Online Dating

Tinder who? Dating app Hinge has been on a slow climb uphill, but is gathering a lot of momentum as it goes. The app has broadened its reach beyond the initial major cities, which helped build not only its user base but also its brand as a serious competitor to Tinder.

This month, the app also made Time Magazine’s “Top 10 apps of 2014,” beating out the sensationally popular Kim Kardashian Hollywood despite the fact it made $100 million this year alone. (Tinder did not make the list.) Time took a dig at Tinder, noting: “Hinge sparked a flame in 2014 as it spread to more and more cities around the U.S…[Its] matchmaking connects to your Facebook account to foster friend-of-a-friend connections, a novel concept in a sea of dating apps that prioritize immediate, nearby and mostly anonymous relationships.”

Now Hinge is launching version 3.2, and due to audience demand is starting to change some of its policies, allowing for greater access to matches. Instead of providing potential matches once a day at noon, you can now view them at your convenience throughout the day. (I’m guessing this is to get people to log in more than once a day as opposed to creating a daily traffic jam.)

Hinge is also offering more matches per day. Unlike Tinder which provides an endless array of matches whenever you log in, Hinge is more particular, mostly because it has a more limited network to pull from – namely, your Facebook social circles. In order for Hinge to match you, you have to have a Facebook friend in common. (This probably encourages users to add more Facebook friends to their network, too.)

The app began in Washington D.C. and made its way to major cities including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hinge has further expanded its territories in recent months – adding St. Paul and Minneapolis, Omaha, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Denver, Seattle, Houston and Austin.

According to a recent article in Wired, the company has experienced 500% growth since January. While it isn’t doing Tinder’s numbers in terms of downloads and number of matches per day, the company feels its more measured growth is a better indication of its potential for long-term success.

What is in store for Hinge in 2015? On December 11th, the company announced that it raised an additional $12 million, which will help its expansion into even more cities, including its first launch into international territory in February, when it debuts in London.

Hinge is definitely a dating app to follow. For more details on this dating app you can read our Hinge review.

Tinder only launched in 2012, but already new apps are trying to make its popular “hot-or-not” visually-based format a thing of the past. TrueView, a new location-based dating app wants its users to take dating a little more seriously.

TrueView is based out of London, and its founders advocate a switch from Tinder to improve not only your dating experience, but your odds of matching with someone at all. As many people as there are logging on to Tinder regularly, TrueView points out there are 998 million rejections daily.

The app works more like a social media platform than a traditional dating app. Similar to an app like Zoosk, TrueView logs a person’s actual behavior while using the app so users have a better, “truer” view of who they really are. Users are encouraged to share things they love to do (while they are doing it), discovering people who have similar interests. The app has a “stuff to do” section which lists events, clubs, restaurants, sports and concerts in your local city. The “news” section keeps you up to date on the things most important to you, and prompts more discussions.

The idea behind TrueView is that you can have a more organic conversation online first to see if you’re interested in someone before you meet him/her – as opposed to just swiping through photos.

True View was inspired by Andrew Ibbotson, one of the founders whose real-life online dating experience left him frustrated. He was tired of the hook-up scene and a lot of matches that led to nothing, spending more time and money for very little return. He wanted to create a better experience for himself, so he teamed up with friends Matt Verity and Damian Mitchell. They came up with the idea of a service that uses what they call "real-time micro-blogging" to make two people meeting feel more organic – and True View was born.

Tinder is still the app to beat, despite all the recent apps who are trying to outdo it, like TrueView. But it seems there is room for a new player, since even the celebrities who made it popular are now starting to turn against it. As actor Sam Smith said: "No offence to people who go on Tinder, but I just feel like it's ruining romance...why would I swipe people who are 'unattractive' when I could potentially fall in love with them?" 

TrueView is betting the people who become disillusioned with Tinder will look to the app for a new experience. While this may be true, it has hit some bumps along the way. According to a dozen reviews in the Google Play store, people are encountering some bugs with the technology, but they have had a few thousand installs so far.

TrueView is available on both iTunes and Google Play. Currently, the app isn’t available yet in the U.S.

