The 2014 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll was closed for voting in January (it ran for almost 4 months). The 2 question poll received 359 votes. The second question is about which dating service you think deserves the 2014 Single's Choice Award for a Free Dating Site. For the first time the candidates included a service available only as a dating app, which is Tinder. A dating service is eligible for this award if it has already been reviewed by Dating Sites Reviews and, all of its main core features are free. This includes creating a profile, searching for members and communicating with those members by sending messages. If any of these features require the member to pay to use or are severally hampered (unless the member pays) then we don’t consider the service to be free.

The recipient of the Single's Choice Award for a Free Dating Site in 2014 is Plenty Of Fish (POF). This is the sixth straight year in a row that Plenty of Fish (POF) has won this award but, this year was the closest race yet. Tinder was within 4% of the total vote in taking the top spot. In 2014 POF received 99 votes which is 27.5% of all votes.

Here are the final results of the poll:

1. Plenty Of Fish (POF)
2. Tinder
3. OkCupid
4. DateHookUp.com
5. Meetup
6. Mingle 2
7. Craigslist

The top 3 dating services received almost 75 percent of all votes. It only took 22 votes to make the difference between first place and third.

Read our review of PlentyOfFish.com for more information about this online dating service or visit Plenty of Fish directly.

The recipient of the Editor's Top Pick - Over All Award for 2014 is Match.com. This is the eighth straight year that Match has won this award and been our Editor’s number one choice for a dating service.

There are a number of reasons why Match continues to succeed and see double digit membership growth year over year. Match’s concentration on continuing to improve their mobile products is one reason (and why they are the recipient of our new Dating App award). One of the other reasons is that their service is really easy to use. From uploading photos (on average 3.6 photos for women and 2.8 photos for men) to sending out messages Match.com has found the right balance between features offered and ease of use.

Match is also not afraid of trying new ideas. In 2014 they introduced Major League Baseball team fan pages on their site which not only gives you the latest news on your favorite team but it helps you to connect with other fans. Another idea that is popular is the MatchMade Scholarship. This is a program with a budget of $50,000 which was setup for children whose parents met on Match. Which is a lot of children by the way, since 1995 Match.com matches has resulted in over 1 million babies.

Read our review of Match.com for more information about this online dating service or visit Match directly.

This Year's Runner Up for this award is: Plenty of Fish

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us and eHarmony has decided to have a free communication weekend to celebrate the lovers holiday. The event runs from Thursday February 12th to the end of day on Monday February 16th.

Valentine’s Day is dreaded by some and welcomed by others. It doesn’t matter which of the categories you fall into as we are in the internet age, so finding a potential partner has never been easier. Dating services like eHarmony are just a few clicks away on your laptop and thanks to smart phones you can now join these services via dating apps wherever you happen to be.

eHarmony specializes in long-term relationships. With their advanced matching system and in-depth research eHarmony is in a unique position to offer member’s very high quality matches. Thanks to their commitment to finding what makes love tick, on average 438 marriages happen every day in the United States because of matches made by eHarmony.

To join all you need to do is sign up as a free member (no credit card is required). From there you need to take the eHarmony personality test which includes multiple choice questions designed to help the matching system to determine who your ideal matches might be. Doing these 2 steps requires about 45 minutes of your time but it is well worth it. Once completed you then will receive your first batch of matches. You can then review your candidates to figure out which ones you would like to communicate with. With free communication events the following features are not included: secure call (a phone service), profile photos, and skipping the guided communication process to go straight to email .

For more information on this service and how the dating site and app work, please read our review of eHarmony.

This month, Tinder began rolling out its new premium service Tinder Plus in select European markets, and the feedback hasn’t been good.

The popular dating app surged to the top of the online dating market when it launched in 2012, attracting users who had never thought of signing up for an online dating site. Its easy-to-use format and free game-like service offered more entertainment than dating stress, and users flocked to check it out.

But in an effort to make money from this hugely successful endeavor, it was only a matter of time before Tinder’s owners developed a paid model for the app – opting for a premium service over adding distracting in-app advertisements. (Although the company has strategically lent its brand to marketing campaigns, like Gillette’s facial hair survey and Domino’s Pizza Valentine’s Day campaign.)

But Tinder Plus has not been greeted favorably, at least in its initial roll out – and the free service is suffering as a result. Although Tinder Plus is not set to launch in the U.S. until March, and prices are still to be determined, the company needs to find a new strategy - considering the backlash it has gotten in markets where the roll out has already taken place, such as the U.K. Tinder users who are not opting to pay for Tinder Plus and want to stick to the old free version of the app have been leaving bad reviews in the iTunes store (enough to drive the free service’s rating down to one and a half stars).

