Stories

Dating app BLK has launched a new ad campaign in support of black women, encouraging them to be their “authentic selves.”

The “New Year, Real You: #RealNotPerfect” campaign launched in January. The ad was created by Arxna in conjunction with BLK’s in-house marketing team, according to Black Enterprise magazine. The campaign is meant to encourage black women to be their authentic selves in all areas of their lives - professional, educational, and in their personal/ dating lives.

BLK also intends the campaign to challenge societal expectations and to create a “safe space” for black women to express themselves without fear of judgment, according to Black Enterprise.

Drew Barrymore quipped that she was “going off” dating apps after being catfished by a man who claimed to be an NFL quarterback.

According to US Weekly, the actress revealed the story on The Drew Barrymore Show in late January. She noted that he messaged her saying he was the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.

She told her audience that she was excited to meet because she was a football fan, messaging him that she went to the team’s first practice game. She also wrote that she was “frustrated being a girl from Los Angeles who loves football” at a time when L.A. didn’t have any teams, and now they have two.

The U.S. State Department has issued a warning to international travelers to avoid using dating apps when traveling to Colombia. The warning comes after a series of eight deaths in the country were linked to dating apps.

According to CBS News, the deaths took place in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, and resulted from a forced overdose and suspected homicides. Other incidents have taken place in Bogota and Cartagena, according to reports. Though the deaths themselves do not seem to be linked, they all involved the use of dating apps luring travelers to meet.

“Numerous US citizens in Colombia have been drugged, robbed, and even killed by their Colombian dates,” the embassy said in its notice. The embassy also noted that many crimes like this go unreported, as victims are too embarrassed to contact authorities.

Image: Tinder

Tinder has debuted several new graphics and video spots to appeal to Gen Z daters in a new global ad campaign launched this week.

The campaign rolled out in time for “Dating Sunday,” or as some call it, the Superbowl of the dating app industry. The first Sunday of January is the busiest day for dating app traffic and companies like Tinder expect this year to be no different.

According to AdWeek, Tinder has reported the number of messages sent across the app surges by 22 percent on Dating Sunday, and likes increase by 18 percent. Dating app’s busiest season extends from Dating Sunday through Valentine’s Day, when people are making New Year’s resolutions to find love.

Image: Hinge

Hinge is launching a million-dollar social impact fund called One More Hour to help encourage people to meet in real life in response to the loneliness epidemic. The fund will offer $10,000 to $25,000 grants to 501(c)3 groups in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York to develop “fresh, free/low-cost and recurring in-person connection opportunities” for young adults, according to Fast Company.

The idea is to get people engaging more with each other in real life and not just online. The program is intended to fund events that will be organized and ongoing, so that people will feel more encouraged to show up and see what happens.

Hinge’s social impact director Josh Penny told Fast Company that social clubs stand out as a way to combat the loneliness epidemic because of “their welcoming, low-pressure nature.” He adds that telling people to hang out in person doesn’t necessarily work, that you need to offer the structure and support to encourage people to do it.

Image: Bumble

Bumble For Friends, the signature dating app’s standalone app that focuses on helping people find friends, has debuted new AI-based features.

The app announced one new feature dubbed “Plans” which helps users organize a meet-up in real life, and lets them invite up to 15 people. They can create public or private plans from the app, according to Tech Crunch, but the private plans require the planner to send invitations to specific members in their network.

The feature resembles the MeetUp app, where you can organize an event and invite members of your group to attend. Bumble offers options to grab coffee, eat out, do a workout together, “something outdoors” or a night out. Then you can make it public or private, and the last step is choosing the friends from your Bumble network to invite.