Dating Services

eHarmony is saying 'Hola!' to a new site designed to serve Spanish-speaking singles. The company says the new addition to the eHarmony family, eHarmony.com/espanol, will provide a fully translated, localized experience for the 37 percent of bilingual users who speak Spanish.

As always, eHarmony used its famous research-based approach to build the compatibility model that is the backbone of the Spanish site. To update it for a new audience, the algorithim now takes into account linguistic and cultural nuances that are important in the matching process.

“In the last few years, we have seen online dating come into its own and today we are seeing growth in every user demographic,” said Dr. Neil Clark Warren. “That trend continues around the world as online dating is recognized as a way to meet someone special. Our purpose has always been to help our users find lasting, meaningful relationships and the launch of this site represents another way to reach those who are hoping to be found by that perfect partner and confidant.”

The development of this new site speaks directly to the company’s continued growth as a global brand. eHarmony hopes to appeal to an increasingly large demographic of online daters in Latin America, where online dating is growing at a rate of 20 percent year over year according to independent market research.

New features will become available on the site in the coming months, including mobile access and localized experiences for Spanish-speakers around the world. Beginning in December, current eHarmony users can elect to fill out a mini-questionnaire in Spanish to be better matched with those who set up their profiles in Spanish.

eHarmony has every reason to be invested in its global growth. According to a report published on eHarmony.co.uk, 50 percent of all relationships could begin online by 2031. By 2040, that number could jump to 70 percent. As profits increase along with the number of users, eHarmony wants to be at the forefront of every new development.

To celebrate the release of eHarmony.com/espanol, eHarmony has introduced a friends and family special. New users can get three months free when using the promo code “AMIGOS2015”. eHarmony.com/espanol is currently available in the United States and will be introduced in several other countries, including Mexico and Spain, over the course of 2016.

For more information, visit eHarmony.com/espanol or read our eHarmony review or eHarmony.co.uk review

Usually makeovers come with the New Year and the soon-to-be-forgotten resolutions, but Spark Networks is starting early. The company has given its two most recognized brands, JDate and ChristianMingle, a head-to-toe refresh for the end of 2015.

Both brands have been redesigned inside and out. In addition to sleek new appearances, the sites have been updated with improved back-end platforms, new mobile-optimized features and easier-to-use functionality.

This is all part of Spark Networks' year-long strategic vision for boosting profits and subscriber engagement. Despite its strong legacy in the online dating business, Spark Networks had stalled while the rest of the industry modernized. With the relaunch of its two core brands, the company hopes to reposition itself once again as a leader in the niche dating world.

JDate is the first of the two legacy brands to debut the results of its makeover. Some of the updates and new product offerings include:

• A cleaner, more streamlined user experience that simplifies interactions
• A new “daily matches” feature that presents a curated collection of matches tailored to each member
• An improved user experience for iPad/tablet users
• An expanded mobile presence and improved mobile capabilities
• A redesigned inbox to make interactions between users even easier

ChristianMingle has not yet debuted its renovation, but look for it in the coming weeks. Not only will it incorporate many of the features from the new JDate platform, it will also reposition the site as a more open, contemporary and diverse community based on the Christian faith and values.

After a year of ups and downs, this could be the breakthrough Spark Networks has been looking for. The company revealed a drop in year-on-year revenue and a net income loss of $822,000 for the quarter when it shared its Q3 2015 financial results. On the plus side, subscriber growth was on the uptick for the first time since Q1 2013 and Spark's mobile presence has expanded significantly this year.

“At the beginning of this year we set an aggressive plan to rebuild our two key brands – JDate and ChristianMingle – to become relevant again to our customers and drive fundamental change in business performance,” said Michael Egan, Chief Executive Officer of Spark Networks.

“It has been an exciting and successful year with tremendous growth and development momentum. The changes and upgrades we are debuting today are the first step to strengthening our portfolio to become more nimble and innovative, as we build valuable products and services for our members.”

For more information on these 2 dating services you can read our reviews of JDate and Christian Mingle.

Tinder just released a new update to its popular dating app, but decided to swipe left on its Snapchat-like “Moments” feature. The Moments feature was first offered to Tinder users a year ago, but now has been removed from the app’s latest update.

