General News

Singles in Europe and New Zealand just got a leg up in the romance game. Jdate, ChristianMingle, and Bumble - three of the biggest names in online dating - recently announced plans to expand their services abroad.

Spark Networks, parent company of Jdate and ChristianMingle, recently extended their services, languages, and local market support throughout Europe. Jdate is now available in German and Spanish, as well as English, Hebrew, and French. ChristianMingle is now available in French, Spanish, and German in addition to English. Both platforms will roll out Polish and Russian language support in the next few months.

Spark Networks attributes the expansions to user demand and says they are part of a broader initiative to further enable the global Jewish and Christian communities to try connect, communicate and find partners in their native language.

eHarmony is offering free communication to new and existing free members for Flag Day and this June weekend. It starts Thursday June 14^th and runs to end of day on Monday June 18^th for eHarmony members in the United States.

To participate in the eHarmony free communication event all you need is to sign up for a user account and create a profile. No credit card is required. Once you complete your profile and answer the personality questionnaire (which takes under 30 minutes) you will be sent your first set of matches (usually about 6). The people from these matches have been generated by the eHarmony matching algorithm to give you the best chance of creating a long term relationship. This is determined by a large number of factors found in your profile and questionnaire answers of both you and the match, and are based on the 29 dimensions of compatibility.

After you have looked over the matches profiles you can then proceed to send a message to any match you like. It is important to note, free communication events do not include profile photos. To view those you must have a paid membership.

eHarmony service can be accessed online a number of different ways. This include by their website at eHarmony.com and with the eHarmony phone and tablet apps which can be found at Google Play and at the Apple App Store.

For more about eHarmony, you can read our review.

Dating isn’t easy on the ego. The search for a soulmate is fraught with opportunities to be rejected, to be ghosted, to be stood up, to be dumped… almost no one escapes unscathed by Cupid’s cruelties.

Then along came online dating. It promised a vaster pool of potential matches than we could ever meet IRL and more control over our romantic lives. At its best, it successfully achieves both - but at its worst, it’s a festering cesspit of anxiety, racism, superficiality, sexism, catfishing, pseudo-intimacy, and trust issues.

Scientists and dating experts are increasingly questioning whether we have the mental resilience to cope with the modern dating landscape, and whether our beloved apps and websites are harming more than they’re helping.

Dating app Her (orginally called Dattch), designed exclusively by and for queer women, is expanding its focus to bring women together in conversation as well as for dating. Its new Community feature provides a forum for users to get updates on news and exchange ideas, expanding the app’s purpose beyond forging romantic ties.

Launched in time for Pride month in June, Her’s new feature allows for users to connect with each other around certain topics of interest to the community. In other words, a place to gather around the watercooler, but online. According to website TechCrunch, the first set of community groups includes a space for queer women of color, one centered around mindfulness and wellbeing and another for news and entertainment. App creators plan to launch more groups in the future, including pop-up forums around specific events, or even user-generated communities.

Users would be able to follow a person’s feed or post messages to a community board.

Image: MillionaireMatch

MIllionaireMatch has been busy updating their app and website these pass few months. With over 3.6 million members worldwide it is one of the largest dating services in their niche.

A number of blogs has been added to the service, this includes "Celebrity Interviews" and "Luxury Lifestyle". The celebrity blog contains interviews of entrepreneurs, fashion designers, and TV personalities. The lifestyle blog contains articles on dating tips and posts on anything that only the wealthy could afford.

The dating app recently added the option for members to become certified as a Millionaire. This feature has been available on the website for a number of years now but with the recent update users of the dating app can now provide the required documents. Once verified a members profile is marked by a badge.

Once upon a time, singles met by grinding on dive bar dance floors, playing footsie under the conference table, or shyly making eye contact at the church picnic.

Then online dating hit the scene. Dating apps and websites completely changed the dynamics of finding love, turning footsie and furtive glances into a series of swipes and winking emojis.

Or did it?

According to a recent survey from ReportLinker, modern dating looks decidedly less modern than pop culture would have you believe. Only 19% of adult singles in the US say they are registered on a dating service -- a surprisingly small percentage considering the size of the buzz around online dating. That leaves a whopping 81% who prefer doing things the old fashioned way.