Social Networks

Millions of people are turning to TikTok to get ideas for what to do on a date or to spice things up with their partner. TikTok’s newest viral dating craze is Alphabet Dating, where a couple goes through the letters of the alphabet to create out-of-the-box date ideas.

Instead of letting things get stale (and doing the same thing over and over), TikTokers are posting their Alphabet Date ideas to help inspire others. For example, if you start with the letter A, you can imagine places to go or things to do that begin with the letter A, like visiting an aquarium or doing an archery session, as website Bustle notes. Then the next week, you look for “B” activities like bowling, bike riding, or playing board games. And so on until you go through the alphabet.

Partners can take turns coming up with ideas each time they plan. The idea is to go through the entire alphabet as inspiration to keep things fresh, new and exciting.

Image: eHarmony

Gen Z daters are used to meeting people via dating apps and social media platforms, but many are turned off by influencers and certain online behaviors, according to the latest study from eHarmony.

The online dating company surveyed 2,000 adults across the U.S. and found that growing up in the online era of smartphones and social media had an impact on the dating attitudes of Gen Z. The study also showed how their attitudes towards dating and relationships differed from Millennials.

For example, 57 percent of Gen Z respondents said they’ve met at least half of their romantic partners via dating apps or social media. The study (local copy) also found that turn-offs for Gen Z daters were often social-media-related. Forty-two percent were turned off by bad taste in memes, 32 percent said regular use of GIFs turned them off, 38 percent said influencers, and 31 percent said not having an active social media presence at all.

Bumble is testing its BFF (Bumble for Friends) service as a standalone app for finding friends, according to Mashable.

Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz (for career networking) have been features on the main Bumble dating app for a long time, and now Bumble intends to spin BFF off into its own entity. The new app is being tested in the UK and select Asian markets, according to confirmation from Bumble. And according to Tech Crunch, though Bumble couldn’t confirm specific countries where it’s being tested, the app is also available in Australia, New Zealand and Philippines for both Androids and iPhones.

Bumble BFF expected to launch in the U.S. this summer.

It’s likely that the dating app’s Bizz service will be a standalone app down the line as well. But for now, the company is focusing on its BFF service, since about 15 percent of Bumble’s active monthly users utilize the feature.

Major Australian news outlet ABC is providing tips for dating app users to prevent scammers from obtaining their personal information.

A report from the Australian Competition Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Scamwatch came out that dating app users lost $38 million to romance scammers on dating apps across the country in 2022 alone, alerting officials to a growing problem. Many dating app users have no idea how easy it is to gather information about a person from what they post in their profiles, so ABC obtained tips from security experts to help raise awareness. 

According to associate professor at Central Queensland University’s College of Information and Communication Technology Ritesh Chugh, scammers don’t need access to a lot of information. If they have a couple of pieces, such as your full name or birthdate, that could be enough for them to do some damage. And even if you aren’t posting this information to your profile, there are ways they can obtain it.

Smitten, a new dating app designed for Gen Z daters, has raised $10 million in its latest round of Series A funding.

According to Venture Beat, investors of the app include Makers Fund, Possible Ventures, and Wonder Invest.

Smitten has gotten attention, thanks to a new study that found it had a post-match success rate of 60 percent, compared to Tinder’s 11 percent – a huge difference to online daters. It is currently the most popular dating app in Iceland and second most popular in Europe, so the new round of funding is in part to help the app expand into new territories and grow its user base.

Smitten has a new take on matching – in addition to sifting through profiles, it has added games to help young daters interact in more engaging ways. If you are interested in someone’s profile, you can start with a questionnaire game called Guessary, where you can guess how the other person answered a series of yes and no questions and get immediate feedback on whether they are correct. If you like how they answered, you can like and match with them and take it from there.

Meta announced it will be shutting down Tuned, its app designed for couples, in mid-September. As of the end of July, it is no longer allowing new users to sign up for the service.

Tuned was launched in April 2020 when Covid lockdowns were taking place around the world. It was positioned as a dating app to help couples better communicate by giving them a platform to exchange notes, photos, voice messages and videos, as well as share music via a Spotify integration. Tuned also let users set their moods and supplied a “check-in” feature with prompts so they could have a starting point to talk about their feelings.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to connect with couples. Tech Crunch pointed out that the platform was removed from Facebook Dating and other Meta platforms, which could have impacted its success.