You’ve heard that laughter is the best medicine. You know that a sense of humor is one of the most hotly sought-after traits in a partner. So what, exactly, can laughter do for you?

In honor of National Humor Month, which kicked off on April 1, mobile app Skout conducted a survey of over 3,000 users and found that when it comes to love and friendship, laughter reigns supreme.

It began with a sampling of Skouters’ profile pictures. The company found that users who share images of themselves laughing receive 404% more favorites and make 324% more connections than the average Skouter. Those are already compelling numbers, but Skout dug deeper.

Users were asked to share their experiences with humor in a variety of situations. The survey found that:

• We are our own biggest fans. Seventy-five percent of respondents think they’re funny. Of the many forms comedy can take, those with a witty sense of humor are most likely to crack themselves up.
• Laughter is a social experience. Ninety-four percent of people surveyed said they enjoy making other people laugh. People who say their style of humor is slapstick are most likely to enjoy spreading the yuks around.
• We’re drawn to the class clown. Practical jokers and people who say “bathroom humor” is their style are most likely to have more - five or more, to be precise - close friends. Those with a sarcastic or self-deprecating sense of humor are least likely to have a similarly sized group of BFFs.
• We don’t all love the other kind of clown. Charming to some, frightening to others - 30% of people surveyed said they’re afraid of clowns. The likelihood of coulrophobia increase if you have a sarcastic sense of humor.
• Chicks don’t dig chick flicks. Only 18% of women said they prefer romantic films. The winning genre was comedy, with 26% of the vote, followed by action-adventure (23%) and horror (21%). Comedy came in second for men (21%), behind action-adventure (43%).
• Comedians congregate on the coasts. New Yorkers and San Franciscans are most confident (83%) that they are funny (why so serious, Midwest?).
• Head south for humor. Houstonians are most generous with their funny quips. One hundred percent of the city’s residents surveyed said they enjoy making others laugh. Angelenos and Atlantans shared a similar joy in inspiring giggles (98%).

Skout’s findings fall right in line with other studies that have found laughter to be highly attractive to online daters. One by Zoosk found that including ‘LOL’ in a message increased response rates by 25%. Another by Match revealed that a ‘LOL’ or a ‘Haha’ boosts your odds of scoring a date by a gargantuan 255% and your chances of hitting the sack by 39%.

Time to brush up on your witty one-liners.

How do you know if that cute guy you matched with on your dating app is really who he says he is? The hard truth is – you don’t, at least until you meet in person.

One consistent issue with online dating (and social media in general) has been users setting up fake profiles. Often, these fake profiles are used for catfishing – or targeting and scamming other users or members of the same service. Online dating site Badoo has decided to address the problem with its own newly-launched photo and profile verification system.

Many online daters in the U.S. have heard of OkCupid or Tinder, but they haven’t heard of Badoo. Despite this, it is a global giant in the online dating industry with 300 million registered users in over 190 countries, bigger than all of the popular U.S. dating services – even Tinder. Plus, the company has 400,000 signups every day, mostly in Europe and South America.

According to Badoo, the new verification system will hopefully eliminate catfishing from the service altogether. When a new user signs up, they are asked to verify their profile. Badoo then sends them a request for a photo – and the new user has to perform a specific gesture that Badoo assigns. (The company notes that it is a unique and specific gesture, not a common one like a “thumbs-up.”) Badoo will then make sure it's you by looking at the other photos on your profile along with the unique pose. You may even be asked to do another pose. The whole process takes less than a minute since the company has 5,000 moderators worldwide checking them out, so it’s pretty efficient.

If a user chooses not to verify a photo, they could be excluded from other users’ views who only want to connect with verified profiles.

The new verification system is another step in Badoo’s strategy to appeal to female online daters. With the verification system, Badoo intends for female daters to feel more secure in signing up and using the service, since they are often the ones who are targeted with fake profiles and messages.

