Dating Sites Reviews

Match is one of the oldest names in the online dating industry, but its strongest asset is a much younger name in the biz: Tinder.

As the stigma around online dating fades, the industry is experiencing rapid growth, particularly in the Millennial segment. Pew Research estimates that use of online dating sites among young adults (ages 18-24) nearly tripled from 2013 to 2016, rising from 10 percent to 27 percent, and opening a major opportunity for Match Group to expand its market share.

Match owns Tinder, the leading dating app for Millennial singles. By placing the majority of its focus on growing Tinder, Match Group hopes to secure its position as the digital match-maker of future generations.

How Match Stories Works

One of the oldest players in the online dating industry is betting on the next big thing since swiping. Match plans to launch a new video feature for its dating app this summer.

Match is still a brand name, and it retains a large database of users (though its demographic skews a little older – the company captures a large portion of daters thirty-five and older, many of them divorced and getting back into dating). But Match is looking to broaden its horizons, and the dating game along with it, by focusing on video for product development, according to a report by Mashable.

The video feature, dubbed Match Stories, varies a bit from the old-school video dating services and other video dating apps that haven’t quite taken off. Instead of stilted introductions from users who aren't used to being in front of a camera, Match Stories allows its customers to be a bit more creative. They can incorporate video and images into a 60-second “story,” and use the voiceover tool to explain to potential dates what they are seeing.

Modern romance looks more than a little different from love stories of the past. Instead of meeting at religious services or social dances, today’s singles swipe and click their way to dates. Many have embraced it as the new normal, and there’s no shortage of dating services eager for their business.

But other singles are clinging steadfastly to an old-fashioned approach. They’d rather meet in-person or through friends, and remain skeptical of dating apps and websites. For the naysayers, there are services like My Friend’s Friend.

My Friend’s Friend is helping singles in Perth, Australia, find love with a Facebook friend request. Curious daters add My Friend’s Friend as a friend on the social network, then receive a message from a woman who goes by Lucy Date (though the name is fake, she’s a real matchmaker who has spent years playing Cupid for friends and clients).

Are you single and do you love to travel? Delta Airlines is hoping so, because it just launched a marketing campaign with Tinder to promote its worldwide destinations to adventure-loving singles.

Delta commissioned artist Andrew Rae and advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy New York to create photo murals of several enviable travel destinations for people to use as backdrops for taking selfies. Rae painted funny and hip illustrations alongside each exotic scene. (The airline commissioned this project specifically in New York.)

The vibrant and colorful backdrops are on a brick building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, so singles can take pictures with their phones, upload the pics to their Tinder profiles, and declare themselves jetsetters without actually traveling to the destinations. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and offers daters a new way of promoting themselves over the dating app.

Are you a mindful single and looking for someone who’s also interested in meditation, green living, and conscious eating? Then look no further than Denver-based dating app MeetMindful, who recently raised $1.8 million in investment money in the saturated dating app market.

This seed round included funds from top investors in mindfulness, dating, and SaaS technology, including the CEO of Hay House, a popular publishing company among the mindfulness crowd, and Bridge Builders Collaborative.

"We see significant potential in MeetMindful to facilitate authentic relationships for the millions of people pursuing more mindful, healthy lifestyles," said Bridge Builders Collaborative's Operating Partner Charlie Hartwell in a statement.

Online dating companies are thinking outside the box, thanks to the flooded app market and growing consumer base. Popular dating apps Tinder and Hinge are now offering wedding competitions to users who meet through each of their respective dating apps.

Tinder announced that it would offer to pay $100K towards the cost of an LGBTQ wedding for a couple who met through the app. The move was a nod in honor of Pride Month in June.

Tinder launched a new feature last year to include “transgender” as a gender choice, along with almost 40 other options with which users can choose to identify. The company saw an additional 250,000 new matches made as a result of the inclusion, and now, they want to encourage one lucky LGBTQ couple to tie the knot. Tinder also discovered via a recent study that these users are more likely to want a serious relationship, rather than a hook-up. According to an article in Elite Daily, the large majority of gay users (66.4 percent) and lesbian users (62.1 percent) agree that using Tinder will lead to a long-term relationship.