Technology

Popular dating app Tinder is testing a new feature called Feed, aimed at providing users more insight to their matches, and to help spark conversations.

Feed consists of a real-time feed of social media posts from a user’s matches, specifically posts from Instagram and Spotify. The idea is that users can look at what their matches are virtually sharing moment by moment to get a better idea of what they are like – what they are listening to at any given time, where they are, and what they like doing.

The new feature will appear as a tab in the messages screen, according to website Tech Crunch. Users can respond directly to posts in their Feed without having to go back to the profile screen, making it easy to interact. Instead of having to be too descriptive in the profile, or thinking of something unique to say as an introduction, users can let their Instagram photos and playlists speak for themselves.

Online dating is the most popular way to meet, thanks to dating apps like Tinder that made it fun to swipe right and easily match with a stranger. But the introduction of AI technology to the online dating industry could change how people interact yet again, which means that swiping might become a thing of the past.

It’s hard to believe when dating apps are so ubiquitous. But a recent article on NBCNews’ website delved into the potential of incorporating AI into the online dating experience, and how that might change dating culture.

We rely on technology and its advances; it has become a huge part of how we function and communicate, and will continue to evolve. As one researcher noted, twenty years ago, who would have thought services like Uber and Lyft could exist, where people virtually asked strangers to give them rides?

Tinder’s new CTO Maria Zhang has her work cut out for her: she’s tasked with making the popular dating app Tinder more engaging for users around the world, and moving away from the mindless swipe the app introduced. She also wants to create a better user experience specifically for female Tinder users.

According to a feature in PC Magazine, Zhang hired a team of female developers to help her craft new premium features and make Tinder more inclusive for users in other countries, who don’t meet or date people in the same way Americans do. She also opened a satellite tech office in Silicon Valley in addition to hiring staff for the L.A. headquarters.

Online dating algorithms have gotten a lot of attention (and criticism) because they’re the basis of how matchmaking works. Many dating apps are secretive about their matching process, but traditionally, algorithms match people on the basis of profile information, questionnaires, and user preferences.

But according to a recent article by Gizmodo, online dating companies can collect more information about their customers through analyzing user behavior, which includes what users do on social media as well as on the dating app. Companies are now starting to use this behavioral data for matchmaking purposes rather than relying on profiles and user preferences.

eHarmony, Match and OkCupid are known for their long surveys and profile questions, which they maintain helps them more accurately assess potential matches. But dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and LoveFlutter prefer mining users’ social media streams, bypassing questions and looking to online behavior.

Since the company launched in the late-nineties, eHarmony has branded itself as a more serious online dating service, focused on helping users find relationships and cultivating a different reputation that popular hookup app Tinder.

The company has long prided itself on this distinction, but in the process, has also fallen behind fast-growing apps like Tinder and Bumble who cater to a more tech and social media-saavy audience. eHarmony’s strategy to attract new users has focused primarily on TV advertising, an old school approach, but now they are ready to move forward and capture more users via social media ads.

“When I became CEO a year ago, there were a number of things that needed changing,” said eHarmony’s Grant Langston in an interview with Digiday. “The apps, communications and design all felt antiquated — it was like we stopped working on the product in 2010.”

The San Francisco Bay Area lives and breathes tech. As home to the iconic companies of Silicon Valley, and a mind-blowing number of plucky startups, there are few places in the world with a more unabashed love of all things that come with the digital age.

Naturally, that extends to dating. Countless dating apps and websites call the region home, helping its tech-savvy and time-strapped residents find love despite their busy lives. The latest to join their company is Belong, a smart dating app that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to curate personalised matches and social experiences for accomplished singles.

Belong makes the bold promise that it’s “reinventing the modern dating experience.” The app becomes smarter the more you use it, allowing the machine learning mechanism to provide hyper-targeted matches and date suggestions designed just for you.