Dating Services

PlentyOfFish has been in the game for years, but to keep up with upstarts like Tinder, continuous reinvention is a must. This year has seen plenty of change for POF, from being acquired by IAC/InterActive's Match Group to going public as part of the Match Group's IPO. Now the mobile app is getting a makeover.

A new update, launched December 15, 2015, has added several new features to the apps for iOS and Android. Bugs have also been fixed for a more stable user experience.

The first new feature will appeal to safety-minded singles. With free Voice Calling, you can place a secure, private call to someone without giving out your contact details. To call, open a message in your inbox. If the recipient is accepting Voice Calls, tap the phone icon to dial. Take note: calls are made through the app, so connect to wi-fi first if you're concerned about exceeding your monthly data limit.

If honesty is the best policy, is there an optimal time to divulge your most personal information?

Even at the best of times, “The Talk” can be a touchy subject. Maybe you want to date exclusively. Maybe you have wedding bells on the brain. Maybe you're just ready to disclose a weird hobby or an annoying habit.

Whatever talk you're ready to have, it's a sensitive situation and tricky to get the timing right. To shed some light on the murky topic, online dating site Zoosk polled more than 5,000 users to get their thoughts on having uncomfortable relationship conversations.

The big question on most daters' minds is this: when is it ok to define the relationship as exclusive or nonexclusive? According to Zoosk's survey, almost half of men believe it's important to define the relationship within the first few dates. Only a third of women agreed. Forty-nine percent of female users wanted to wait until after the first few months of dating to discuss exclusivity.

As far bigger commitments go, 56% of men and 54% of women consider six months an appropriate time to talk about marriage. Note: the marriage talk in question isn't about marrying each other or picking out color schemes. This conversation is just about whether you aspire to get married at all.

Zoosk also asked users about disclosures earlier in the dating process. Their research found that response rates to the first online dating message increase if the following words are used: vegan, pets, allergies. On the other hand, response rates decrease with the appearance of these words: vegetarian, virgin, rich.

In that initial communication, more men (32%) than women (28%) say they would disclose if there was something unusual about them sexually. However, the majority of men (52%) and a significant number of women (41%) say they would prefer to remain in the dark about their date's number of past sexual partners.

On or immediately following the first date, 70% of men say they would be upfront if they are seeing other people. Sixty-two percent of women say they would do the same. Past partners, on the other hand, are a subject better saved for later dates. Nearly half of men and women say they do want to discuss former relationships and recent breakups, but only after a few weeks of dating.

For more about this dating service please read our review of Zoosk.

Unless you've been living in a galaxy far, far away, you know this month is all about Star Wars. The seventh installment of the sci-fi franchise will soon premiere and fans are going crazy waiting for the big day.

To pass the time until The Force Awakens hits big screens, Match.com has done a little research on single Star Wars fans around America.

It turns out the Force is especially strong with the western US. The region with the most mentions of Star Wars-related terms in their profiles was Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue in Washington. Cities in Texas, Colorado and Utah followed close behind. In the top nine, only one eastern city makes an appearance: Orlando-Kissimmee in Florida. Maybe east coast fans prefer Star Trek?

If you're a Han looking for your Leia, your best bet is to look in Colorado Springs, Colorado – the top city for single female Star Wars fans. Your next closest bets are Santa Rosa-Petaluma, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah. Ladies looking for a Luke-alike are most likely to find him in Orlando-Kissimmee, followed by Austin-Round Rock, Texas, and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue.

Match.com's research didn't stop there. The company also found that Star Wars fans are more educated than the non-fan population. Sixty percent earned a degree beyond a bachelor's. They also showed an increased interest in martial arts, clocking in at twice as likely to be into karate than the average Match user.

Match continued its research into religion, politics and career choices. Star Wars fans were 2.2 times as likely to be atheist, agnostic, or spiritual but not religious, and 2.7 times as likely to be liberal or very liberal. As for their professional paths, they were 3 times as likely to work in technology, 2.5 times as likely to work in a creative field and 2 times as likely to work in government.

Speakiing of Star Trek, Match compared fans of the legendary TV series to Star Wars buffs. The results? Star Trek users were better educated and made more money. Star Trek users were also more likely to hold extreme political views (both right and left), and less likely to be moderate in their political leanings. On the other hand, Star Wars users were more likely to be into sports and less into gardening, politics and religion.

Time to start practicing your Star Wars pickup lines. Put your love life into hyper drive, and you could have a date for the opening night of The Force Awakens.

For more info on the online dating service which brought us this study you can read our Match.com.

Were you wondering who the most popular members were on Match.com this past year? Or maybe you were wondering the percentage of blonde to brunette daters, or what music most matches were listening to? Whatever your question, Match.com seems to have answers in their 2015 wrap-up.

