It all started in the year 2010. Since then online dating services have evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry serving customers to seek out romantic partners. The evolution is still continuing with the rise of online dating sites and mobile apps.
Online dating service is an institution that enables you to find personal connections over the Internet with the motive of developing personal, romantic, or sexual relationships. The matchmaking is done usually through profile-based websites or applications.
All you need to do is become a member of the dating site or app by creating a profile. For the profile-based dating sites and apps, you’ll have to upload personal information including age, gender, and location to your profile. Some services also encourage you to add photos or videos. Then, other members of the platform can view your profile, decide whether or not to initiate contact and vice-versa. The platforms offer additional services such as webcasts, online chat, telephone chat, and message boards.
If you are single, you might be looking for a partner who wants to build a pillow fort and watch movies with you on a lazy weekend. And what better way to find a companion than on dating sites or apps? What are you waiting for? You are just a click away.
The Growing Popularity of Online Dating
Who doesn’t love to experience love? And that too in the most incredible way: online dating. Whether it’s spring, summer, winter, or autumn, any moment of the year is a great moment for romance.
Earlier, people used their friends to play as an intermediary in discovering their significant others. Sorry, friends. Because online dating has come the most popular way couples meet nowadays. But how did this happen?
We, the social beings always have an innate craving for connecting emotionally with people around us. We tend to discover simpler ways of accomplishing tasks that we do in our daily lives. Think about washing your clothes, you have a washing machine for that. What about buying food or anything that you wish right now? You can opt for online shopping. Let’s say you’re tired of working in the office cabin 9-5. Work from home option is there for you. In this instance, online dating provides a simpler route for social interaction.
We are currently living in a generation that was brought up online. Also, it can be hard to meet people when you’re so busy working. You can go through different profiles and send out as many requests as you like in online dating services. So, it has become a much easier way for people to actively date.
Love is always in the air. Dora the explorer said Swiper no swiping, but in case of online dating sites or apps you’ll have to swipe to find your soulmate. What are you waiting for? Get swiping!
Is Online Dating Safe?
It’s a match! Online dating is helping you find your partner in just a click. But is it safe to use?
Online dating is more common among young adults as well as the LGBT community. It is said that as many as one-in-three people are dating online. 57% of online daters fake their profile and lie to each other. Almost 55% have experienced threats and problems while dating online. So, it is quite a matter of concern. However, with protection and proper knowledge, you can make the most out of online dating platforms.
Tips for Online Dating
- Do a simple Google research before meeting your date for the first time. You might find additional information about your date beyond Facebook and Instagram.
- Before meeting your date, video chat with him or her to make sure that it’s actually the same person that you saw in the profile.
- Don’t give out your real number. Rather, get a free Google Voice phone number to check your calls, voicemails, and messages.
- Don’t let your date pick you up in his or her vehicle. Drive yourself or take public transportation to avoid your date from finding out where you live and have control over where you two go.
- Texts can be deceiving sometimes. So, talk by phone before your first date to hear the person’s voice and pick up on his or her verbal signals.
- A public place is the best place to go on a first date. If there is a good crowd, you’ll feel safe. You can invite your best friend or a family member to stay amidst the crowd so that they can help you if something goes wrong.
- Don’t share your personal information quickly. Get to know each other a little better and feel more comfortable before sharing.
- Carry pepper spray.
- If you visit a bar then stay sober. Also, some bars have secret codes that guests can use to let a bartender know that they aren’t feeling comfortable.
The Best 10 Online Dating Sites
Online dating services have been as normal as online shopping nowadays. If you’re a newbie, finding the best online dating sites can be intimidating. There are hundreds and hundreds of online dating services sites out there, so, to make it a little less burdensome, here’s the list of the top 10 online dating sites for you.
Tinder
Tinder is the King of online dating services, dating app. With over 50 million users worldwide and 2 billion views per day, this app is responsible for 1 million dates per week.
Basically, Tinder is the first stop for the newcomers. Profiles are short and sweet that includes name, job, company, education, location, and links to your social media accounts. It might be challenging for you to find a potential partner with a short dating profile. Just go through a whirlwind of profiles and swipe right to the right one for a hookup, friendship, or long-term relationship.
eHarmony
Are you looking for serious relationships? Then, eHarmony is the best online dating service site for you.
eHarmony is a modern matchmaking service that provides quality over quantity. By providing 80 relationship questionnaires, this app determines your core values in relation to others and find love. It suggests pre-written ice-breakers to start a conversation with your match. Although it’s a free app, you need to subscribe at $9.88 per month to get access to your match’s profile.
Hinge
Hinge is itself a newbie on the online dating game block. Initially, this app looked for your potential partner by focusing on your common connections and mutual friends shared on Facebook. Now, it has become a relationship app that lets you to make your profile more engaging than Tinder. You can already find out a lot about your match through his or her profile.
Also, your photos and a one-line bio is not enough to find a match. You must answer three questions of your potential matches and they can like your answers to start up a conversation. As Hinge’s slogan says, “Designed to be deleted, ” this is an ultimate relationship app. So, once you find your match you don’t have to come back to Hinge again.
