Dating Services

Professional online dating assistance has been around almost as long as online dating. For a fee, you can have someone write or “spruce up” your profile, craft email messages, or help you get more responses for your outreach efforts.

Now, a company called Personal Dating Assistants is taking this business to a whole new level. Men are hiring professional PUAs (pick-up artists) like the team at PDA to help write their online dating profiles and email messages. So if you’re a woman on sites like OkCupid or dating apps like Tinder, that cute guy might not be as clever as you think. A professional could have written that flirtatious email from your online match to help him get laid.

Personal Dating Assistants has been making headlines around the web for offering this new service, but I’m sure they aren’t the only ones marketing PUA business. The PDA team helps daters choose photos, ghostwrite messages, and even scout for attractive women, depending on their physical preferences (i.e. blondes or brunettes?).

The company website explains it like this: “Dating online for men is more than just a numbers game. Locating, and attracting beautiful women is also a fiercely competitive sport, and requires a significant time commitment if you want real results. To win dates regularly, a typical approach isn’t gonna cut it.  For that, you need an industrial strength solution."

This is where PDA comes in, promising to “play the online dating game.” They offer to spruce up your profile and converse with matches (“a la Cyrano de Bergerac”) until the object of your affection discloses her contact information.

The service boasts a high response rate for their creative efforts, but it’s not cheap. Packages range from $380 per month (“Weekend Casanova”) to $1520 per month (“International Playboy”). The company backs its efforts by stating on the site: "After our pimping process, you will be amongst the top tier of men online for response rate %, standing out amid the crowds of commoners.”

The appeal to men is tempting, if for no other reason than they are tired of sending out a disproportionate number of emails to women on online dating sites. This could save them a lot of time and trouble. On the other hand, women aren’t really getting a fair deal. After all, they might think they’re chatting with a charming, likeable and creative guy, but then what happens when they meet in person? And will this be yet another hurdle for women to jump in the online dating game, discerning who is real and who might just be using a PUA service to lure them in?

Dating takes time and requires effort. Cheating the system won’t work in the long run, so guys – I suggest saving your money and using it for your dates.

Have you ever thought about asking out one of your LinkedIn contacts? Maybe the idea of mixing your professional and personal life seems sketchy at best, terrifying at worst. Or maybe you’re already a networker, and have been waiting for a dating app to make things easier when you’re wondering if that new vendor or client is single.

Your new answer is LinkedUpApp.com, an app based on your LinkedIn profile. Visually, it works like Tinder where you see photos and basic information, then you accept or reject your matches. The difference? It's based on your LinkedIn profile, not Facebook. You get to see the more career-focused side of matches – like what they do for a living and where they went to school.

While it could be awkward to run across a work colleague or boss on Tinder – daters who use apps always run that risk – LinkedUp! is willing to bet people want to take those risks. Let's say you send a flirtatious note to someone who could end up being a client or recruiter. Would the object of your affection be offended, or since they are on LinkedUp! is it to be expected that sometimes business connections can get a little flirtatious?

It makes the line between work and play a little more murky, kind of like out-of-town conferences or happy hours on Friday night with your work pals. What do you do if someone rejects your advances, or if you reject theirs? What if you have a one-night stand that ends badly, but you still have to interact professionally? Or does LinkedUp make networking and work in general a little more exciting to know who is single and looking?

Luckily, LinkedUp! has thought of all the awkward ways this kind of dating app could go wrong. Developers have created the app so that you can anonymously like or pass on the profiles you see. Nobody has to be embarrassed the next day at work or wonder how to get past the rejection and have a purely professional relationship.

Obviously, work is a way for people to meet each other. Office trysts happen all the time. LinkedUp! is just expanding that office pool to your career social network.

Max Fischer is LinkedUp’s CEO, and says he got the idea by seeing so many people using LinkedIn as a way to find dates. “LinkedUp! users get a very true sense of who someone is, where they are from, where they go to school and what do they do, giving users a sense of comfort and trust,” Fischer said.

LinkedUp hasn’t revealed how many people are using the app, but it does seem to get more traffic in cities where there are a lot of networking singles like L.A., San Francisco, and New York. The app is currently available only for iPhone users.

With the Memorial Day weekend almost upon us eHarmony let us know that they are celebrating the holiday by having a 5 day long free communication weekend (FCW) for new and existing members. It starts Thursday May 22nd and ends at midnight on Monday May 26th.

What would be better than to start the summer with a new relationship. eHarmony's free communication allows all members to use the guided communication process and send and receive email at no cost and with no credit card required. If you haven't tried eHarmony before, all you need to do is create a new membership account and complete the profile questionnaire on either the website or dating app (Android and iPhone both available). This process takes about 30-45 minutes and is free as well. Once complete you will then receive your first batch of high quality matches which you can review and communicate with if you so choose. FCW's does not include photos, secure call (phone call service), or skip straight to email.

eHarmony’s last free communication weekend happened 2 months ago in March. For more information on this premier dating service that is known for creating long-term relationships you can read our review of eHarmony. For those of you in the UK, here is our eHarmony.co.uk review.

It wasn't long ago that OkCupid urged users to boycott Firefox over its new (and since ousted) CEO’s donation to California's Prop. 8 campaign against gay marriage. But these days, “OkCupid” and “boycott” are appearing in the same headlines for entirely different reasons. This time, OkCupid is on the receiving end of the outrage.

It all started when it was revealed that OkCupid’s CEO donated money to a candidate with an iffy record on gay rights. Then Match.com, also owned by OkCupid’s parent company IAC, hit the news for its less-than-stellar policy towards bisexuals. Now OkCupid is in the spotlight again, this time over its limited gender and sexuality options.

