Dating Services

Online dating corporation Match Group was reported to have made an offer to purchase dating app Bumble for $450 million this summer, according to a report by website Tech Crunch.

Match Group is the parent company to a number of dating apps, including popular Bumble competitors Match, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid and Tinder. It seems Bumble hasn’t accepted the offer, which is understandable since some analysts value the company at almost a billion dollars.

Bumble has a rocky history with Match Group as well, which could play a part in any decision about an acquisition. Bumble’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe sued Tinder and IAC in 2014, (when Match Group was a part of IAC). Wolfe was one of the co-founders of Tinder, and brought a sexual harassment lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend Justin Mateen, who also happened to be one of Tinder’s co-founders and the CMO. Wolfe accused him of sending her “sexist, racist, and otherwise inappropriate comments, emails, and text messages” following their very public breakup. The two parties settled out of court for an undisclosed amount, with neither side admitting any wrongdoing.

Badoo Look A Like

Ever downloaded Tinder or Bumble in the hopes of meeting someone who looked like Ryan Gosling or Chris Pratt? Well, look no further – dating app Badoo has launched its new Lookalikes feature to help you out.

The app provides a list of various celebrities for users to choose from (think Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Alba, Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, and even Donald Trump). When you click on that celebrity’s photo, a list of choices with profile pictures of your matches appears.

The app uses facial recognition technology to scour their database of 350 million daters to deliver the results. The matches aren’t exactly spitting images, but there are certain features that they and their celebrity counterparts have in common to consider them a lookalike. (Although I question a 40-something Jennifer Lawrence, for instance).

To celebrate Labor Day in the United States, and Canada eHarmony is having a Free Communication Weekend. It starts Thursday August 31^st and runs to the end of day on Monday September 4^th for the United States and Canada.

So All you need to do to participate is create a free eHarmony membership by visiting them online. No credit card or coupon code is required. Just signup as a new member, fill in your profile, and answer the personality questionnaire. This process takes about 30 minutes. It is important to take the time and answer the questions as it helps eHarmony match you with other members. Once your profile is complete you will then receive your first set of matches (new ones are sent everyday). You can then review the matches and communicate with the ones you like by using the eHarmony messaging system. One thing to note is that profile photos are not included with Free Weekends. To view them you will need to become a paying member.

To find out more about this online matchmaking service, please check out our review of eHarmony.

A dating app with a hook-up reputation is getting it on IRL, too. In July, the popular dating app hired event organizers to throw parties for its most exclusive members in a rented house in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, partygoers (and Tinder) were soon booted out.

According to an article in Gizmodo, the company threw “a series of parties at telecom mogul Michael Hirtenstein’s oceanfront home...Over the weekends of July 14th and July 21th, cops reportedly visited the property multiple times due to noise complaints from neighbors.”

According to Page Six, attendees were also cited for carrying open containers and illegally parking.

For 6 days eHarmony in the United Kingdom is offering free trial memberships to new members. From the 24^th - 29^th August, 2017 are when these trial memberships are available.

So what does a free trial get you? Well it means you are allowed to communicate (send and receive messages) to any match you receive on eHarmony.co.uk! To increase your chances of finding your long term partner all you need to do is signup to eHarmony and fill in the profile and questionnaire. No credit card is required. Then eHarmony's matching algorithm will send you a bunch of new quality matches everyday for you to review. If any spark your interest you can then message them right away. eHarmony is extra busy during the free trials so if you are interested, it is recommended you sign up at the beginning of the promotion so you have more time to use the dating service. One thing to note is that during the free trial period photos are not displayed with the profiles.

For more information about this United Kingdom dating service, please read our review of eHarmony in the UK.

How to use the Bumble SuperSwipe

Dating apps are not only looking to differentiate themselves in a crowded market, they are trying to find ways to monetize without alienating customers. And now, female-friendly app Bumble is taking a leaf out of Tinder’s playbook and adding a new feature called SuperSwipe, similar to Tinder’s Super Like.

SuperSwipe allows users to call attention to someone they are really interested in, by clicking a heart on the chosen profile before swiping right and hoping for a match. The benefit is that your SuperSwipe can see that you’re interested before he swipes left or right, which hopefully increases your chances of matching with him.

Super Like on Tinder is very similar; your potential match can see that you’ve chosen to Super Like him in advance. Super Like is also only available via the app’s premium service, and it seems Bumble is following suit.