General News

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.

Image: Recode

Last month, Facebook announced that it will be launching a new online dating feature, and since then details have come out about what it will look like. According to website Recode, an interesting benefit to users is that the new dating service won’t include ads.

Specifically, Facebook stated that it won’t be running ads alongside dating profiles, and they won’t use personal data associated with users’ dating profiles to send targeted ads to these users.

According to Recode, Facebook will provide users with a separate dating profile page, distinct from a personal Facebook page. It will match users according to location and interests, typical for most dating apps. (With Facebook, the more groups you “unlock,” the more matches you can potentially meet.) Facebook will also provide a separate messaging service specifically for dating, so you won’t have to message matches over your personal account. The dating messaging feature will be text only – no videos or images can be shared. (This seems intended to make it a more female-friendly experience, since women often get unsolicited photos and videos over online dating apps.)

Forget Ziggy Stardust. The award for ‘Most Exciting Rise And Fall’ this week goes to SeekingArrangement, the notorious sugar daddy dating website founded by Brandon Wade in 2006.

The US-based service suddenly soared to the top of the popularity charts in China’s iOS App Store, moving up 765 places on May 22 to take the number one spot for free social networking apps. Though SeekingArrangement has been in China since 2015, this marked the first time it topped the App Store rankings in the country. By comparison, according to Quartz, it ranks only 63rd on the same chart in the United States.

It is unclear what caused SeekingArrangement’s unexpected ascent to the throne. The company connects users -- usually an older, wealthier man and a young, attractive woman -- for what it politely calls “mutually beneficial relationships” or “compensated dating”. Considering the notoriously conservative culture in China, as well as the government’s recent crackdown on violent and sexually suggestive content on dating sites, the app’s download boom is all the more mystifying.

eHarmony announced a free communication weekend this holiday weekend in the United States (eHarmony.com only). It starts Thursday May 24^th and runs to end of day on Monday May 28^th.

Whether you are new or existing eHarmony member you can take advantage of this event. Once you have created a profile and answered the personality questionnaire you will be able to receive matches daily on eHarmony. During this extended Memorial weekend you will also be able to message any of your matches (and they will be able to reply) for free. The Free Communication weekend includes the eHarmony website and dating apps (which are available on the Apple App Store and Google Play). Please note, the main thing Free Communication weekends do not include is profile photos.

To find out more about the eHarmony dating service, you can read our indepth eHarmony review.

DateHookup.com on April 28, 2018

Well after waiting a bit and some more digging (and thanks to the Way Back Machine) it is official that DateHookup.com closed for good on May 9^th, 2018.

We initially reported at the beginning of May DateHookup was experiencing technical difficulties and by May 10^th the service was no longer accessible. We did find out that in the last 2 weeks of April, Datehookup.com did display a message (as seen in the photo) in bright red on their homepage stating:

Datehookup will discontinue services on May 9, 2018. Please contact support@datehookup.com for any questions.