Currently, users may only choose to identify as male or female for gender options, and as straight, gay, or bi for sexuality. The options are limiting for trans* and gender-non-conforming singles who may be forced to mislabel themselves if they want to use OkCupid. The site’s algorithm may then also incorrectly pair them with partners.

On May 2, activist Ryley Pogensky asked queer users and allies to replace their OkCupid profile pictures with a black box, and then to either log out or delete their profiles for 24 hours. He also created a Change.org petition, which has over 1200 signatures and counting.

“With such a strong presence of queer, trans*, and poly folks utilizing OkCupid every day,” reads the petition, “it is extremely limiting on those members to have to fit such rigid gender and sexuality options. Trans* individuals for instance are forced to choose M or F and then Gay, Bisexual, or Straight. These binaries do not fit for all of us and you will see more often than not a paragraph (or more) in these profiles devoted to trying to explain who they are and questioning why OkCupid has yet to catch on. The time has come for OkCupid to take notice of all of its members.”

OkCupid initially responded positively, saying that the changes would "involve a lot of reworking of the site, because we built it in a pretty binary way," but that they "absolutely want to add more gender and orientation options in the future." That was a year ago and no changes have been made, but Pogensky remains hopeful.

"I have made friends around the world using OkCupid and utilize it heavily," Pogensky told Huffington Post. "They are clearly the most capable and willing of all of the dating sites to make a change like this. Staying progressive means that you fight and stand up for multiple minorities, not just the ones that will make you popular to investors."

Online dating has been around for a while. And plenty of couples met over a dating website years ago, got married, and now have children. So it makes sense that one of the most established of these - Match.com - might want to prep the new generation when they start online dating. Why not use Mom and Dad as an example for what really works when it comes to love?

It’s not surprising the company is marketing to a new generation of online daters, considering the growth of the online dating industry. Last year, a report came out from a Harris poll that stated more than one in three American couples that got married between 2005 and 2012 met online.

Match.com was quick to jump on that study, touting its matching services for their own successful couples.

Match.com is one dating site that has stood the test of time, and managed to grow its user base over the years despite the onslaught of competition. This month the online dating giant announced its “MatchMade” Scholarship Contest, a $50,000 program open to kids of parents who met on Match. Launched over 19 years ago, Match claims it has led to more dates, more relationships, and more marriages than any other site. The company also says that over one million babies were “made” because of Match, so the company will continue to positively impact the lives of its members by offering a scholarship to the children of its success couples.

Match’s contest revolves around creative story-telling and social media sharing. The campaign kicked off with a video of young kids sharing their thoughts on everything from marriage to careers and college – but mostly about love and babies. The MatchMade scholarship contest is open to students between the ages of 13-20 nationwide, so it’s targeting an older demographic that will be ready for the dating pool soon.

To enter, students must submit a short video retelling their parents’ Match love story in a creative way - from their first messages exchanged on Match to the moment they knew they were meant for each other. Match will accept submissions through June 30, 2014, after which the company will select a group of finalists. In August, the public will choose the winner by sharing their favorite videos via Facebook and Twitter, and the winner will be awarded a $50,000 scholarship. The parents of the winner are part of the competition, too - they will be given $5,000 to put toward a getaway.

“Success on Match takes many forms, but of course there’s a special place in our hearts for the children involved in our members’ lives,” said Sam Yagan, CEO of Match. “By bringing their parents together, we’ve played a small role in the lives of more than one million MatchMade babies, and now with the MatchMade Scholarship Contest, we’re excited to extend that special relationship to helping those children pay for college.”

What’s one of the biggest reasons online dating detractors say the Internet is no way to meet a decent date?

The high creep factor, of course. And to be honest, anyone who has tried online dating for more than a day would probably find it difficult to totally disagree. Online dating is an incredible innovation, but there’s no denying it comes with its fair share of strangeness.

A little weirdness is either entertaining or mildly irritating, but what if it goes beyond “a little?” That’s where CreepShield comes in, a new service that helps users avoid the creeps and the crazies online using facial recognition technology .

"Criminals often hide behind aliases online, but CreepShield uses facial recognition software to check for facial similarities and brings up potential matches from a database of over 475,000 registered sex offenders," explained CreepShield's creator Kevin Alan Tussy. "We see facial recognition as a tool that can definitely help make online dating safer. While this technology can't identify everyone out there with bad intentions, it's a huge step in the right direction."

To use the service, simply copy the URL of any headshot and paste it into the CreepShield search engine. The photo is instantly scanned against images in a database of convicted sex offenders, looking for a match. In addition to CreepShield.com, there is also a CreepShield Chrome extension if you prefer to research dates on the fly. Once installed, the extension allows users to right click on any jpg, png or gif displayed in the browser and select "Scan with CreepShield" from the dropdown menu.

CreepShield was developed by the team responsible for the extremely controversial Google Glass app "NameTag." The app and its powerful facial recognition technology were big news earlier this year when Senator Al Franken publicly requested that its release be delayed. With that project put on the backburner, CreepShield came to the forefront.

It’s an intriguing idea, and it’s hard to argue with something that could make online dating safer, but the service still has a few kinks to work out. The site’s FAQ stresses that, due to the way facial recognition technology works, CreepShield can’t guarantee its matches. “It is always up to the user to decide whether or not a searched photo contains the same individual as the results presented,” the site reads. And indeed, when put to the test, it seems the searching method leaves something to be desired.

What do you think? Would you use CreepShield to get the deets on a date?