Features

Verifying your account on POF.com

POF recently added a new feature that affects all members that use the website to access the Plenty of Fish dating service. Members are now required to verify their account by providing their mobile phone number. When a member logs into the POF.com website they will see the page with the following request:

Please Verify your Account

We need to send you a text to verify that you're human. To help keep your account safe, we'll keep your number in case we need to re-verify you and make sure a stranger isn't trying to login. Don't worry though, that's all we ever use your number for.

So once you enter your number and click the "Get Started" button POF will then send you a text with a code which you enter in Step 2 of the verification process.

Late in 2018 eHarmony was acquired by the German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 (Parship Elite Group). Since then they have been busy working on a large update to eHarmony which went live on November 4^th, 2019. With this update came the closure of Compatible Partners which now redirects to eHarmony with the following message:

A fresh experience is waiting for you. Log in with your existing credentials or register now to discover what‘s new.

So, it looks like current members have nothing to worry about as all active member accounts have been moved over to eHarmony so all you need to do is log in with your existing information.

Image: Bumble

Bumble is fighting ghosting once again – this time with a marketing campaign whose launch coincides with Halloween.

“Ghosting” is a dating term that refers to two people who have been messaging or seeing each other, and one suddenly stops texting or returning calls, leaving their date to wonder what happened and why they “disappeared.”

The tie-in with Halloween is clever but ghosting itself can be very painful for those on the receiving end. Many daters have experience with ghosting and know how it can ruin the dating experience to be left in the dark. When someone is ghosted, it’s easy to assign blame and make up stories as to what happened, or worse – they can lose confidence as they consider how they might have fallen short - which is counter-productive to finding the right person.

If you’ve ever wanted to star in your own personal dating game, you’re in luck. The Meet Group has announced the launch of NextDate, a livestreaming dating game that lets users of MeetMe and Skout take on the role of a contestant in a speed dating show.

The patent-pending dating game offers a modern twist on a familiar format. As in a classic television dating competition, the user interacts with potential matches while being watched by an audience — except the user gets to choose who their matches are and, instead of a live studio audience, the game is watched in real-time via livestream. The Meet Group’s gamified take on speed dating allows streamers to add comments, use a rating system called the Love-o-meter, and take their romantic chances with any contestant who is currently playing NextDate.

Hinge CEO Justin McLeod

Image: Hinge

Justin McLeod, the founder and CEO of dating app Hinge, has delved further into the mechanics of finding people their perfect match: this time, by launching a new dating lab.

Hinge differentiates itself from dating app Tinder, also one of Match Group’s dating apps - namely by helping people get off the app and into relationships. (Tinder on the other hand is always looking for app stickiness, recently by launching its own interactive series Swipe Night to attract younger users.) McLeod’s philosophy is different: he doesn’t use social media himself, and while he wants to provide a way for people to meet via his app, he also wants them to put their phones down and engage face-to-face.

Tinder’s hit interactive series Swipe Night proved to be a wildly successful marketing strategy. As a result, the popular dating app will be debuting the series internationally in February 2020.

According to The Daily Dot, Tinder users have been “flooding” social media during and after the game (which can be seen from 6pm – midnight every Sunday), comparing their choices and discussing what happened. Tinder has also revealed that they’ve seen a “significant uptick” in user engagement since the series debuted. CNN Business reported that total matches on the app rose 26 percent on Sunday nights. Messages between users also rose 12 percent.

As a result, Tinder decided to take the series worldwide. It debuted in the U.S.