Anyone who has waded into the murky waters of online dating knows the stress of trying to interpret a match’s messages. You analyze (make that over-analyze) every punctuation mark and emoticon, searching for secret meanings and signs of interest. Was that “Hey” a cut and paste sent to dozens of other daters, or was it a special “Hey” just for you?

Instant Relationship Advice (formerly called WittyThumbs) is here to make translating online dating messages a little easier. The website is the inaugural product from Hermes, a Y Combinator-backed startup that wants to help singles improve their online dating conversations via educational content and expert help.

Founders Liron Shapira and Lior Gotesman started the company on the premise that using a website or an app to find dates is no longer the hard part - instead, the greatest challenge singles face is figuring out what to say to catch someone’s attention.

It’s been a whirlwind week in the online dating world.

First, Badoo launched a feature to help singles hook up with their celebrity crushes… well, almost. A new search feature uses facial recognition technology to match users with dates who look like their favourite celebs. Among the most searched-for famous faces so far are Kim Kardashian West, Justin Bieber, and Robert Pattinson.

“People are looking for quick, fast, easy ways to start connections,” said Badoo's Miles Norris to the BBC, “and if the way someone looks is a good onboarding to that, then we want to make it easy for them.”

Dating apps are all about the swipes. In fact, the process can almost feel game-like, with users swiping left and right as quickly as possible, and it seems there’s an endless supply of potential matches.

So what happens when a new dating app forces you to slow down? It seems counter-intuitive in the current online dating market, but one company wants to try and take it slow.

Appetence is a new app that launched in May for iOS, and focuses on the art of conversation before all information about a match can be revealed.

When you download the app, you are asked a series of questions about preferences relating to music, food, TV, books, movies, and even pets. The app then shows you profiles that are compatible – sort of.

Though a dating app may seem like the closest thing tech-obsessed Millennials have to a matchmaker, the ancient art of playing cupid isn’t dead yet.

Wingman, a new mobile matchmaking app, recently conducted its first Wingman Assisted Romance Survey. The study reveals that most Millennials (90%), whether they’re single or in a relationship, say they would enjoy acting as matchmaker for their friends. And what’s more, they’re confident about their skills. Almost 70% said they thought they’d be better at picking matches for their friends than their friends would be at picking their own dates.

“A large majority of the people we spoke to at length felt that they knew their friends well enough to pick people they should meet and many felt they absolutely knew them better than their friends know themselves,” said Wingman founder Tina Wilson. “Millennials tend to be confident and that confidence clearly extends to the widespread belief we found that many millennials are convinced they can be great matchmakers for their friends." 

I wasn't expecting it this weekend but eHarmony let us know that they are having a free communication event for singles in the United States starting Friday, July 14^th to the end of Monday, July 17,^th 2017.

No coupon code or credit card is required for this promotion. This means new and existing members will be able to communicate for free with their matches. All you need to do is create a free membership on eHarmony.com and fill in your profile information. Once that is done you will receive your first set of matches which you then can review and contact the ones you want via the eHarmony Mail Message center. You should also expand your profile and answer the personality questionnaire as this is where the real magic of eHarmony happens. This 30 minute or so long questionnaire allows the eHarmony matchmaking algorithm to match members together that have the best chance of creating a long-term and happy relationship. eHarmony has spent years researching and fine tuning the algorithm to produce these results.

To find out more about this online dating service, please read our eHarmony app and website review.

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.