At Facebook's annual developer conference F8, founder Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement that spread like an especially voracious wildfire across the web: Facebook is entering the dating game.

The news sparked immediate reactions from key players in the market.

Despite recently ditching the Facebook login requirement for its app, Bumble took a diplomatic approach. A spokesperson described the company as “thrilled”, telling CNNMoney “Our executive team has already reached out to Facebook to explore ways to collaborate. Perhaps Bumble and Facebook can join forces to make the connecting space even more safe and empowering.”

Other major dating players took a less enthusiastic path.

It’s been a tumultuous month for Match Group. The company’s share price dropped over 25% in the wake of Facebook's announcement that it was entering the online dating space, prompting CEO Mandy Ginsberg to assure users and investors that Match Group had little to fear from its new competitor.

“People don’t want to mix Facebook and their dating lives,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg.

She may be right. Looking at Match Group’s Q1 2018 Earning Results, also released this month, the company appears to be in a strong position despite the recent hit.

Photo-focused dating services like Tinder and Grindr are no strangers to stigma. Since day one, conservative singles and media outlets have called them “hookup apps” designed for the desperate, horny, and swipe-obsessed.

But if you’ve been holding off on joining over fears of friends’ ridicule or a chock-a-block casual sex schedule you just can’t keep up with, put those worries to rest. A new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that the reality of dating apps is far more chaste than its salacious reputation.

Researchers at NTNU examined the "sociosexual orientation" - the degree to which an individual is open to short-term sexual relationships that don’t lead to a committed partnership - of 641 students at the university between the ages of 19 and 29.

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.

Did you eat at a new neighborhood cafe for lunch? Do you want to share this over Tinder? There’s a new feature the dating app is testing called “Places,” which lets potential matches know where you’ve been.

Website The Verge broke the story with screenshots of the new feature, showing how GPS tracking can now be used as a way to connect with your dates. The idea behind Places is similar to dating app Happn, where users can see if they had any missed connections during the day, depending on where they’d been. Let’s say you stopped for morning coffee at your local shop and one of your potential matches also happened to be there. Places will alert you so that you can message your match to let her know you were there too, and start a conversation.

Image: Verge

A concerning issue with the new feature is that Tinder is in charge of documenting and revealing your locations to other users. Instead of allowing users to “check in” when they want to share their location, Tinder automatically chooses to reveal or hide the location. For example, you might go to your dentist appointment and then stop for coffee on the way back to work. Tinder won’t report that you’ve been to the dentist, but it might choose to reveal the coffee shop you visited.