Match

Do dating apps kill the romance of dating, or are they actually helping bring more people together? A lively debate on this topic was held the night of February 6^th in New York, with a panel of experts arguing for and against the motion: Dating Apps Have Killed Romance.

Let’s face it, if you’ve tried online dating, or had a friend who’s dabbled in it (more than 49 million Americans have), chances are you’ve heard a few horror stories. This was the focus of the argument from Eric Klinenberg, co-author with Aziz Ansari of the book Modern Romance, and Manoush Zamoroti, podcast host and journalist who argued for the motion. Citing stories of dates and relationships gone wrong, they argued that not only have dating apps killed romance, they have killed civility among daters. Ultimately, apps have changed the dating culture, and not for the better.

They argued that online dating specifically breeds bad behavior, because people are able to hide behind a screen – or worse, they have stopped interacting or knowing how to interact in real life. Zamoroti gave an example of one of her podcast listeners walking into a bar and seeing a line of single men ordering drinks and swiping on Tinder, ignoring the people around them completely. Plus, some online daters have become emboldened to send lude messages online, which makes the experience even more painful and depressing for other daters.

Recipient of Gold
Match.com

Recipient of Silver
eHarmony

Recipient of Bronze
OurTime.com

The 2018 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll was launched on October 1st, 2017. It ran for 3 months and then closed for voting on December 31st, 2017. 393 people cast their votes in the poll. The first question of the poll asked:

What paid dating site or app would you recommend for the Single's Choice Award?

Voters could choose 1 dating service from a selection of 10 of the top dating services in 2017 as selected by the Editor's. For this award the top voted dating service for the above question receives the Gold, second place gets Silver, and for third Bronze.

The recipient of the Gold 2018 Single's Choice Award is Match.com. Match received just over 27% of the votes cast in the poll which is 95 votes. This is a strong showing as it is 7% more votes when compared to last year and almost 5% more votes than our Silver recipient this year.

The recipient of the Silver 2018 Single's Choice Award is eHarmony. This popular dating service gathered 75 votes which gave it over 19% of the total votes cast. This is 5% more votes than in the previous year and 6% more votes than the Bronze recipient of this year.

The recipient of the Bronze 2018 Single's Choice Award is OurTime. This niche dating service for singles 50 years and older received 51 votes which is almost 13% of the total votes cast. This is the first time that OurTime has been a Single's Choice Award winner which is to be commended especially for a dating service that doesn't cater to the entire single pool.

Here are this year's standings for the Single's Choice award for all dating services in the poll:

Alexa can play music, tell you the weather, make phone calls, create to-do lists, read the news, shop for groceries, suggest restaurants, request an Uber, order pizza, tell jokes, translate languages, book vacations, control your smart home, talk to your cats, help prepare dinner, find your lost phone, check if you’ve been hacked, and that barely scratches the surface of the 15,000+ skills now available on Amazon’s virtual assistant.

With so many consumers now relying on these voice-activated devices, dating services are wasting no time in jumping on the trend. eHarmony launched its own Alexa skill last October, while Plenty Of Fish opted to join forces with Google Home instead.

Match is the latest to get in on the game with Match First Date What Ifs, a skill designed to turn Alexa into a digital wingman.

Valentine’s Day is approaching, which means more news stories about the prospects of finding love online. Dating apps have changed the romantic landscape in recent years and offered more opportunities to meet new people, but have they really helped daters meet their ultimate goals?

On February 6^th Intelligence Squared U.S., a non-profit organization which encourages thoughtful discussion and debate, will be hosting a live debate from New York City: "Swipe Left: Dating Apps Have Killed Romance."

In a nod to the complicated state of dating today, the keynote will be delivered by Daniel Jones, longtime editor of the hugely popular New York Times’ essay column ‘Modern Love.’

Think you can meet someone special without downloading a dating app? New research from UK’s luxury lingerie and swimwear retailer Figleaves shows that online dating is important if you want to find love.

January has been cited as “peak season” for those willing to try online dating. Match Group who own popular dating app Tinder expects a 63% increase in messages exchanged among its users. And many more singles will be joining dating apps and swiping left and right throughout the month, including those who have never downloaded a dating app before.

There are many myths out there about online dating, so we’ve decided to look to some statistics to separate fact from fiction. Here’s what recent studies have proven:

Add dating to your list of New Year resolutions, because chances are, you’ll meet someone in January.

Online dating has a high season, and it seems the spirit of the holidays all the way through Valentine’s Day puts people in the mood for finding love.

A study by dating site Match revealed that more than any other time of year, people flock to dating sites between December 26^th and February 14^th. The numbers are telling – 50 million messages sent and 1 million dates happen during this time, and Sunday January 7^th is apparently the busiest day (and the best time to join – specifically 8:55pm EST).