Match Group

Washington D.C. has increased its National Guard presence since the riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and these troops are turning to Tinder to find love while they work.

According to Newsweek, there have been reports on TikTok that Tinder has been flooded with photos of men in uniform, which is highly unusual for the Washington D.C. area. While these officers are sharing photos in their fatigues, they are also sharing interests like traveling and video games, according to Newsweek.

People are taking to social media to point out this trend, noting how many more military people are showing up as potential matches. In fact, some users in the DC area said the majority of profiles they see are members of the National Guard. Even a reporter for Sports Illustrated noticed the increase in these profiles.

Some female Bumble app users are purposely matching with Trump supporters to identify participants in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and then promptly turning them into the FBI.

One Twitter user posted that she had seen dozens of rioters using dating apps in the DC area and wondered whether it would be useful to law enforcement to gather evidence from these platforms. Immigration Attorney Allison Norris responded, saying her friend was already collecting evidence against them: "She's matching with MAGA bros and they’re bragging and sending her pics and videos of them in the Capitol," she tweeted. “She's sending them to the FBI." 

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder released its annual report The Year in Swipe, and found that while the pandemic dominated the year, dating apps benefitted with an increase in subscriptions and user activity. 

While many singles were stuck at home they chose to connect virtually, with messages and swipes up by double digits compared to back in February, according to Inside Hook.

“Travel” was the most-used term this year, especially around March and April when the first lockdowns began and people had to cancel their plans. Also popular in 2020 were pandemic-related ice breakers, with many using the phrase “quarantine and chill” and discussing mask wearing habits and protocols with their matches.

Recipient
OurTime

The Editor's Top Pick - Senior Award recipient is OurTime. This dating service matches singles 50 and older together and is run by People Media (which is owned by Match Group) who have been in the dating business for almost 20 years. It is one of the larger seniors oriented dating service in North America and is popular in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe as well.

The OurTime service can be accessed from their website and dating apps (for Google Android and Apple's iOS). Which ever device you use to access the service, you will find that OurTime makes it easy for those new to online dating to quickly get searching and finding other members that spark their interest, and get them to reach out to communicate with. OurTime doesn't reinvent dating but keeps it simple to use while still having all the features one would expect of a dating service.

Dating app Hinge has rolled out some impressive new features to help users connect with matches who spark their interest, and to help them engage in conversation.

According to Adweek, the app is offering new visuals that don’t resemble a traditional dating app, intended to capture the attention of its users – specifically, hand-drawn illustrations of people, dogs and plants in a color palette of purple, green and red. These illustrated characters will also offer users prompts and tips for starting conversations. Hinge intends to create more warmth and fun to the dating app experience, which they feel will help users connect. 

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder partnered with star rapper Megan Thee Stallion for its “Put Yourself Out There” Challenge, a way to encourage Tinder users to be more authentic in their profiles. 

The promotion is helping users gear up for online dating’s most active day, the first Sunday in January also known as the dating Super Bowl, where people flock to dating apps looking for a new relationship. The campaign is to encourage people to revise their profiles to be more creative and to showcase their unique personality traits, according to Fast Company. Tinder is offering $10,000 to 100 users in categories such as most personality, most creative, most original, most real, and others.

To enter, participants must take a screenshot or video of their new profile and post it to Instagram by December 31st, tagging @Tinder, #PYOTChallenge and #contest.