Communication

A recent study by OkCupid has found that above all else, singles want to know where people stand politically, and more specifically, if their matches’ views align with their own.

According to OkCupid's blog post, 6 in 10 women around the world want their partners to share their political views. In the U.S. which has become more divided since Trump took office, that number climbs as high as 70 percent. More than half of Gen Z men and women want to share the same political views, as do 63 percent of Millennials and 64 percent of Gen X daters. Among LGBTQ daters, that number goes up to a whopping 80 percent.

According to OkCupid, today’s singles are more interested in where someone stands on issues like climate change or reproductive rights, rather than something benign like where they last went on vacation. And if their politics don’t match, it can be a dealbreaker.

Tinder Dating Handbook

Image: Tinder

On International Women’s Day, Tinder announced the launch of Her New Dating Rule Book, a guide to challenging dating norms and traditions for singles in India.

According to Mashable India, the new guide offers new “rules” for dating today, including who should foot the bill on a first date. Traditionally, it’s been the man, but Tinder says that dating dynamics are changing, and young women in India embrace a more progressive, less traditional approach.

One of the first rules of the guidebook states: “Respect Over Outdated Gender Roles, a.k.a. Chivalry 2.0,” to highlight the fact that young singles are looking for mutual respect and dates who keep promises over outdated notions of chivalry, like expecting a man to pay for a meal. And 36 percent surveyed said they value dates who give their full attention and put the phone away on the date.

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Tinder has partnered with food brand Knorr to encourage users to highlight cooking skills on their Tinder profiles. A whopping 93 percent of Gen Z Tinder users find a date’s ability to cook attractive.

According to Design Rush, the new campaign encourages Tinder users to “unlock their green flag” by touting their ability to cook in profiles and hopefully sparking conversation. Knorr is also helping Tinder users get inspired by offering recipes and cooking tips on TikTok and Instagram leading up to Valentine’s Day under the campaign hashtag #UnlockYourGreenFlag.

According to the joint press release, Knorr and Tinder conducted a study of users to find that 63 percent are more likely to swipe right on someone with cooking listed as interest. And about 28 percent of singles said they won’t consider dating someone who can’t cook.

The Democrats have launched a new series of ads on dating app Grindr to appeal to young LGBTQ+ daters, in hopes of turning out more votes ahead of election day on November 5th.

According to The Advocate, the targeted ads focus on the Republican party’s Project 2025, emphasizing that the document threatens LGBTQ+ rights. These ads urge people to vote against the extremist agenda. One ad says: “Project 2025 Rips Away Our Rights. Stop Republicans. Make a plan to vote at IWillVote.com.”

The Kamala Harris campaign has spent three figures on the ads, indicating the importance of the LGBTQ+ constituency to her success.

In time for National Coming Out Day on October 11th and Spirit Day on October 17, a new report was released by GLAAD in partnership with eHarmony that explores the way dating apps intersect with how the LGBTQ+ community shares their identities and sexual preferences.

The report details how non-binary, trans and LGB+ daters express (or don’t express) themselves and their preferences over dating apps, and their differences in experiences on these platforms.

Overall, Gen Z daters have been much more likely than previous generations to come out on a dating app. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z daters came out before they were 18 years old, and 93 percent came out by age 22, compared to only 40 percent and 76 percent of Millennials, respectively.

Gay dating app Grindr has been hinting at its development of an AI wingman, but now the company is officially testing an initial model, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ interview with CEO George Arison included more details on the AI wingman, which will keep track of a user’s matches and make conversational suggestions based on messages they have had with other users. The AI bot will even recommend matches with long-term relationship potential and suggest places where they could meet.

According to Arison, down the line, the AI wingmen of Grindr users will be able to chat with each other so they can offer a “robust view” of a match before the user decides to meet in person. “Bot-to-bot conversation not only saves the humans time, it might also spot dating deal-breakers early on,” he told WSJ.