This seems to be a strategic move. The company recently bought popular female-centric dating app Lulu, where women rate the men they date for other women, as a referral or warning system, depending on how you look at it. Badoo’s head Andrey Andreev hired Lulu’s founder Alexandra Chong as President of Badoo, and the company intends to set up a U.S. office to attract more of a presence in the States. According to TechCrunch Andreev also has invested in Bumble, another female-friendly dating app.

The new version of Badoo is available in the iTunes store, Google Play, and the Windows store.

Tinder, the swipe-for-matches dating app owned by IAC's The Match Group, is acquiring the startup behind the popular communication app Knock Knock.

The San Francisco-based startup, called Humin was founded by serial entrepreneur Ankur Jain and David Wyler in 2012. Humin's first product was a platform for managing contacts. Later the company launched Knock Knock, a stand-alone app that offers users options to connect with nearby individuals when they tap twice on their phone.

It’s not hard to see why Tinder would be interested in a company that fosters in-person interactions. Tinder has now inked a deal to acquire Humin's intellectual property, technology, and team (though Jain has given his employees the option to stay or leave). Jain will join Tinder as vice president of product, while Wyler will become the company's vice president of partnerships.

"It's clear that the team deeply believes in our vision and future plans," said Tinder's co-founder and CEO, Sean Rad, in a release. "We're excited to leverage their experience and IP to accelerate our product roadmap along with some other exciting projects we have in the works."

"What gets me stoked is that this [acquisition by Tinder] gives us the ability to do what we can do at scale," Jain said. "Dating is just one piece of Tinder's mission and vision."

The acquisition was likely in the works for some time. Tinder was in the market for an acquisition and Humin was struggling to raise further capital. Rad and Jain, who have known each other for years, finally discussed the possibility of joining forces last autumn.

"We talked about our visions for connecting people in the real world, and the challenges there we could solve," Jain told Inc. "It was kind of a shock, but he said 'we should think about an acquisition.'"

Exactly how Tinder plans to use Humin's technology is unclear, but speculation has been made that Humin’s background in contact management and location-based functionality will be used to evolve Tinder beyond the dating space. The app hopes to become a service with a broader mission of introducing people in real life, whether or not romance is in the cards.

Whatever the future holds, Jain is excited about it. "Tinder is on the cusp of massive growth because it's just starting to embrace the breadth of its mission of helping people meet and connect in the real world," he told Mashable. For more on the Tinder dating app please read our review.

eHarmony is offering 6 months for free when members in the United States purchase a eHarmony subscription for 6 months. In Canada, eHarmony.ca is offering 3 months for free on the purchase of a 3 month membership. No coupon code is required but these 2 deals are only available from April 28th to May 2nd, 2016.

eHarmony is a popular service for those looking to find a long-term relationship. In fact a recent study found that 57% of eHarmony members end up finding a relationship on the service. To get started on eHarmony you first need to create a free membership. Once you have entered information like your username, age and gender you will then be asked to take the personality questionnaire. This step is important and is used by the eHarmony matchmaking algorithm to find matches for you. Taking the questionnaire will require about 30 minutes of your time. Once complete you will then receive your first batch of matches (around 5). From here you can then review the matches and communicate with the ones you wish starting first with the Guided Communication Process. Every day or so afterwards you will then receive a new batch of eHarmony matches.

For more information about this popular matchmaking app and website which over 600,000 married couples have met on, you can check out our review of eHarmony.

Since 2013, the use of dating sites and apps has nearly tripled among Millennials, according to Pew Research Center. Even amongst less tech-savvy generations, dating services are relentlessly popular. In 2016, if you’re single and not using one, you feel as old fashioned as the great-grandmother who saves rubber bands in case of another Great Depression.

Dating apps are ingrained in the fabric of modern romance. They can boost confidence, provide entertainment, help the single and apprehensive get back in the game, and - oh yeah - even facilitate real, lasting relationships.

But they can also have a downside. Dating app burnout is a real thing, and you may be experiencing it without even knowing you are. That’s why we now have App-less April, an oh-so-modern holiday dedicated to getting away from your screen for 30 days.

