Online Dating

OkCupid is shaking things up again. After announcing on December 11, 2017 that it would be overhauling its messaging system to more closely resemble those of competitors like Tinder and Bumble, the company revealed plans for an even more controversial change: a real name policy that marks the end for traditional usernames.

A December 21 blog post explained the reasoning behind the elimination of usernames. The post describes the (often frivolous) pseudonyms as “a pain to come up with and a pain to remember”, and notes that though they can be “a great way to show off who you are”, users are instead encouraged to “use your profile to give people an insight into your interests.”

The change erases a key difference between OkCupid and many of its rivals, which require users to log in via Facebook in order to display their real names on their profiles. The 13-year-old dating service said “it’s time to keep up with the times.”

Update 2020-03-30: Please note that POF has announced a new feature available by the end of April called POF Live. It allows live video streaming and private 1 on 1 video chatting (for those who play NextDate). More information can be found here: Plenty of Fish Adds Livestream Feature

Update 2019-08-03: POF has since removed the video calling functionality in their app from Conversation Powers.

Plenty Of Fish made 2017 the year of getting back to basics. While other dating services introduced features seemingly designed to require less communication (looking at you, Tinder Reactions), POF has been all about the chitchat.

First, the company sponsored Conversation Nation, which it claims is the largest study ever conducted on the importance of conversation in the search for love. Inspired by what it learned from the survey, POF went on to update its iOS and Android apps with a new feature called Spark designed to help singles break the ice easily.

"With more conversations than any other dating app, Plenty of Fish is focused on bringing conversation back to singles," Hesam Hosseini, POF’s CEO, said at the time. "In the short time we've been testing Spark, we've seen a 15 percent increase in conversations. Given our scale, this can result in an increase of hundreds of thousands of conversations happening every day on the app, leading to more dates and more relationships – and it is just our first step to bring the art of conversation back to dating."

Snap Interactive, a leading provider of live video social networking applications, is boldly going where dating sites haven’t gone before. The company is closing out 2017 with a multipoint plan to capitalize on the growth potential and technological capabilities of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

SNAP has quickly made strides to get the new initiative underway via internal development, partnerships, and investments.

Upon the initial announcement of the Blockchain Platform in early November, the company appointed blockchain expert and former MySpace CEO Mike Jones to the Board of Directors. Jones is also the inaugural member of SNAP’s new Blockchain Advisory Board, followed by Wall Street crypto expert and venture capital veteran Lou Kerner later in the month.

Popular dating app Tinder is testing a new feature called Feed, aimed at providing users more insight to their matches, and to help spark conversations.

Feed consists of a real-time feed of social media posts from a user’s matches, specifically posts from Instagram and Spotify. The idea is that users can look at what their matches are virtually sharing moment by moment to get a better idea of what they are like – what they are listening to at any given time, where they are, and what they like doing.

The new feature will appear as a tab in the messages screen, according to website Tech Crunch. Users can respond directly to posts in their Feed without having to go back to the profile screen, making it easy to interact. Instead of having to be too descriptive in the profile, or thinking of something unique to say as an introduction, users can let their Instagram photos and playlists speak for themselves.

Any company needs to evolve in order to stay relevant, and given the especially speedy pace at which the world of online dating advances, it’s even more important for companies in the industry to regularly innovate.

OkCupid has remained a leading name in the market since its launch 13 years ago. But that also makes it one of the older names, facing stiff competition from younger upstarts like Tinder and Bumble.

To ensure it remains a go-to for singles in an increasingly saturated industry, OkCupid has announced a major update to its messaging system. Open messaging - which allows any user to contact any other user without restrictions - will be eliminated a favor of a system more akin to those of Bumble and Tinder, in which only users who have indicated interest in each other can easily access each other's conversations.

Add dating to your list of New Year resolutions, because chances are, you’ll meet someone in January.

Online dating has a high season, and it seems the spirit of the holidays all the way through Valentine’s Day puts people in the mood for finding love.

A study by dating site Match revealed that more than any other time of year, people flock to dating sites between December 26^th and February 14^th. The numbers are telling – 50 million messages sent and 1 million dates happen during this time, and Sunday January 7^th is apparently the busiest day (and the best time to join – specifically 8:55pm EST).