Matching

Female-focused dating app Bumble has been available for free to its users, but now the company is offering a premium paid service for those who want to use its brand new features.

The paid version of the app includes three important features aimed at competing with other popular “tiered” dating apps like Tinder, which also offers optional paid features to help provide a premium matching experience.

Bumble’s first feature, named “Beeline,” will offer its members a line-up of users who have already “liked” them, so they can skip swiping and match with their likes by choosing “yes,” with the intention of making the process more efficient.

It’s no secret that women tend to fare better in online dating than men, at least as far as opportunities. Women receive far more messages and matches compared to their male counterparts, which can be frustrating for guys who are looking for something more serious than a hook up, but can’t seem to get to a match, let alone a first date.

But to be fair, women don’t have an easy time online dating either. They receive many more unsolicited and even offensive messages and texts, including inappropriate photos and abusive or threatening messages, which is why they have to be more selective in who they communicate with.

So, the gap between men and women in online dating has grown even wider, especially with dating apps like Tinder where men can “mass swipe” right on women, hoping to increase their chances of meeting someone special, while women's inboxes are flooded.

Popular online dating service Badoo has announced the release of its latest feature “Selfie Request,” which aims to provide more security for female daters using the service.

The new selfie feature allows women to request a photo from a male user after they have received an initial message, so that they can confirm their potential match is genuine and using a real photo. From there, a male user can either send the requested selfie or decline. (The selfie is taken on the spot to confirm the match is genuine.)

Selfie Request is positioned to help the ongoing problem of catfishing in online dating, where users hide their identity behind fake profiles and photos in order to exploit other users. According to Pew Research Center, 54 percent of online daters have felt that someone misrepresented themselves on their profile. This new feature update from Badoo is intended to help avoid this recurring problem by addressing the online safety of females, who are largely the targets of catfishing as well as the main recipients of unwanted and harassing messages.

Gay men and women are now allowed to search and meet through dating site Christian Mingle, one of the largest niche dating sites in the industry. The site opened its platform to gay users after settling a lawsuit that claimed that it violated California’s non-discrimination law on the basis of sexual orientation.

According to the conditions of the settlement, Spark Networks who own Christian Mingle among other dating sites, will change their homepages to allow users to specify if they are a man or a woman, and also if they are looking for men or women. While Spark also agreed to create a more comprehensive and tailored matching service for users seeking same sex relationships within the next two years, the dating site Christian Mingle as it exists for gay singles can be frustrating.

Wear your politics on your sleeve along with your heart. In the wake of Brexit, a new dating app hopes to bring together British singles who voted to remain in the European Union.

"Why wait until you’re halfway through an evening before finding out your date voted Out?" says the site. “Better Together Dating is a unique dating service for the 48%; for those who know that Britain is stronger within Europe, for those who celebrate the diversity, joy, and love that our great continent provides, and for those with Bregret.”

Better Together has already been hailed as the Tinder take on Brexit. The service is the brainchild of M14 Industries, a Manchester-based startup founded by John Kershaw. Kershaw previously created Bristlr, a tongue-in-cheek dating app for singles with beards and those who love them. Though it was originally intended as a joke, Bristlr took off and how has about 20,000 monthly users.

Could Better Together become the same? Kershaw told The Atlantic that the site was designed to be a way to support the Remain cause, though it’s probably too late.

“We’ve got Europe in our DNA; half my family are French, we’ve got staff here on an EU visa, and some of us are the children of immigrants,” Kershaw said. “I wanted something to cheer us up.”

Several hundred users have joined the site so far, primarily from the United Kingdom. The gender split is 60% male and 40% female, numbers equivalent to Tinder. Better Together’s interface also resembles Tinder. New users sign up with Facebook, and can only chat with people when they have mutually matched or both starred each other.

When it comes to profiles, Better Together is slightly more extensive than its predecessor. Members are asked to answer questions like: “What is your favorite city to visit in the EU?” “What languages do you speak?” and “What countries have you visited in the EU? Tell your favourite story!”

Like many mobile dating apps, Better Together targets a younger market. It’s a smart move for the company, considering that 75% of British citizens between ages 18 and 24 reportedly voted to Stay, along with 56 percent of voters between ages 25 and 49, according to a YouGov exit poll. It could be a sign that Better Together will find the same unexpected success as Bristlr.

As for Kershaw’s favorite creation, he hesitates to choose. ““The beard is less of a deal-breaker,” he told the Evening Standard. “If you had someone with a beard who wanted to vote Leave, that’s probably a no. But someone who wanted to back Remain but didn’t have a beard, that’s maybe OK. But it depends on the quality of the beard and the conviction of the politics.”

For more dating services you can check out our UK dating sites and apps category. Of those Match UK is one of the most popular among singles.

In June, Facebook announced a small change to its algorithm. The platform will now be promoting your friends’ posts in your Facebook feed over news posts from relevant media, publishers and businesses. While this is great in theory because it can cut down the clutter you might not want, it puts a lot of businesses in a bind.

According to an article in International Business Times, more than 50 million businesses use Facebook Pages — from big brands like McDonald’s and Nike to small local businesses and tech startups. They will be forced to pay advertising dollars to reach people over the social media platform and increase visibility, instead of relying on Facebook’s grassroots appeal.

The biggest losers in the new algorithm changes however, are dating apps, because many don't even have the option to advertise. Back in early 2014, Facebook introduced restrictions on the dating industry that required all companies, no matter the size, to be pre-approved for advertising. It was an effort to crack down on dating services that were abusing their advertising privileges with suggestive images and messaging to potential users, because their content could be interpreted as too explicit or inappropriate.

As a result, all dating apps are paying the price. Even traditional and reputable dating apps that boast large followings like Match are prevented from advertising until they go through an application process to be whitelisted. Some dating services that applied over two years ago are still waiting to hear if they have been approved.

The rules for approval and advertising guidelines were decided by committee - a roundtable Facebook held with some of the largest dating advertisers in the industry, including Match and Zoosk.

The basic process is this: after being accepted to advertise, approved dating services have to adhere to certain standards, such as only targeting people 18 and older who list themselves as single and interested in meeting men or women. Sites that have a sexual emphasis are not permitted, nor are dating sites that use any suggestive or pixelated images.

Dating apps like HER, which markets to the lesbian community but is a platform for forming friendships as well as dating, was affected negatively by the new policies. In fact, 30% of their users are in relationships, but they use the app to find groups of friends with similar interests. HER is not allowed to advertise to these users over Facebook, only the single users.

More dating apps as a result have been turning to Twitter and YouTube for advertising their services. While Twitter doesn’t allow explicit advertising, their platform is less restrictive for dating services overall. And this might change the way dating services appeal and market to potential customers, as they leave Facebook to spend their ad dollars on other platforms.