Since its debut, The League has earned a somewhat elitist reputation. True to its name, the dating app screens all of its applicants according to their career and education, making it a place for singles of a certain stature to find each other online.

Recently, the company launched a new version of its dating app in Los Angeles following a soft launch in New York and San Francisco, and is now focusing on events. Potential members are still required to apply before being able to use the app (the company claims more than 100,000 are on its waiting list). But once you’ve been approved as a member, you can join or create new events based on your interests.

TechCrunch interviewed CEO Amanda Bradford about the app’s new focus, and she emphasized its potential. “The overall goal,” Bradford told the news website, is to turn The League into a “members-only club,” with “a killer singles scene.”

Business Insider was a little more skeptical about the relaunch, calling it a “do or die moment” for the company, since they need to make some cash soon. According to Business Insider, The League spent most of the last year rebuilding its app from the ground up because it wouldn’t scale properly – hence the focus on events. The company needed to see if people were just curious about the app because of the media buzz, or if it was a viable platform where its members would truly engage. Although the app is still free, Bradford did say that the plan is to offer a freemium service and start charging a tiered membership fee, similar to a members-only club. “Ads aren’t feasible for us,” Bradford told the website.

The newest version of The League is meant to encourage friendships and networking among the site’s members, and not necessarily limit connections to dating. For instance, a female user can create a “women’s wine circle” or a running group. The focus is more on the activity, event or interest, and less on meeting potential dates, which makes these events more organic and fun compared to a singles party. The League has done its own events for members, but these are limited in comparison to members taking charge and creating events themselves.

So while the company says it’s not moving away from the dating space, it seems to be focusing more on the app’s potential to create connections – whether it’s friendships, business contacts, or potential dates.  The bigger question is how soon the app will be able to grow its membership, stickiness, and eventually its revenue stream.

“If music be the food of love, play on,” Shakespeare wrote in Twelfth Night. There’s no denying the power of a good tune when it comes to seduction, but a study by Match.com has found that the words of the Bard are alluring in their own right.

To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the online dating service scoured its database for mentions of the wordsmith. “For four centuries,” writes the Match blog, “Shakespeare has been regarded as the greatest writer and poet in the English language; his sonnets and plays have captured the hearts of millions.”

It turns out, they’ve also captured plenty of hearts on Match.com. Mentioning Shakespeare in your profile increases your chances of success on the site, especially if you’re male. Men who name-dropped the Elizabethan playwright were 27% more likely to receive a response from women. Maybe it’s because 30% of women on the service describe themselves as "literary."

Match also found that singles in certain cities were more likely to mention Shakespeare than others. America’s biggest fans of Billy Shakes aren’t in New York, San Francisco, or the country’s other cultural hubs. They’re not even in locations known for their Shakespeare festivals, like Ashland, Oregon. Believe it or not, the Hamlet scribe was mentioned most by Match users in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Boise, Idaho and Montgomery, Alabama followed.

For bibliophiles who aren’t obsessed with the Bard, Match compiled a list of states rated by how many of its users selected reading as an interest and listed the last book they read in their profile. The top 10 cities with literary users include Boston, Austin, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Denver and Madison came in at numbers 3 and 2, respectively. And finally, the literary crown was secured by… drum roll please... none other than Fort Collins, Colorado.

Match.com even recommended a few choice Shakespeare quotes for those who are looking to up their dating game. Their favorites are:

• “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is wing’d cupid painted blind.”
• “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”
• “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

If your profile is in need of a spring cleaning, consider adding a bit of the Bard’s magic to spruce it up. But if you plan to take a cue from his famous romances, be sure it’s one of the comedies. We all know how Romeo and Juliet turned out.

Online dating is more popular than ever thanks to dating apps like Tinder. Forget those long profiles written on your laptop, scrolling through matches in the privacy of your home. Now, online dating is a social event – you can swipe while you have drinks at the bar with your friend!

Online dating has become the go-to method for most singles looking for love, but that doesn’t mean people are getting the hang of it. In fact, dating apps have inspired more people to try online dating – but they might not be so successful in getting dates.

Here’s where hacks can be helpful in making your whole experience more successful:

Be active. Don’t just swipe once a week, or message only occasionally. In order to get more matches, you have to show that you are involved. Check in at least once a day, and start swiping and messaging. You will notice that your match list increases, too – when you are more active, you are presented with other more active members. The reverse is true for those who aren’t actively swiping.

