It is undeniable that two years of pandemic, quarantine and all kinds of restrictions have had a huge impact on the dating industry. There was a period when the entire field of online dating, with a turnover of more than $6 billion, still found itself on the brink of collapse due to the fact that users stopped actively getting acquainted online, as they were uncomfortable with future real life meetings. Fortunately, the situation quickly bounced back, and now it’s even better than before.
Interestingly, during the pandemic, many people began to value their own time more. Nobody wants to go on pointless dates, waste evenings on useless and monotonous messaging, or endless swipe in apps that ultimately lead to nothing. This is a paradox, because many people had an abundance of free time during quarantine.
We decided to study some of the current trends in the field of online dating and at the same time tell you how to save time in search of a soulmate in our current reality.
New trends in online dating and how they are changing the dating industry
According to the popular Bumble app, more than half of internet users currently have a positive view of online dating as a phenomenon. Before the pandemic, there were much fewer of these. But there are both positive and negative consequences in this trend.
- Plus point — more people interested in meeting people. The audience of many services has increased significantly. Moreover, these are representatives of all age groups — from young people to older people. And this is definitely a huge advantage.
- Minus — a tougher search and the difficulty of choosing the perfect mate. This minus directly follows from the plus. The more people on the site, the more difficult it is to find the person who suits you best. As a result, the choice is huge, but you also have to spend more time looking for really interesting potential partners.
The solution to the problem of overabundant users is to use niche dating sites
Audience interest in niche platforms for online dating has skyrocketed over the past few years. Yes, the audience here is much smaller than on Tinder or Badoo. But finding like-minded people and those with the same interests is much easier. For example, Tindog — a dating app for dog owners, or Vegetarian Dating — a dating site for vegetarians.
There are actually many examples. It is these platforms that help save a lot of time and let you communicate only with those people who potentially suit you best. Try them and see if you like them!
The goals of users of dating sites and apps became more clearer and more understandable
Before the pandemic, there were many more dating platform users who didn’t really understand what they truly wanted. Some registered simply out of interest, others just wanted to find new friends, and others were looking exclusively for a partner for sex. This was always a problem, because when starting to communicate with a new person, you could not predict what they wanted from your acquaintance. And they also did not understand what you were expecting. The result — wasted time and completely different goals.
During the pandemic, the situation began to change. More and more online dating sites offer users the chance to indicate their own goals: friendship, relationships, sex, just communication, etc. Moreover, people can indicate what they expect from others. This is a great time saver for everyone and helps find common ground faster. This trend even got its own name — hard-balling.
Many experts have already spoken about this tendency. For example, bioengineering scientist and relationship expert Logan Urie, speaking at the BBC, said the following: “Because people spent too much time alone, now they meet more purposefully.” He explained that people have become more honest to themselves, as well as to other people. They are ready to speak plainly about their goals and preferences, value openness more and become open themselves. This is a positive tendency for society as a whole, not just for the online dating industry. The time savings are obvious!
Random video chat is suddenly super popular again
In a sense, this point continues from the previous one. In video chats like Omegle and its counterparts, users’ goals are clearer. First of all, there’s a desire to communicate with interesting people, to talk on topical topics and, possibly in the future, to elevate this acquaintance to a new level.
Omegle video chat and its alternatives have a very important advantage over classic dating sites and applications. There’s a significant time saving. Here you do not need to view dozens of profiles, like, swipe or endlessly exchange text messages. You just go to the video chat page, and the system immediately picks a chat partner for you.
Of course, Omegle video chat is hardly ideal. There are many disadvantages and technical problems which, even after years of existence, have not been completely fixed. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to Omegle: ome.tv, chatrandom.com, omeglealternative.com, bazoocam.org, monkey.cool and others.
Their advantages over Omegle include:
- gender and geographic filters in most of them
- a mobile application for convenient communication
- more thorough search for chat partners by interests
- modern design and pleasant interface
If for some reason you haven’t used random video chat apps until now, just dating sites and applications, we strongly recommend that you fix this. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by this format, and it will save you a lot of time!
Are all the trends completely positive? Not really!
Against the backdrop of positive and important moves in the dating industry, we found one very negative one. This tendency has even been called Benching. To describe it as briefly as possible: people are looking for new acquaintances with the prospect of a romantic connection, while being in an existing relationship.
One of the reasons for the Benching trend is that many couples, having been imprisoned within four walls for a long time due to quarantine, suddenly realized that they were not suitable for each other. At the same time, they do not want to split up here and now, just to start looking for an alternative by trying to find a potential new partner on the web, getting to know each other, communicating, and so on.
This is a serious problem, because this sort of relationship can exist for months and sometimes even years. Everyone suffers from this, wasting precious time on uncertainty and trying to figure out what a person really wants.
Hopefully Benching will become a trend of the past and will be eradicated completely very soon. Otherwise, it will continue to wreak havoc on the dating industry and spoil the dating experience for ordinary users.
And finally: 7 simple tips to save time on a dating service
- Fill out your profile with as much detail as possible and add fresh photos. This will help other people get to know you better immediately.
- Don’t make text messaging the basis of your communication. Try to move to video calls as soon as possible, or at least phone calls.
- Never give false hope to a person if you understand that your relationship will not work out 100%. By doing this, you only waste their and your own time.
- Be more categorical. Make a list of character traits and interests that your soulmate should have. This will also save time in the future.
- Don’t postpone the live meeting. The longer you delay, the less likely this meeting will take place at all. Today, restrictions aren’t as strict as they were. You can go to a restaurant, cafe or movie together.
- Remember the 3-5 message rule. The bottom line is that usually this number of messages is enough to understand that the person is not suitable for you. If your correspondence is too boring, strange or even unpleasant, do not waste time on it. Nothing good will come of it.
- Remember to be careful. The Internet can still be a dangerous place, where there are scammers and blackmailers, and many more dubious personalities. Therefore, do not neglect the elementary rules of safe online communication.
And finally: try all kinds of dating sites. The more services you use, the higher your chances of success become. We wish you good luck in your search and only the most promising encounters on the Internet!