With Moments, Tinder users could share photos that expired after 24 hours, hoping to pique the interest of their matches. Moments also allowed users to stylize photos with filters, paintbrush, and the ability to write text over the image. The purpose of Moments was, according to Tinder co-founder Sean Rad, to jumpstart conversations among matches. If a match liked your Moment, they could swipe right. The app would notify you of their interest, and then you could both start chatting.

Last year when Moments first launched, Rad was pleased with consumers’ response. In an interview at tech event TC Disrupt he declared that due to Moments, Tinder had “seen a massive increase in conversations started and post-match engagement.”

News about Tinder’s latest update focused on the new features the app is offering, such as a revamp to the Profile and Inbox. The update allows users to add employment/education information into their profiles. The Inbox now places new matches in the top bar and current conversations in the lower part of the screen. There were also slight improvements on the backend with an update to Tinder’s algorithms.

No mention was made from Tinder about the absence of Moments, or that the company also got rid of its “Last Active” feature, which let users know the last time someone used the app. With the new update, Last Active disappeared as well.

Website Tech Crunch attributes the loss of Moments to the popularity of Snapchat. Likely Tinder users would just use Snapchat or other similar apps with any potential matches instead of using the Tinder feature. Plus, Tinder partnered with Instagram to let users use their recent Instagram photos as an extension of their Tinder profiles. With these offerings, Moments might have lost some traction.

Users did notice Moments’ absence however, and took to Twitter and review postings to let the company know they were not happy with this move. The most vocal opponents let their voices be heard with tweets like: “why is tinder getting rid of moments? that was like its best feature tbh.”

So far, the company hasn’t responded to inquiries of why they decided to ditch the features. Perhaps we’ll know more with Tinder’s next update. For more on this dating app you can read our review of Tinder.

The once popular dating site PerfectMatch.com has closed down. When you visit the service you are shown a goodbye message. The message states that the dating site has closed down and any remaining time on your subscription that is left will be refunded in full on to your original form of payment.

From around 2005 to 2010 Perfect Match was a popular choice for singles interested in online dating. The site was featured in a number of popular movies like Must Love Dogs and appear on talk TV shows like Dr. Phil and Live with Regis and Kelly. PerfectMatch used the Duet Total Compatibility System which was created in part by the relationship expert Dr. Schwartz. This dating service emphasized long-term relationships and had a detailed profile and complex matching algorithm.

Unfortunately Perfect Match didn't stay current with technology and let their product go stale. As far as I know there never was a mobile app released ever on the iPhone or Android phones. In 2011 PerfectMatch was acquired by FriendFinder which didn't help the dating service at all and it continued to slowly slide into obscurity.

eHarmony is offering a 4 day Cyber Monday Special this weekend in Canada. It starts Friday November 27th and ends on Monday November 30th, 2015.

With this special you can receive up to 75% off on select memberships at eHarmony. This is a great deal for singles who are looking to try out online dating. To receive the deal you don't have to do anything more than signup to eHarmony by November 30th. Once you have created your membership and completed the profile questionnaire you will find the discounted prices on your membership subscription page.

For more information about this online dating site, you can read our review of eHarmony review.

eHarmony is offering a 5 day free trial this Thanksgiving weekend here in the United States. It starts Thursday November 26th and ends on Monday November 30th, 2015.

If you are single, the holidays can be harder on you especially when family and friends keep asking the same question - Have you met anyone new? If you are not out shopping for gifts (hopefully you have finished because those lines can get crazy), what better way to fix your predicament this holiday weekend than looking for your ideal match. Trust me you are not alone in this. Dating services like eHarmony are extremely busy during the holidays for this reason alone. If you are looking for a steady long-term relationship then eHarmony should be the dating service you want to try out. Their complex matching algorithm, which has had millions of dollars in research spent on it, sends eHarmony members new quality matches everyday for them to review. During the free trial, communication is free so if one or more match sparks your interest, you can send them messages.

Signing up to eHarmony is easy to do and free. All you need to do is complete the membership signup process and the matching questionnaire (which takes about 30 minutes). Once complete eHarmony will analyze your profile and send you your first set of matches. This process is completely free and no credit card is required. Just remember free trials do not include photos, secure call (a phone service), or skip straight to email. You will have to purchase a membership to use these features directly.

For more information about this service (the website and dating app) which looks to create long-term relationships between it's members, you can read our review of eHarmony.