriminalized homosexuality.

Halloween has come early for Match.com. The venerable dating site made headlines last week for an outbreak of zombies -- zombie profiles, that is.

A report from The Verge revealed that a glitch has resurrected an unknown number of deleted Match profiles from the dead. In an interview, former Match user Jason Debiak explained his surprise when, over breakfast with his wife and daughter, an email announcing 10 new matches on a decade-old, deactivated account appeared in his inbox.

“I log in, and there I am, from 15 years prior, with less gray hair,” he said. “And my whole profile is there, everything.”

Dating app Bumble is on a mission to help empower women, including partnering with women’s health provider Planned Parenthood to educate college students at the University of Texas, Austin, about consent.

According to experts, the term "consent" as it applies to sexual relationships is often misunderstood, and silence does not imply that your partner wants to be intimate. Consent should instead be “Freely given, Reversible, Informed, Enthusiastic, and Specific” – the FRIES acronym that sex educators use to provide a basic definition of what consent is.

College campuses have come under fire recently for their handling of sexual assault and harassment cases among students. Traditionally, administrators have opted for leniency towards offenders when it’s a he said/ she said scenario (which sexual assault cases often are), allowing the perpetrators to continue attending classes without prosecution, expulsion, or even further investigation. This puts more students, and especially women, at risk.

Are you a bearded man who loves to take his dog for walks in the countryside? Or a woman who loves showing off her tattoos in mirror selfies at the gym?

It’s your lucky day. According to recent research from Badoo, those are some of the sexist qualities singles seek while swiping.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t as good if you’re addicted to group photos and never met a Snapchat filter you didn’t like…

Badoo’s latest survey polled 5,000 users to find out what compels them to swipe left or right. It turns out it takes more than good looks and expert selfie skills to nail the profile pic game, and sometimes it’s the smallest details that make the biggest difference.

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, there are plenty of reasons to #DeleteFacebook, but dating app users found joining the movement wasn’t as simple as closing their accounts.

The omnipresent social media platform isn’t just your go-to for liking friends’ baby photos and stalking your high school crush. Facebook has evolved far beyond its initial purpose, and now, unless you love entering your email address and a new password at every opportunity, there’s a good chance your profile is integrated with many other services you use.

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie quickly noticed a problem. With his Facebook account deleted, he could no longer access Tinder. Mashable’s Rachel Thompson later confirmed that deleting Facebook blocks users from other apps that allow for log in with your Facebook credentials.