Participants delete their apps for the duration of the month to recharge, reevaluate, and come back refreshed. Although April has almost ended, it’s never too late to join the app-less masses until May. Here are 3 reasons why you should.

1. You rarely meet people offline any more. Remember when people met IRL? When dating apps seemed like a supplement to “real” dating? You don’t have to ditch your apps forever, but it’s a good idea to make sure your in-person flirtation skills aren’t too rusty. You never know when they might come in handy (or who you’re missing out on by never giving them a try).
2. You’re feeling disillusioned. When you’re a dating app virgin, everything seems exciting. Hundreds upon hundreds of amazing people are at your fingertips, anxiously awaiting your swipe. Then reality sets in. Messages go unanswered. You’re inundated with one-word hellos, terrible jokes, and sexual puns. You discover what ghosting is. Pretty soon you’re just using your app out of habit. Don’t sink time into dating if your heart’s not in it.
3. Your apps are taking over your life. Tinder, Hinge, How About We, Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel… there are nearly endless options and some singles are on all of them. You may think you’re increasing your odds of finding someone special, but what you’re really doing is drowning. A 24/7 obsession with your smartphone isn’t healthy for anyone. Spend the extra time during App-less April catching up on sleep, picking up a new hobby, or - if you’re feeling especially adventurous - meeting people in real life.

Remember: this is a temporary separation, not a break-up. You and your apps are just taking some time off. Come May, you could be ready for an enthusiastic reconciliation or you might decide you’re better off apart. Either way, App-less April will help you decide what’s best.

In today’s visual world, we put a lot of thought into how we look online. The perfect selfie is only perfect because 27 selfies have been taken before. Instagram filters are layered on until the subject looks more alien than human. And when it comes to choosing photos for your online dating profile, no shot ever seems good enough.

But what if your images aren’t the most important part of your profile? Zoosk surveyed more than 9,000 singles about their online dating dealbreakers with surprising results.

Seventy-two percent said spelling errors are a major turn off, while forty-eight percent said poor grammar is a buzzkill. Knowing the difference between “you’re” and “your,” “then” and “than,” and “who’s” and “whose” wasn’t just important on your seventh grade exams - it could be keeping you single.

Zoosk, who is currently ranked in the top 3 on DatingAdvice.com, found a variety of other interesting facts about spelling and grammar online as well:

1. Don’t fear the period. Previous studies have found that using a period at the end of a sentence can come off as aggressive or insincere online, but Zoosk’s users were mostly in favor. Ninety-three percent said they’d be happy to receive a message with proper punctuation, including the controversial period.
2. Exclamation points are welcome (in moderation). First messages that contain exclamation marks receive a 10% higher response rate. But beware, because they’re also a case of too-much-of-a-good-thing. Use excessive exclamation points and you’ll sound like you’re yelling or disingenuously excited.
3. Women are more concerned with grammar than men. While a significant portion of both sexes find poor grammar to be a turn off, it’s a bigger issue for women. Sixty-five percent of female Zoosk users said it’s a dealbreaker compared to 40% of men. Women were also more likely to assume that poor grammar is a sign of being uneducated, unintelligent, and lazy.
4. Correct grammar becomes increasingly less important over time. Users over the age of 45 are the most forgiving where poor grammar is concerned. Forty-three percent said it doesn’t really mean anything  in the grand scheme of things.
5. It’s not always hip to be hip. Using trendy internet acronyms doesn’t necessarily make you look cool. “YOLO” caused a 47% decrease in response rates. On the other hand, “LOL” increased response rates by 25% - presumably because the recipients were charmed by their suitors finding them funny.

On that last point, Zoosk relationship expert David Pedersen encourages a balance between slang and traditional language.

“While abbreviations such as YOLO and LOL are more popular with millennials, these phrases are becoming more common beyond that demographic and slipping into the everyday vernacular,” he said. “These pop-culture phrases could very well become accepted over time, after all, some of them are starting to be included in Oxford’s dictionary! However, there will always be those individuals that appreciate the use of proper English to abbreviations."