The problem has to do with new restrictions to the free service. Once a user has swiped a certain number of times, they are blocked for 24 hours from seeing any new profiles, unless they want to pay for the new Tinder Plus service. Since most users log in to Tinder multiple times a day to swipe through matches, this puts a serious hindrance on Tinder’s competitive advantage. Other dating apps that have restrictions on the number of profiles a user can see per day – like Hinge - have been easing up on their requirements, and seeing a surge of new downloads as a result.

With all the promising new free apps coming on the market, such as Bumble (started by an ex-Tinder employee), Tinder will need to think outside the box to keep its market share. After all, any online dating app or site’s currency is their user base. If Tinder loses theirs, then they stand to lose a lot more than the revenue from the premium service. Perhaps they should stick to advertising deals, or instead of taking away features from loyal users, offer more enticing new features.

Valentine’s Day can stir up a lot of emotion for singles. The holiday is pervasive –there’s the mountain of chocolates and pink hearts on display when you walk into your local grocery store, not to mention the bouquets and presents being delivered to your work colleagues as they squeal in delight.

Maybe you wonder: why is it that a Hallmark-manufactured holiday is still around, making couples spend money they don’t have and making singles feel like uninvited party guests? Sure, some people are now calling February 14^th “Singles Awareness day,” but does that really help the situation?

There are a few ways to buck the holiday – or at least, try to have some fun in spite of it. Instead of getting frustrated or venting with your friends about your single V-Day, try one or some of these to have a little fun:

Throw a party with your friends. There’s nothing stopping you from celebrating Valentine’s Day without a romantic partner. Why not acknowledge the love you have for your group of friends? They have been there through it all, so it’s good to recognize this. Grab some fondue, some wine and cheese and make it a night to celebrate!

Take a spa day. Why should couples have all the romantic fun? Treat yourself to a little TLC and splurge for a massage – maybe throw in a scrub or a facial, too. The point is – pamper yourself. There’s no reason you can’t have love for yourself on Valentine’s Day.

Host a dinner. If you’re not into throwing an informal party, invite a few friends over and try your hand at cooking a fabulous meal. If you’re not a chef, then see if one of your friends wants to pitch in or pick up some food from your favorite local spot. Then serve in fancy dishes around your table to make the night special. The point is to cultivate love.

Call a friend who’s far away. Not really feeling social? That’s okay, too. But if you choose to spend the night at home watching rom-coms in your pajamas, it might make you feel worse. Try calling your old friend who you talk to maybe once every couple of years. There’s nothing more meaningful than telling someone how much they mean to you, no matter how far away.

Volunteer. Valentine’s Day is a good time to acknowledge how much we have in our lives, and to share love with others. Do you love dogs? Try walking them at a local shelter. If you want to work with people, try reading to kids at your library. There are lots of opportunities if you look around you. In fact, everyone should look into this for Valentine’s Day, whether or not they are in a relationship.

The point of Valentine’s Day is to spread love, right? So let’s start with it in our own lives.

As the East Coast braced for the horrific storm that was about to descend on them the evening of January 26^th, single folks apparently took to their dating apps for comfort.

Hinge, a dating app that matches based on your social media circles, reported that its usage rate that day was plugging along at a normal rate, when suddenly at about 3pm East Coast time - the time officials were warning residents about the upcoming storm -  activity on the app exploded, even if the actual snowstorm fell flat. 

According to Hinge’s figures, the app experienced an average of 4.75 logins per user on Monday -- a record for the app. “‘User sessions’ (the number of times an individual logs into the app) increased by 27 percent during peak hours, and activity on the app increased by 22 percent overall on Monday,” according to The Huffington Post.

There’s no doubt about it: anticipation at the thought of a free day to play motivates singles to see if they can connect with someone. "Who wouldn't want a playdate on a snow day?" Karen Fein, Director of Marketing at Hinge told The Huffington Post.

Unfortunately, the giddiness daters felt about having a snow day didn’t last.

The app noted that activity calmed down by about 10pm – perhaps because the storm wasn’t as bad as the weather reporters made it out to be, and users were wondering if they would return to work the next day instead of having a snow day. 

Or perhaps some of them had connected after all, and were getting to know each other instead of hanging out in the confines of their apartments.

It would be interesting if Tinder also released its own stats about whether or not it experienced a surge in activity in anticipation of the storm, or whether online dating sites in general had record numbers of logins, messaging, or emails sent.

It might help that this is one of the busiest times of year for online dating – New Year’s Day through February 14^th (Valentine’s Day), so the threat of the storm gave daters a little extra push to get out there and meet someone, even if it would be in two feet of snow. Or perhaps it’s entertaining enough to just flip through photos when you’re bored, or send texts to guys you haven’t yet responded to and clean out your inbox.

Whatever the case, don’t wait for another storm to hit before you login to your dating app. See who you can meet now.