Are you online dating? Having a hard time getting to date number two? If so, there are a few things you might not have considered when you’re meeting someone for the first time. With online dating, your friends can’t give you the inside scoop on a total stranger like they could a mutual friend. So it’s best to approach each first date understanding he knows nothing about you – not your sense of humor, your thoughtfulness, your body image. Nothing. Your profile doesn’t reveal nearly enough.

So, it’s your job to take nothing for granted, and try to see yourself through his eyes. He could be paying attention to things you don’t even think about, or that aren’t your priority. And that’s where a lot of misunderstandings come into play.

Guys do pay attention on dates, and they are looking for cues that you’re interested. Following are some things that they notice (and no, it’s not your cute outfit or new heels), based on a survey taken by Women’s Health Magazine:

If you’re on time. Many guys hate waiting on their dates to arrive when they have made an effort to be on time. If you’re late because you’re afraid of looking too eager, you could be missing out on some great guys who think that you don’t care enough to be punctual or let them know you’re running late.

Breaks in conversation. Some guys pay attention to what you do when the conversation pauses. Are you looking around, acting bored? Or are you giving the conversation thoughtful attention? Are you shy, or just thinking of the next clever thing to say? Guys pay attention to your body language as much as anything you say.

If you reach for your purse. Most guys don’t have an issue with paying for a date, but they do appreciate it when you offer.

If you are rude to servers, valet, etc. Maybe you are fun, engaging and warm with your date, but if you start treating waiters or bartenders with attitude, guys will notice. This is a big turn-off.

Your smile. Guys like to know if you’re having fun. Smiling is a sign that you’re comfortable and enjoying yourself. Try to keep an open mind - when you go into the date having an attitude or chip on your shoulder, it’s not sexy.

Attraction/ chemistry. Guys are blunt – they do look at you. They want to know if you look like your pictures, and if they feel a physical attraction. They want to feel a spark of chemistry in order to pursue you. So don’t take it personally if you’re not everyone’s cup of tea. Studies have shown that guys have a wide range of physical tastes – so don’t let one or two rejections stop you from meeting new people. Emphasize your attributes, don’t shy away from being who you are. That is sexy.

How much do people in Indiana love auto racing? So much that NASCAR is the most frequently used word in online dating profiles from the state.

Mashable recently teamed up with Match.com to analyze thousands of US-based online dating profiles and discover how daters differ from state to state. Anyone who ventures into the untamed wilds of online dating quickly discovers the same words and phrases appear over and over again. Surprise: it turns out that pretty much everyone likes all music except country. Yawn.

Tired of feeling like all online dating profiles are the same, Mashable and Match broke down which words are used with relative frequency in certain states, compared to relative frequency in the rest of the country. If you're in the mood for making the most cliché online dating profile possible, find your location on this map and see what daters in your state are most obsessed with.

Here are a few highlights:

• California: desert
• New York: museum
• Texas: oil
• Florida: Disney
• Alaska: cabin
• Georgia: grilling
• Hawaii: surf
• Nevada: casino (duh)

Match and Mashable aren't the only ones who recently delved into state-by-state dating. The dating app Lulu (think Yelp, but for ranking and reviewing men) did some research to find out who the most popular man in each state is. Female Lulu users can anonymously rate men they know on everything from looks, to ambition, to relationships. to, yes, sex. Lulu also recently introduced anonymous messages and questions called "Truth Bombs.”

As you can probably imagine, the app was controversial when it first launched, but Lulu has since cleaned up its image and allowed men to sign up for the service. They can’t rate women, but they can promote their profiles.

The men in this experiment (all Lulu users themselves) were rated on a scale of 1-10 by women who know them. Business Insider reports: “While there are no perfect scores in the US, a man in Texas and a man in Illinois men both received a 9.7 score. Their friends used the following hashtags to describe them: ‘#DoesDishes,’ ‘#RemembersBirthdays,’ and ‘#OneOfTheGoodOnes.’”

All descriptions in Lulu are hashtags, because longer free-form answers could earn the writer an accusation of libel. Some of the top hashtags include #OpensDoors, #CaptainFun, #MakesMeLaugh, #RespectsWomen, #AlwaysHappy, #CanTalkToMyDad, #NerdyButILikeIt, and the simple but effective #NotADick.

