Partnerships

The divide between dating and politics is getting smaller, especially since the 2016 election. Many American daters are opting to put the political beliefs of potential partners front and center when it comes to seeing if there’s a spark. And dating apps are noticing this trend, too.

In September, OkCupid announced its alliance with Planned Parenthood Federation of America to allow its customers to show their political leanings when it comes to female reproductive health. OkCupid is offering an #IStandWithPP badge that shows up on the profile of anyone who has publicly answered “no” to the question “should the government defund Planned Parenthood?” The app’s algorithms will also consider the badge when matching you with potential partners.

But users can choose to keep their feelings to themselves. “When you answer a question on OkCupid, you have the option to make your answer public or private,” Melissa Hobley, CMO of OkCupid, told website Bustle. “Only if you publicly answered that you support Planned Parenthood, then you receive the badge automatically. If you don't want the badge on your profile, then you can mark your answer as private.”

eHarmony New Skill for Amazons Alexa

There’s no shortage of apps and websites to help lonely hearts find love, but there’s only one voice-activated digital assistant playing matchmaker for tech-savvy singles.

Amazon is teaming up with online dating platform eHarmony to launch a new skill for its AI-equipped, hands-free Alexa speaker. eHarmony users who enable the skill will be able to hear their matches and messages by voice, and ask Alexa for more details about their dating prospects.

The ability to access eHarmony matches through Alexa is the latest move by eHarmony to make it easier for people to connect and date in a fast paced world. "Alexa provides a unique, human element to eHarmony," said Grant Langston, chief executive officer of eHarmony, in a statement. "The eHarmony skill for Alexa advises singles on matches who are compatible and sent messages. The eHarmony skill for Alexa also surfaces pertinent information, like location and occupation that some people might gloss over if they are just quickly swiping at attractive pictures. With the eHarmony skill for Alexa, people can focus more on the other elements of a profile by listening to her."

Are you single and do you love to travel? Delta Airlines is hoping so, because it just launched a marketing campaign with Tinder to promote its worldwide destinations to adventure-loving singles.

Delta commissioned artist Andrew Rae and advertising firm Wieden + Kennedy New York to create photo murals of several enviable travel destinations for people to use as backdrops for taking selfies. Rae painted funny and hip illustrations alongside each exotic scene. (The airline commissioned this project specifically in New York.)

The vibrant and colorful backdrops are on a brick building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, so singles can take pictures with their phones, upload the pics to their Tinder profiles, and declare themselves jetsetters without actually traveling to the destinations. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and offers daters a new way of promoting themselves over the dating app.

Office romance? What could go wrong? Dating co-workers is a notoriously risky proposition, and yet, one dating app thought playing cupid in the workplace could be its next big move.

Feeld, a service originally created for threesomes, made the bold decision to launch ‘Feeld for Slack’ - a bot designed to allow employees to share their office crushes in the popular team messaging platform.

To be used, a designated administrator at a company has to install the app. Once it's downloaded, anyone on the Slack team can direct message @Feeld and enter the name of their crush. If the feeling is mutual, both people receive a notification. If not, no one is ever the wiser.

Sudan's Tinder Profile

When you picture your perfect date, they probably don’t have a horn and leathery skin - yet the most eligible bachelor on Tinder currently fits that description. Meet Sudan, the last known male northern white rhino in existence.

In early April, Tinder launched a campaign in partnership with the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya to help save Sudan’s species from extinction. His profile on the app features an image of him tucking into a grassy meal, along with a call to action: “This is the last living male northern white rhino. Swipe right to help him find a match.”

His bio is both humble and humorous (a winning combination on any dating service). “I’m one of a kind,” it reads. “No seriously, I’m the last male white rhino on planet earth. I don’t mean to be too forward, but the fate of my species literally depends on me. I perform well under pressure. I like to eat grass and chill in the mud. No problems. 6ft tall and 5,000lbs if it matters.”

Slack, a popular messaging app used in workplaces to schedule meetings and chat with your co-workers, has entered into new territory. Now, you can date your co-workers over Slack, too.

Dating app Feeld announced its integration onto the Slack platform late April. It works like this: when you download the Feeld app in Slack, you can let the app know who of your colleagues you’re interested in. If Feeld notices your co-worker has admitted to being attracted to you, too, it will let both of you know and you can take it from there (and start your flirtatious messaging over Slack). If your co-worker doesn’t return the affection, he’s never alerted to your interest.

So essentially, you can get confirmation of your crush without him or her knowing.