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Several of Japan’s largest companies have turned to an AI dating app to help their employees find love during the pandemic.

According to Kyodo News, about 800 companies have signed up to offer the app Aill goen to employees, with the aim that they will be happier and more productive workers if they are in a good relationship. Companies are also hoping the dating app will provide a way to help employees who might be struggling with their mental health, since they have been unable to physically interact with others because of lockdowns.

The pool of matches will be limited only to participating company employees, providing a level of safety and accountability for users of the app. Aill goen is being offered to employees as part of their benefits package at work, according to Kyodo News. 

Exploring your options and being “consciously single” top the list of dating attitudes going into 2022, according to a new study by dating app Bumble.

The company conducted a survey of its members to find out where they stand on dating compared to before the pandemic began, and to identify new trends and practices as we head into the high season for dating app users. The first Sunday after New Year’s has typically been the busiest day for dating apps, and Bumble expects this year to be no different. Rival dating app Tinder also expects Sunday January 2nd to be the busiest day for online dating in 2022, specifically between the hours of 7pm and 10pm.

Yahoo! News noted the highest volume of messages sent over dating apps in the US are typically exchanged from the first Sunday in January and throughout the month, tapering off before Valentine’s Day.

Match Group announced that the company will go carbon neutral by March of 2022 thanks to its purchase of offsets to carbon emissions, leading the way for dating apps to address issues of climate change.

The company announced the move in a press release, noting that it commits to offsetting its carbon footprint going forward, though the offset purchase made lasts only two years. Match Group invested in Hyundai Green Power Corporation, which captures and recycles waste gases to generate electricity through its Steel Waste Energy Cogeneration Project. (The site’s steel mill reuses waste gases and what remains is used by the project’s power plant.)  

When that energy is repurposed, it supplies power to the local grid in Dangjin, South Korea, instead of that grid relying on fossil fuels. This means a reduction of 1.8 million tons of carbon emissions per year, according to Match Group. 

Bumble says that singles are turning to dating apps more than ever, evidenced by its recent finding that over a billion matches were made on its app in 2021, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.

The dating app also shared that over 9 billion messages were exchanged globally, up nearly 40 percent from 2020, showing that dating app usage during lockdowns wasn’t a temporary thing. Rather, once restrictions lifted, people were more eager to login to the app and start looking for matches as well as virtual date, and were also eager to use dating apps to get back out there and meet matches in real life.  

Bumble said that the highest number of message exchanges were between October and early November, just prior to the holiday season. It’s also worth noting that this was just prior to the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid, which has led to global lockdowns and restrictions once again. Still, the company doesn’t see things slowing down as we enter into dating’s “high season,” between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.

The Bumble Shop

Bumble is moving into the online retail business by opening its first store and selling Bumble-branded apparel.

The Bumble Shop will offer a collection of t-shirts, hats, sweaters, accessories and games, according to WWD, and will be available for purchase at shop.Bumble.com. Featured items will include a varsity sweater, a bucket hat with the company’s tagline of “make the first move” in the lining, pronoun keychains, and a Question Game card game to help people connect by moving past small talk and into deeper conversations.

The Bumble Shop partnered with retro California lifestyle brand Aviator Nation to offer custom limited edition items as well, including the Ninja Hoodie, Ninja sweatpants, and Classic Truck Hat. These will be co-branded and available for purchase on the new site. Bumble plans to offer new collections quarterly, and Aviator Nation is its first clothing partner. Multiple sizes are available as well, ranging from XS to 4XL.

Tinder just debuted a new ad campaign in time for the holidays, one of the busiest times of the year for dating app users. The company hired creative agency Mischief@NoFixedAddress to appeal to young Gen Z daters, its target audience.

According to The Drum, the new ad tagline is “you’re not for everyone,” and highlights in a funny way some unusual passions of singles that not everyone will find endearing. The ad is meant to assure its users that no matter how unique their interests are, there will always be someone who’s into the same things.

The first ad features a woman doing astral projection from her living room floor surrounded by candles who loses her zen focus when a roommate wanders in.