Dating Services

Match Group announced the launch of its new gay dating app Archer on June 1st, just in time for Pride month.

According to Tech Crunch, Archer is a “social-first” dating experience specifically for gay, bi and queer men. The app is distinguishing itself from other gay dating apps like Grindr and Scruff by offering traditional social media features within the app.

For example, the app has interest tags that you can search, making the search process easier and allowing filters to be set. Free-form tags will be available post-launch, so users can customize their own interests. Most similarly to social platforms, users can follow one another, paving the way for similar features. (There are plans down the line to add a Stories feature, too.)

A new user survey from Hinge found that memes were fast becoming the best way to show affection for a match, as well as to display your personal sense of humor.

Almost three-quarters of the 2,000 users Hinge surveyed said they used memes to find out if they share a sense of humor with a match, and 60 percent said they want to get a sense of someone’s “meme humor” before going on a date, according to Mashable.

A vast majority – 93 percent – say that memes reveal a potential partner’s sense of humor, and almost as many consider a shared sense of humor an important factor in a relationship. And if you are worried about what meme to send or what someone’s sense of humor is like, don’t stress: 36 percent of daters said they feel more interested after receiving a meme from someone, even if they don’t think it’s funny.

According to a new study from Tinder, Gen Z singles say that they are changing a lot of the norms surrounding dating and relationships that were popular with previous generations.

The Future of Dating Report found that 75 percent of Gen Z respondents feel that they are challenging these norms that were “passed down to them,” according to Mashable. Tinder also noted that Gen Z, specifically users aged 18 to 25, make up more than half of its user base.

For one, Gen Z daters choose to respond quickly to messages as opposed to previous generations who would delay for fear of looking too eager. Instead of waiting for “the perfect time” to respond, 77 percent of Tinder users now respond to a match within 30 minutes, and 40 percent respond within five minutes, according to Relevant Magazine.

Bumble is expanding its suite of apps with the acquisition of Official, an app that helps people improve their relationships through check-ins and date planning, according to Fast Company.

Networking and friendship building are already part of Bumble’s platform, and Official adds to the mix to encourage couples to better communicate and set intentions in their relationships.

Official will remain a standalone app for now instead of being folded into Bumble’s app, though CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told Fast Company that there were opportunities for the two platforms to “collaborate.” Couples who met on another app will also be able to sign up for Official, which means joining Bumble’s userbase. With the addition of Official, Bumble is seizing on an opportunity to keep people on its platforms even after they’ve met and formed a relationship.

Dating app Tinder announced it will be removing social media handles from user profiles and has revised community guidelines to prevent users from advertising and self-promoting. It will also request that users not share private chats in public settings.

The dating app company said in a press release: “Tinder is not a place to promote businesses to try making money. Members shouldn’t advertise, promote, or share social handles or links to gain followers, sell things, fundraise, or campaign.”

Self-promotion has become an issue on its platform according to Engadget. To curb this kind of behavior, the company said it will be removing social handles from public profiles and prohibit the sharing of other promotional information such as links to online stores or websites.

Image: Bumble

Bumble has launched a suite of new self-care badges and prompts in time for Mental Health Awareness Month.

The new Profile Prompts and Interest Badges help people highlight and talk about their mental health and self-care practices, according to the company’s press release. The Profile Prompts are available in Date Mode, and users can select from two: “My mental health game changer was…” and “I’m prioritizing my mental health by…”

The new Interest Badges are intended to highlight what self-care is important to a user, and potentially spark further conversation. These include badges for Therapy, Mindfulness, Deep Chats, Nutrition, Sleeping Well, and Time Offline. These badges can be removed or switched out at any time for other interests, and users can add up to three at a time to their profile, according to Bumble's release.