For a full list of the winning men, see the original post on Business Insider. For more on one of the dating services that conducted the study please read our review of Match.com.

Our phones are with us all the time, and they can do amazing things. Instagram has allowed us to be amateur photographers, taking pictures of our food, our neighborhoods – and yes, ourselves.

Selfies have become not only popular, but somewhat of a cultural pastime, particularly for teens and twenty-somethings. The power of the camera phone and the fascination with social media platforms that are visually-based, like Instagram, have compelled people to take more photos, documenting every part of their lives. At the center of this compulsion is selfies.

While selfies are meant to be a fun, harmless way of showing your followers and friends where you are and what you are up to, for some people, they have become a bit of an obsession. When you post selfies all the time, what is the impact on your real-life relationships? Does the act of taking a selfie take you out of the moment, preventing you from truly enjoying wherever you are and whoever you’re with?

A UK study from University of Birmingham came out last year that shows selfies do negatively impact relationships. While you might think posting a steady stream of selfies brings your friends and loved one closer to you, giving them access to you moment-by-moment, it actually makes them feel more distant.

As part of the three-year study, researchers asked participants how they felt when they saw different people in their circle - like a close friend, a partner, or just an acquaintance - posting selfies. They then asked them to report on the quality of their relationship with the person posting selfies. They found that participants felt less supported by and less intimate with people who posted more frequent selfies, regardless of their relationship with the person – even their partners/ spouses.

In other words, posting streams of selfies can actually distance you from those you love rather than bring you together.

The good news is you can take a different approach with much better results. It seems that people who are close to you IRL may not appreciate you sharing every little pose and moment with your followers – many of whom might be work colleagues or acquaintances. People close to you want to feel special.

Instead of posting everything you think might be interesting, cute or funny, consider your audience. Maybe instead you can text your partner or best friend the selfie, instead of posting it publicly over social media. Be more choosy with what you share – and consider the impact it might have on your work and personal relationships.

Bottom line: selfies are part of our culture, but they don’t have to tell your life story.

How many potential dates do you think clicked on your profile, only to have their eyes glaze over when they saw your mediocre profile photo? Dozens? Hundreds? Maybe even thousands?

Of course your picture isn't the most important thing, but anyone who tries to tell you it isn't an important thing is either lying to you or lying to themselves. If your photos aren't up to par, you’re putting yourself at a serious disadvantage.

Before you book yourself time with a pricey photographer, know that professional headshots are absolutely unnecessary. All you need is to learn a few online dating photo hacks that make you look like a pro.

1. Go for quality, not quantity. One amazing photo will serve you better than 10 crappy ones. Your priority, of course, should be your profile picture. No filters, strange effects, or bizarre cropping. If you can only manage one photo, nail this. If you can post several, use the selection show off your face, your body, and your personality.
2. Don't be shy. You've seen the profile pictures that are taken from so far away you can barely tell there's a figure in them. And don't even get me started on the pictures of pets. Your profile photo is the time to get up close and personal with your real self. Don't post anything that requires a magnifying glass to verify that you are, in fact, in the picture. And unless you're looking for a mate for your cat (preferably also a feline), it should only appear in pictures alongside you.
3. Practice makes perfect. Camera shyness is totally cool. It happens. Professional models rock it when they get in front of the lens because they have tons of experience under their belts. If you get nervous when the camera comes out, spend some quality time with your mirror. Figure out your angles. Practice your poses. Learn how to put your best foot (or in this case "face") forward.
4. Play make-believe if it helps. Pretend the camera is someone you're flirting with. Imagine the confidence-boosting things they're saying to you. Go ahead and say them to yourself out loud, if you want. Do whatever it takes to get yourself feeling good and, as they say in the biz, make love to the camera.
5. Show off the right side – which is probably your left. Here's a fun fact: a study published in the journal Experimental Brain Research found that the left side is your best side, because it's more emotionally expressive. Is it a foolproof conclusion? Of course not. But it can't hurt to try.