New Years

Bumble has partnered with Kele Confectionery to offer its users in Singapore the chance to obtain a complimentary bin of treats in celebration of Chinese New Year. In addition, the dating app launched a new video intended to help break down barriers for single women during the holiday, when added pressures are put on them.

Sending a “love letter snack” to the object of your affection during Chinese New Year is an age-old practice in Singapore, and Bumble is hopping on the tradition to spread the love, and to get people to download the app. Since Bumble’s motto is “women make the first move,” the company has been focusing its efforts to appeal to young single women in more conservative cultures in the APAC region, like Singapore.

According to website The Drum, Lucille McCart, APAC communications director of Bumble, said about the promotion: “Our findings in Singapore indicate that cuffing season occurs around Chinese New Year to Valentine’s Day, owing to social pressures around being coupled up during this period. Bumble Love Letters is our contemporary spin on this age-old practice. We want to revive the tradition of initiating a date with treats but also encourage singles to show love to the ultimate date – themselves.”

The new year typically brings new dating trends, and according to Match, Zoomancing, icing out, and coupling season will be the breakout stars, at least in the UK.

Match Dating’s Expert Matchmaker Hayley Quinn has predicted that these trends will take off in the new year, after closely watching the pandemic alter dating habits at an unprecedented level.

“Zoomancing,” or virtual dating, isn’t going away anytime soon, she told the U.K.’s Mirror. In fact, Match reported that 18 percent of its users continue to date virtually, even when they could have met in person. This is in large part due to Covid infection surges throughout the last two years and the emergence of new variants that have continued to cause more concern, even as more people get vaccinated. Lockdowns might not be required anymore, but singles remain cautious with people they are just getting to know. Plus, dating virtually offers people a chance to get to know each other before meeting in real life.

Dating app Match has partnered with Candace Bushnell, the international best-selling author who inspired the Sex and the City series, to help its members find love during dating’s high season.

According to Tech Crunch, beginning on “Dating Sunday” January 2nd, the highest-trafficked day for dating apps, and through the following week, Candace is overseeing matches for the “Expert Picks” feature. Expert Picks allows users to take a quiz to receive hand-selected matches from Match’s team of experts, (including from Bushnell for the busiest week of the year).

"As the creator of Sex and the City, I know a catch when I see one," said Bushnell in a statement. "I can't wait to play matchmaker for Match members to help them get out on great dates and find the love they deserve in 2022."

Dating app Hinge has rolled out some impressive new features to help users connect with matches who spark their interest, and to help them engage in conversation.

According to Adweek, the app is offering new visuals that don’t resemble a traditional dating app, intended to capture the attention of its users – specifically, hand-drawn illustrations of people, dogs and plants in a color palette of purple, green and red. These illustrated characters will also offer users prompts and tips for starting conversations. Hinge intends to create more warmth and fun to the dating app experience, which they feel will help users connect. 

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder partnered with star rapper Megan Thee Stallion for its “Put Yourself Out There” Challenge, a way to encourage Tinder users to be more authentic in their profiles. 

The promotion is helping users gear up for online dating’s most active day, the first Sunday in January also known as the dating Super Bowl, where people flock to dating apps looking for a new relationship. The campaign is to encourage people to revise their profiles to be more creative and to showcase their unique personality traits, according to Fast Company. Tinder is offering $10,000 to 100 users in categories such as most personality, most creative, most original, most real, and others.

To enter, participants must take a screenshot or video of their new profile and post it to Instagram by December 31st, tagging @Tinder, #PYOTChallenge and #contest.

Sunday January 6^th is the busiest day of online dating’s high season, with many people downloading apps and swiping right, hoping to find love in the cold winter months, also known as “cuffing season.”

More people are also motivated to find love thanks to New Year’s resolutions (and the cold weather). With the holidays behind us, January is the perfect time to adopt new habits, including trying a new dating app or rejoining one you’ve used before.

Research has shown over the years that the first Sunday of January is generally the best time to download a dating app and start swiping. Most apps have reported a surge in activity on this particular day, as well as generally increased activity during the month of January through February 14^th.