Bumble
Bumble is a free dating app that empowers women and cuts out the gender imbalance of dating apps. With over 22 million users worldwide, this app is designed to encourage contact. Women have to start the conversation and the men will have only 24 hours to message back before losing the potential dates.
Bumble profiles are not comprehensive. However, this app removes insecure males so that you can have more confident men as your potential matches. Watch out for the overly confident ones though. If you want to make new friends then Bumble also has a BFF feature. You can also upgrade to Bumble Boost to see users who have already liked you at $13.88 per month or $3.10 per day.
OkCupid
OkCupid was the first free dating app to introduce 22 genders and 13 sexual orientation options in 2014. The profiles in this app are more detailed. With over 91 million connections every year, OkCupid is designed to increase compatibility. By answering your potential matches’ questions regarding their personalities, this app will show the Match/Enemy percentage ratio to know your compatibility.
OkCupid and Tinder are owned by the same company so, you can swipe right to the compatible matches. Also, you will get messages from whom you have matched. You can upgrade to Premium if you want to get extra features.
Plenty of Fish
Plenty of Fish was introduced in 2003. This free app asks you to take a special POF Relationship Chemistry Predictor test to measure your self-confidence, self-control, family orientation, and social reliance.
Any relationship can start with love at first sight but Plenty of Fish believes in creating valuable connections. So, if you want to find the person of your dreams, dive into Plenty of Fish.
Full Article: Create a POF account!
Match
Match.com is a free app but it would be better to subscribe in order to send and receive messages. You have to create a detailed profile to find your potential match via criteria search.
Match.com also has the option of zen mode for you to be contacted by the people who meet your criteria. Subscription starts from $16.55 for six months.
EliteSingles
EliteSingles is for the educated professionals interested in a serious relationship. With over 13 million users worldwide, this app uses a 5-factor personality assessment test to match partners based on your compatibility. This app sends manually verified 3 to 7 matches per day. You can also like specific sections of the profiles.
This app offers free basic membership to create a profile, take the personality test, and send likes to potential matches. You’ll need to upgrade to Premium for sending and receiving messages, for leaving comments on profiles, for having access to your matches’ photos and for checking who visited your profile recently.
Coffee Meets Bagel
The name of this app sounds sweet and romantic. Coffee Meets Bagel is definitely for the romantics out there. This free app sends you one match every day which makes it stand out from all the other apps. You need to make the right decision by checking the in-depth profile before swiping left.
However, you have a choice to like a handful of people per day on the Discover tab. If you match, this app will suggest ice-breakers for the first messages. You can upgrade to Premium for getting access to know stats of your match.
Happn
Happn is a great dating app for busy people. This is a free app that matches you with people who are located nearby. If you have a crush on your colleague and he or she also has a Happn account then it would be a dream come true for you. Your crush’s profile will show up at the top of your Happn page and you can send a heart. If he or she sends one back, take your chance and start a conversation.
You don’t have to worry about your location being shared with other users. The app shares your approximate area only. You can also upgrade to Premium for getting access to the list of people who like you.
Are Paid Dating Sites Better?
You might be wondering whether to pay or not to pay for dating sites. It depends on the dating sites that you use. However, it is not necessary to use a paid site to have a better experience. Because you’ll be looking for human connections in the dating sites and not for better features in the app. You can pay and have better functions in online games if you want so. It’s all about the people you chat, meet, and create a bond with.
Both paid and free dating sites are equally popular. But in most of the surveys, free dating sites have better scores. This might be because of the availability of all the features without any constraints.
Online Dating: Pros & Cons
Everything has pros and cons and so does online dating services.
Pros
- Online dating services provide you the opportunity of finding many more potential partners.
- Find your potential match based on personality tests.
- Have a safe and convenient interaction via video call before meeting in person.
- You can meet new people from all over the world in online dating services.
Cons
- Video chat and voice calls are still not enough to know your potential match personally.
- Personality tests may not be accurate for everyone.
- It’s a congested online platform. Lots of potential partners may be confusing and overwhelming to choose from.
- People do lie on their profiles to become compatible.
- The sites can put too much pressure on physical appearance.
What If The Thing You Fear Happens?
Online dating can be exciting as well as nerve-wracking. Sometimes the things you fear happen and you may not know what to do in those situations. It’s hard not to be implicated by all the what-ifs. Just remember that it happens to the best of us.
You like them but they don’t:
Just move on. You can’t force someone to like you. Even if you start a relationship with someone who isn’t into you then that’s going to end up really bad.
They like you but you don’t:
Let them know that it isn’t a match. Be gentle but don’t offer friendship to them. They will move on eventually and find their soulmate.
Your date doesn’t show up:
They may have had some emergency. Contact them. If they don’t respond then it’s their bad. Move on because they weren’t the ones for you.
You can’t come to the date:
Contact them and tell what happened pleasantly. Reschedule your date if they are willing to give it another shot.
In Conclusion
There we go, these are the Best 10 online dating services, which is also called king of dating app. Download any Online dating service you wish and get your match today. We wish you all the best in your life. If you need any guide or suggestion regarding dating apps you can leave us a comment in our comment section.
You can also find the more related articles in ou official website Online Help Guide.
Thank You.