Recipient
Plenty of Fish

POF (Plenty of Fish) is the Editor's Top Pick - Over All Award recipient for 2018. There was a bunch of stand out dating services this year but we felt POF landed on top thanks to a list of improvements we saw in 2017 and the large number of our visitors who spoke up saying that POF was the service which helped them to find their current partner.

POF launched in 2003 and since then they have had over 150 million people register on their service who have had over 1 billion conversations using either the website or dating apps (available for iOS and Android). Being a free dating service helps them succeed since users do not have to worry if the person they are sending a message to can reply or not (on paid services usually only paid members can reply). With the tools POF provides and their ease of use, members find dates so quickly that in less than a month 30% of members have already found their match.

Following the announcement that it has launched a multipoint strategy to embrace blockchain technology, Snap Interactive has announced the first new product of the initiative: a video-enabled secure messaging system.

Called Backchannel, the service enables real-time text, voice, and video messaging between both individuals and groups. It will leverage blockchain and other decentralization technologies to offer unique security benefits, furthering SNAP’s mission to provide global communication platforms with an emphasis on privacy.

Backchannel will adopt the end-to-end and forward secrecy encryption best practices currently used by communication apps like Telegram and WhatsApp. It will also authenticate users with a crypto identity that requires no personally identifiable information. With no link to the real-world identity of its users, Backchannel can never be subject to legal demands for disclosure and no personal data can ever be stolen by hackers.

eHarmony will be running a free communication event this weekend. It starts Friday January 26^th and runs to late Monday January 29^th for eHarmony.com members only.

For new and existing members these events are a great way to try out eHarmony, especially if you are new to the online dating world. There is no cost and no credit card is required. All you need to do is create a free account and profile and fill in the personality questionnaire which takes between 15 and 30 minutes. Once that is complete you will receive your first set of matches (usually about 4 or 5 profiles). You can then go ahead and review each profile and send messages to those you like. Every day you will receive a new set of quality matches from the eHarmony matching algorithm for you to look at.

For more about this online dating service, please check out our review of eHarmony.

Recipient
Plenty of Fish

Plenty of Fish (POF) is the recipient of the Editor's Top Pick - Free Award for 2018. Just like last year, Plenty of Fish continues to give members a great platform to meet and communicate on. This year the statistics are even more impressive. POF now has more than 150 million registered users of which they add 65,000 new ones every day. On average 4 million users log into and use POF every day (website and app). With all of this activity, POF says, every year 1 million relationships are the result of members meeting on their service.

Bumble changed the game when it launched in 2014 and required female users to make the first move. Now Hinge is offering its own take on conversation, and it hopes the new feature will help combat one of online dating’s biggest scourges.

After focus grouping, surveying, and beta testing, Hinge found that conversations frequently fizzled out simply because users had forgotten to respond. To offer a gentle reminder, the company has introduced ‘Your Turn’, a feature that lets users decide – regardless of gender – who makes the first move, and politely prompts you when it’s your turn to respond.

This addresses one of digital dating’s most stubborn problems. Conversations often start strong but are later abandoned - or, as Hinge’s research discovered, are unintentionally forgotten. Your Turn is a tiny-but-effective nudge to remind you that someone is waiting to hear back. In early tests, the feature was found to reduce ghosting by 25 percent.

Recipient
Christian Cafe

For 2018 the Editor's Top Pick - Christian Award goes too Christian Cafe. This dating service has been online since 1999 offering Christian singles a place to connect and communicate. A dating service needs members and Christan Cafe has plenty all over North America. Being online for almost 2 decades Christain Cafe has received thousands of tesimonials from happy customers who have met through their service. These testimonials are available online for you to read with many of them including photos and a long detailed description on how the service has helped them.

With over 25,000 marriages associated with ChristianCafe.com this dating service offers the tools needed to find that perfect partner. When you first sign up as a free member you will notice that beyond the normal profile questions the service asks you Christian specfic ones inlcuding your denomination and how active your are with your church. There is also a section where you can describe more about your Christian faith.