Profiles

Binging on Netflix has become a social occasion, with friends gathering together to watch their favorite shows and movies in the comfort of home. Now, Tinder has proposed that online dating can be a social occasion, too - and like Netflix, experienced via your TV.

This past December (notably in time for the holidays), the company launched Tinder for Apple TV, which allows you to search for dates on the big screen, presumably with your friends gathered round to comment. The tvOSapp for Apple TV allows you to swipe left and right on potential dates on the big screen to make it a group activity. Perhaps while you’re opening presents or eating turkey and pumpkin pie with your family?

It’s the same Tinder as the version that lives on your phone, but available for display so your friends and family don’t have to squint or pass your phone around to give you their opinions.

“With a new, swipeable remote control and the world’s hottest app now in HD, modern dating is taking a page from the age-old book of matchmaking,” reads the Tinder announcement of the new tvOS app. “Let’s face it—the people who know you best have traditionally had a high rate of success when helping you pick a partner.”

It’s no secret that online daters place a lot of importance on how their potential dates look, swiping left and right based on profile pictures. As it turns out, beauty is only part of the equation. Smarts count, too. For many online daters, the level of education you’ve attained matters – as long as it matches theirs.

A recent study by Queensland University of Technology found that online daters tend to select partners who have completed the same level of formal education; in other words, like attracts like.

Researchers studied the interactions of almost 42,000 online daters from Australia with a large age range, from 18 to 80. They gathered data from participants using the dating site RSVP.com during a four-month period in 2016.

Tinder might have gotten a lot of action in 2016, but according to a recent article in The Washington Post, niche dating apps are poised to get more attention this year.

Research from online dating sites and apps have shown that the biggest increase in memberships and activity occur from New Year’s Day through Valentine’s Day. It’s the time when the most people are looking for love, or at least a few dates. Traditionally, people have gravitated to the bigger sites like Tinder or Match in the hopes of having the widest pool of daters to choose from. But this year, people are looking for new ways to connect.

Part of the problem according to the Post is that dating apps don’t necessarily lead to users getting more dates. It’s easy to swipe endlessly, but that doesn’t seem to translate to meeting in real life. In the past year, poor and flaky dating behavior has left a lot to be desired, and daters are increasingly frustrated.

Dating apps have provided a great way for people to connect, but along with the positives, the downside to dating apps still looms large - users aren't necessarily safe when they are meeting new people.

Dating app users can become easy targets for sexually predatory behavior. The question of security in online dating has once again entered the news headlines, thanks to the conviction of Stephen Port, a UK man who was accused and found guilty of killing four men he met through gay dating apps.

Port met his victims by catfishing them through various dating apps including Grindr, posting fake profiles and avoiding using any real details about himself, encouraging them to meet in person before drugging their drinks. 

It’s election season, and one thing is certain: there are different attitudes, habits, and priorities among people living in different regions of the United States. But it's not just about politics - some regional differences hold up in other parts of life, including dating habits and preferences.

Online dating service Badoo recently surveyed 1,000 of its users across different regions of the U.S. to compare and contrast their dating habits, taking into consideration age, gender and sexuality.

Some of the findings include:

Selecting your Gender on Tinder

Last month, Tinder rolled out a new feature for its popular dating app that provides daters with more gender options to complete their profiles. Following a similar move by OkCupid, Tinder users will be given more options than just “male” and “female” when selecting a gender.

By selecting the “More” option, users can choose between almost 40 identities, including “non-binary,” “transgender woman,” “transgender man,” “transmasculine,” “agender,” “two-spirit” and “other.” Users can also write in their own gender identity if none of these options apply.

According to website Slate, this was a move forward by Tinder to reach out to the trans community, who have reported being discriminated against and harassed on the app. Trans users were frequently reported as “spam,” or accused of trolling on the app, typically by other users who weren’t happy to be matched with someone who was trans. As a result of this false reporting, trans users often found themselves unfairly blocked, as Tinder didn’t have the capacity to thoroughly verify each complaint.