Statistics

A new study from Harvard University found that when people use dating apps, they are 2.7 to 16.2 percent more likely to have an eating disorder than those who don’t use the apps.

Researchers from Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health reported that those who used dating apps were more likely to abuse laxatives or use “unhealthy weight management practices,” according to a report from CNBC regarding the study.

Dating apps like Tinder and others feature photos prominently, with users swiping left and right based on how a potential match looks. This points to why dating app users might be more self-conscious about their bodies and try unhealthy tactics to lose weight.

The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker - who would fare best on a dating app? A recent study conducted by The Inner Circle analyzed the occupations of 5,000 popular users based in Los Angeles, New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Sydney, and Toronto to discover which jobs are most likely to attract potential mates. The findings suggest men and women don’t always seek the same qualities in a match, and that including certain job titles in your profile could significantly boost your desirability.

Women in finance and medicine scored major points across continents. In London, New York and Toronto, female members working in the financial sector received the most right swipes. Women in the medical profession came out on top in Amsterdam in Los Angeles. Ladies in Paris and Sydney proved to be outliers. France’s notoriously stylish capital preferred women working in the fashion industry, while Sydney singles favored women in marketing roles. Other popular industries for women included entertainment, travel, hospitality, law and consulting.

Last week MillionaireMatch reached 4 million registered members making it one of the largest dating services of this type. With hands on moderation of every new profile to make sure standards are met (all are manually reviewed within 24 hours), along with the ability for members to verify their income and profile image (once verified they are marked with a badge) makes this dating service one of the more popular choices for wealthy singles.

The Unicode Consortium, otherwise known as the gatekeeper of emojis, has introduced interracial couple emojis to their growing lexicon of inclusive choices. The new emojis will debut later in 2019, in large part thanks to dating app Tinder.

According to Mashable, when the new emojis debut, you can choose from a mix of different skin color and gender combinations, including interracial same-sex couples, depending on your preference. The combinations provide a total of 71 new couple variations. Until now, the only couple or group emojis available has been the default yellow emojis.

Tinder advocated for interracial couple emojis back in early 2018 with its #representlove campaign. The company had already made efforts to be more inclusive by offering a range of gender and sexuality preferences people could include in their dating profiles, so the emoji campaign was another way to advocate for and appeal to its userbase. Tinder introduced a petition to Unicode after gathering 50,000 signatures, making a case to add the new emojis.

With the launch of Match.com in 1995, the search for a partner was irrevocably changed. Technology, business and society have radically transformed the ways we meet, communicate, date, fall in love, get married and break up. The dating industry has experienced tremendous growth as an increasing number of consumers use the internet to seek love and the social stigma for doing so disappears. There are now around 2,000 dating services in North America and an estimated 8,000 around the world.

According to the market research firm IBISWorld, the dating sector grew by 11.9 percent over a five-year period to reach revenue of $3 billion in 2018. In the same timeframe, the number of businesses has grown by 1.0 percent and the number of employees has grown by 5.6 percent. Mobile dating applications now account for nearly a quarter of industry revenue, and their growth has rapidly outpaced that of other dating services.

Match Group - parent to Match.com, Tinder, OkCupid and others - remains a dominant force in the industry. The company brought in $1.7 billion in revenue in 2018. Tinder contributed nearly half of that ($805 million) thanks to the incredible success of its premium subscriptions. As of January 2018, Statista listed Tinder as the most popular dating service for US singles in the coveted 18-29 age range. Plenty of Fish (also owned by Match Group), Match.com, and OkCupid followed.

Online dating is a fast-growing trend thanks to apps like Tinder. But does our ease with swiping, messaging, and moving on have further implications in our culture, including changing the way we interact with one another?

According to website Mashable, studies on dating app behavior point to a distressing trend. On the one hand, online dating has helped to bridge people from different social circles who used to rely on friends and work colleagues to introduce them to future love interests. Now, we can login to a dating app and start swiping.

However, it’s become so easy to swipe that dating apps have become a game more than a way to connect. You see how many people you can match with by endlessly swiping right. You meet someone for drinks to see if they look as hot in person, but if you’re not blown away with chemistry, you can easily move on. There’s no effort needed, and this is becoming a problem for people who are looking for more serious relationships.