Dating

A new survey of Bumble’s Indian users found that 63 percent want a date for Festival Season. Many singles work and live away from their hometowns, and crave companionship at this time of year.

According to Hindustan Times, the study also found that 36 percent of respondents like to enjoy festival season with friends, and 27 percent with their partners.

Festivals occur in India year-round, but perhaps one of the more famous festivals, Diwali, is a five-day festival that takes place in October/ November and represents the start of the Hindu New Year. Specifically, it celebrates Lord Rama and his wife Sita’s return to their kingdom after defeating evil demons, according to Hindu tradition. The festivities are planned around the lunar cycle.  

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed The Online Dating Safety Act. It is now eligible to be brought to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, though the timing of the vote remains unclear.

According to The Washington Examiner, the Act would require dating app services to provide a “fraud ban notification” to users who have been in contact with a user who had previously been removed from the platform for fraudulent activity. Additionally, the notification would have to include a statement that the banned member may have been using a false identity or attempting to defraud other users.

Bill H.R. 6125 also requires the notification to include a warning that the user being targeted by the fraudulent actor should not send money or personal information to another member, as well as a link to resources on fraud prevention and tips on how to avoid online fraud, according to The Ripon Advance. The bill stipulates that the dating platforms must provide a customer service number that is attached to the warning so that users have someone to speak with if they have questions or concerns.

Blued, China’s most popular gay dating app, plans to expand in Southeast Asia and in the U.S. while the Chinese government clamps down on LGBTQIA content.

According to Rest of World, Blued’s new parent company New Town wants to make the platform “the world’s largest social network for the LGBTQIA community,” and part of its strategy is to encourage user participation and community interaction, especially outside of China.

New Town’s CEO Li Ping sees enormous potential in the LGBTQIA market, and intends to grow the platform by targeting markets in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Southeast Asia and North America. “The growth of the LGBTQ population in Southeast Asia and North America is particularly evident,” a spokesperson told Rest of World.

Tinder has unveiled a new feature that lets friends and family choose your matches for you.

According to The Verge, Tinder Matchmaker lets users invite their loved ones and trusted friends to view and recommend potential matches, regardless of whether they are on Tinder themselves. How it works: users can start a Matchmaker session via a profile card or in the settings of the app, where they can create a link to share with up to 15 friends and family members. Matchmakers can either login if they are Tinder users themselves, or continue as a guest.

There is a time limit for sharing opinions! The invited matchmakers have only 24 hours to recommend profiles before the link expires. Then the Tinder user can look through the match list, where profiles will be marked as a “recommendation” for those who liked a particular match. (Those rejected profiles won’t be marked at all, and will remain in the running for the user to ultimately decide if they are interested.)

Match Group’s new queer dating app Archer launched nationwide on October 11th, which was also National Coming Out Day. And to celebrate, the app hosted parties at popular gay bars across the country.

The app’s headquarters is based in Dallas and Austin (also Match Group’s headquarters), which have some of the country’s most active LGBTQIA+ scenes. Prior to launch, the app was tested in the New York and Los Angeles markets and saw early success, especially among younger users. The company points out that 62 percent of people on Archer were 35 years or younger, according to Culture Map Austin.

The launch parties and events taking place in major cities (though not Austin), are in line with Archer’s mission: an app designed to foster a social environment. The app is marketed as a “social first” app, allowing users to express themselves through photos, messaging (including group messaging), and connecting without any kind of preset label. In fact, the profiles are arranged in feed and grid view options typically found in social media, rather than on dating apps.

Image: BLK

BLK dating app, a popular app for Black singles, has debuted a new animated series called Halloween Horror Stories, featuring real-life dating horror stories from users of the platform.

The new series consists of three animated shorts chronicling the dating horrors of Black singles, according to Cassius Life.

For example, one story entitled “Stolen Hearts & Wheels” features a BLK user getting picked up for a first date in a stolen car. The video is a short, only a minute long, and takes the audience through the man getting picked up by his date as she shows off how fast the car can go. There are some hints that it might not be her car – like the retirement tips book he sees in the passenger seat.