Be discerning, but not too much. There is a trend among men of swiping right on every profile, because they hope to increase their opportunities. This isn’t so effective, because there are plenty of apps that do the mass swiping for you – which are recognized as bots. When you act like a bot, you get fewer matches. The reverse is true too – if you are too picky and swipe left way more often than right, you lessen your choices. (Remember, other users are swiping left, too.) Keep an open mind, with some boundaries.

Choose photos wisely. Don’t choose a bunch of group photos, or pictures of you in hats or sunglasses. Include some body shots and headshots without props, so your matches know what you look like. Also, think of photos as conversation starters – post a couple of you playing guitar or hiking in the woods so your dates get an idea of what you like without having to read the profile (which they might not even do unless they like the photos). And it’s a good idea to smile.

No endless messaging. Many dating app users make a mistake of messaging back and forth and creating an emotional connection online before meeting in person. What happens if there is no spark when you are sitting across from each other? Instead of investing in the online communication, try to get to the date sooner, so you can see if you click in real life. Remember, the dating app is only a tool to meet people – the rest is up to you.

To our knowledge Christian Café currently are not offering any coupon codes. This is not a real issue though, since one great perk at Christian Café is all new members automatically get a 10 day free trial. This allows you to try out all aspects of the dating service including sending and receiving emails. They have been offering this deal for over 20 years now, and no other site that we know of does without requiring a credit card.

ChristianCafe.com Current and Upcoming Coupons and Sales

We have not been notified of any new sales or coupons for the award winning dating service Christian Cafe. The best place to find out about any deals is the Christian Cafe subscription upgrade page when you create your free account.

We will update this page when Christian Cafe lets us know of any new sales or discounts. To find out more about this popular Christian online dating site, you can take a look at our Christian Café review.

This Wednesday, June 8th, 2016 at 7pm EST (4pm PST) the dating service OurTime will be hosting a 1 hour live chat session with Dr. Terri Orbuch who is know as "The Love Doctor". She will be answering as many questions she can about relationships and love in the online dating world. If you want to join in on the conversation be sure to ask your question using the hashtag #OurTimeChat on OurTime's Facebook page.

Dr. Terri is a professor at Oakland University, a therapist, and an author of 6 relationship books. She has been featured in many national publications including USA Today, Time magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She also has appeared on CNN, The Today Show, and many other well known TV shows. She is also currently the relationship expert for the dating site OurTime.

Use it or lose it. That’s the motto men on Bumble will have to live by from now on. The dating app just announced that male users are now required to reply to women's messages within 24 hours or they lose the match.

Bumble has always been unique. At first glance, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for Tinder 2.0 - but look closer and you’ll notice the key difference that has made the app a hit in its own right. Once a pair is matched on Bumble, only the woman can send a message. If she doesn’t do it within 24 hours, her match buzzes off into cyberspace, never to be seen again.

By requiring women to make the first move, Bumble takes a feminist stance and places power firmly in female users’ hands. The new update levels the playing field between the sexes even further by requiring men to respond within the same timeframe.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe told Mashable that the goal was to make it an “even keel” experience. "She was held to 24 hours to reach out to you,” Wolfe said. “We feel it's only fair you're confined to the same rules." Previously, men had unlimited time to answer messages.

"I know the whole idea is that it's empowering women, but it also just puts the ball in the guy's court and starts a 'wait and see' game," New Yorker Lauren Drell told Mashable. "It means we need to rush but then a guy can take their time in replying back and vetting options."

Wolfe also says that by applying the 24-hour restriction to all users, they can't "rack up" their number of matches anymore - a common practice on other platforms. "It's helping objectify women less," she explained.

A final goal for the new rule is to prevent ghosting, an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in online dating. According to data from Fortune magazine, 80% of Millennials have been ghosted at some point. Bumble has found that the number of messages sent and chats initiated has significantly increased since the introduction of the time limit.

Male responses to female-initiated chats have gone up 18%, and a chat is 70% more likely to continue once there is a reply. The app has also witnessed a 9% increase in women sending the first message since men are replying to their initial message.

Bumble is confident that the good news will keep coming. Along with being the most frequently requested feature, says Wolfe, testing in the UK found that the male 24-hour timer increased response rate by 20%.