If you dwell in New York City, you might be surprised to learn that despite the hectic pace and its legendary status for casual relationships and ambitious and independent singles (thanks to tv shows like Girls and Sex and the City), New York City is the number one place where Match.com members want kids! Commitment and family in New York City is possible and a goal for a lot of daters, so lesson learned here: don’t let the stereotypes rule your life.

If on the other hand, you are looking for the jet set life and want to be with a doctor or lawyer, head to Durham, North Carolina or Washington, D.C. respectively.

It also appears that despite the tech-savvy iPhone users among us, Android users are becoming more likely to try online dating. In 2015, 29% more Android users joined Match.com vs. iPhone users.

This past year marked a big year for the LGBT community, with the Supreme Court ruling that marriage between same-sex couples was legal across the country. Plus, notable celebrity and former Olympic Champion Caitlyn Jenner came out to the world, making transgender rights a topic of discussion. In the online dating world, half a million members of the LGBT community joined Match in 2015.

Following are some additional highlights:

• Since we are in for a long year of political maneuvering in 2016, Match.com decided to see the Hilarys vs. the Donalds who signed up for online dating this past year. As it turns out, there are more Donalds who are members of Match. (We’ll see how this plays out in the elections.)
• Game of Thrones was the most-mentioned TV show on Match this year. (No big surprise – though fans of The Walking Dead will be pleased their show came in second.)
• The most-mentioned celebrities included Drake at #1, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and then the Kardashians.
• The most mentioned trendy words of 2015 were “swag” (coming in at #1), “bae” (because who doesn’t want to find their bae?), and “Netflix and chill” (to which I can relate).
• Most trending newsworthy topics discussed on Match include transgender, Donald Trump, and marijuana. 
• The most popular foods mentioned were sushi (coming in at #1), tacos and ramen. Delicious.
• Two times more brunettes joined than blondes.
• Last but not least, Match revealed its two most popular daters – Leonora from New York, NY and Gabriel from Los Angeles.

To find out more about this dating service you can read our review of Match.com. Happy dating!

Online dating services like eHarmony and Chemistry.com have long emphasized their ability to find “quality” matches based on matchmaking algorithms. Even dating app Tinder, known as more of a hook-up app than a true matchmaking service, is getting in on the long-term love strategy. The company just released a new version, with updated algorithms that Tinder CEO Sean Rad maintains will lead to “more meaningful matches.”

Matching algorithms work like this: If you craft a profile with your interests, hobbies, income, and other descriptors, and you identify the qualities you are looking for in a match, then voila – the online dating site will find those candidates best suited for you. In other words, they will find people with similar preferences, interests, and backgrounds and match you together.

Which means that there’s a higher likelihood of the two of you falling in love and living happily ever after, right?

Not necessarily. Some writers point to research that says otherwise. As The Washington Post shared in a recent article: “Dating site algorithms are meaningless. They really don’t do anything. In fact, the research suggests that so-called ‘matching algorithms’ are only negligibly better at matching people than random chance.”

The reasons behind this conclusion are varied, but the basic idea is that chemistry between two people is highly variable. Just because you might match up well in theory, (and online), doesn’t mean that the spark will exist in real life. But the dating sites want you to believe otherwise.

There is an argument to be made that people who are considered “compatible” or who have the same background, communication style, or any number of factors in common might make better matches. And they might – or they might not. According to one very prominent study from 2012 conducted by Northwestern University’s Eli Finkel on the matching algorithms used by online dating sites, there was just as good a chance that someone you meet at random could end up being the love of your life.

According to Finkel’s study, relationship success depends on three things. First, individual characteristics, like whether you’re smart, funny, consider yourself beautiful, or avoid commitment at all costs. Second, the quality of interaction between two people - specifically how you hit it off in-person, not through text messages back and forth. And third, your surrounding circumstances, like your career, ethnicity, financial security, and health.

As we know from online dating sites, we aren’t always accurate or truthful when we are describing ourselves, so it’s likely we aren’t as compatible as we think. Another problem is that compatibility isn’t the marker of a good relationship. It really comes down to that elusive thing called chemistry and how you interact together in person.

With this information, it’s to every dater’s benefit to accept more invitations and matches, even those who don’t seem to be suited for you. Because the truth is, until you meet, you just don’t know.

How will technology change the way we date over the next 25 years? Virtual reality, DNA testing and wearable technology could all be part of the picture.

A recent report from Imperial College Business School in the United Kingdom, commissioned by eHarmony, explores how we'll date in the future. The report analyzed over 100 years’ worth of trend data and interviews with experts in multiple fields to predict how dating and relationships could change by 2040.

"By 2040 we estimate that 70 percent of couples will get together online, with technology revolutionising the way we find love and build our relationships," said Romain Bertrand, eHarmony UK manager, to The Telegraph.