Author: Pamela Lugten

Global Love Report – October 27, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

While dating app may be popular right now, some people are feeling fatigued with them. That’s why would-be matchmakers are helping singles to find new ways–using modern tech–to find a match. Some are using Twitter to help others find a match.

Katherine D. Morgan’s twitter thread invited other singles to reply with a picture of themselves and a short bio of who they are and what they’re looking for.

The result? Several actual real-life dates for singles in her hometown, a long-distance meet up, and a short relationship. And the Twitter thread is still active.

Another means of helping others find a match is through email. Randa Sakallah created an email newsletter that features one profile of a single person currently seeking a match every week.

Aside from the usual information such as name and the type of person they’re looking for, Sakallah also asks “random” questions that reveals more about each single’s personality.

One professional dating coach, Alexis Germany, is matchmaking on TikTok. She introduces singles on her TikTok and invites people who are interested to contact them directly on the person’s Instagram account. What’s more, her popular TikTok matchmaking series (that she does for free) is a great tool to market her business.

Originally published by MIT Technology Review. Read the Full article here.

(Image source: Unsplash, Solen Feyissa)

Global Love Report – October 20, 2021
Translated by Pamela Stephanie

No festivals, sunny holidays, parties or concerts this summer. For many people it was a boring time, but students Idwerd (22) and Kiban (22) from Zeist had plenty to do. They were busy organizing blind dates for fellow residents from the Warande student complex in Zeist.

Making calls for participants, conducting matching conversations, matching people together, and planning blind dates. For two months they were busy trying to make this project successful and they did it. “In the end we were able to match 54 people. There were 27 dates in total,” says Idwerd de Graaf, the creator of the blind date program.

Door-to-door

A lot of things happened before this. It started with an ad on Facebook but there weren’t a lot of responses. That’s why the two have approached this in a different way, says co-organizer Kiban van den Heuvel. “The cheapest way to get people excited was to go door-to-door. We went to 180 homes in total to ring the doorbell and to ask if people wanted to go on a blind date. Every house had between five to ten students living there, so you can imagine that it took us a while to do that.”

It took some time and effort but it paid off. Idwerd saw the registrations pour in and then the matching interviews followed. “In 20-minute conversations we tried to create a profile of everyone, in order to make good matches. It was super fun to do. It was also very nice for us to meet our fellow residents during the pandemic.”

Corona-proof Matching

The interviews were all held on the bench next to the roundabout near the student complex. “This way, we were safe in the open air and everyone can openly talk without roommates being around.” 54 matching interviews didn’t happen in a week, says Kiban. “There were days where we sat on the bench from nine in the morning until nine at night.”

Lukas Krabbenborg (20) has lived in the flat for 4 months and thinks the blind dates is a fun way to meet new people. “Last year I started studying at the beginning of the pandemic. I was still living with my parents so a student life was out of the question. After a year, I found that I really missed social contact very much and I moved to Zeist. The blind date program was a fun and exciting way to meet people from the flat.”

Lukas noticed that there was a lot of desire to date in the flat. “Everyone that I talked to was eager to meet new people again. The people who are single in particular missed the parties and clubs where you normally find a date. Even though a romantic relationship wasn’t the outcome for me, I did meet new people who I chat with when I bump into them.”

Developing Identity

That it’s important to meet new people in your student years is confirmed by Susan Branje, Professor of Pedagogical Sciences at Utrecht University. “Dating and relationships are an important aspect for developing your identity for students. By dating you find out what you find important in a relationship and who would be a good match for you. As a result, you also learn a lot about yourself.”

“In addition, student life is precisely about meeting new people. You start a new education, in another city, maybe you move. Corona made it difficult to build new relations. We have seen that this group [of students] have been very lonely in the past year and a half. That’s why I think this initiative is very positive. It shows that you can still meet new people in a creative, corona-proof way.”

Idwerd and Kiban hope that they will not have to organize blind dates in a corona-like situation in the future. But they have become enthusiastic about matching people up. “Who knows, maybe we’ll do it again next summer.”

Original article published by RTV Utrecht.

(Image source: Unsplash, Matt Reames)

Global Love Report – October 20, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

Met@Chabad have hired new Jewish matchmaking-hopefuls to join their team. Met@Chabad is a program by Chabad Young Professionals International. CYP International wish to create a “values-based dating system” that will bring young Jewish professionals together.

Among these matchmakers is Tzippy Friedman, co-director of Chabad Young Professionals in San Francisco. Tzippy Friedman describes herself as someone with a passion for matchmaking, however, lacked the resources to do so. Fortunately, she and a few others have joined Met@Chabad’s team of matchmakers.

Because these new matchmakers aren’t professional matchmakers by trade, they are being trained by an experienced shadchanim (matchmaker) on how to become a professional matchmaker. After they have completed their training, they will receive their certification and would start working with their “clients”.

Originally published by COLlive.

(Image source: Unsplash, John Schnobrich)

Global Love Report – October 20, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

Matchmaking fees in fourth and fifth-tier cities in mainland China have skyrocketed in the past five years.

In China, the singles population exceeds 200 million, which is fertile grounds for the matchmaking industry. Chinese media have found that business is thriving in the fourth and fifth-tier cities, especially in the rural areas.

Recently, local media found that the pricing for matchmaking agencies in the city of Huangshi, in Hubei province, have quadrupled compared to five years ago. The per capita disposable income of urban residents in Huangshi is 37,912 yuan (close to US$5,900). For rural residents, it’s 16,549 yuan (around US$2,500). The highest introduction fee can cost as high as 20,000 yuan (around US$3,100).

Clients for matchmaking agencies in Huangshi live within the area, however, some also worked in larger cities such as Wuhan and Shanghai. Female clients on average have a college degree at the minimum, with some being top students with a Master’s degree.

Original article published by HKHeadline.

(Image source: Pixabay, Tumisu)

Global Love Report – October 13, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

A Japanese travel company has decided to open their own matchmaking service called “Konsuru”. The service itself is unique because the matchmaking process is equivalent to planning a trip or marriage journey.

The aim is to have a “tabikon” or a travel wedding.

Clients will be given a “getting married ticket”, which will represent their first step into their marriage journey.

They will then create an intinerary for the “marriage journey”. This is where a professional matchmaker will help them plan their matchmaking journey as if planning for a trip. The matchmaker will ask the client about their preferences. They will also ask what their ideal wedding is like.

Each time a client pays to extend services, they will earn “miles” as a gift. These miles are equivalent to 5% of their monthly fees. They can be used as discount coupons for any additional matchmaking services or on the travel website owned by the parent company.

And when clients eventually marry, they will receive a passport that will help them save money for a trip. And a travel agent will help plan for the client’s honeymoon if the clients wish to.

To read the full article in Japanese, click here.

Original article published by PR Times.

(Image source: Pexels, Asad Photo Maldives)

Global Love Report – October 6, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

Japan’s Single Mothers’ Support Association has partnered with Clef du Mariage matchmaking agency. The Association is based in Yokohama and has approximately eight thousand members. It provides support for single mothers in terms of finding a job, networking, and even businesses owned by single mothers.

To mark the Association’s partnership with the agency, an event will take place at the end of this month. The aim of the partnership is to help members remarry within one year, to fulfill one of the pillars of the Association: “the happiness of remarriage.”

Because single mothers are often too busy juggling work, housework, and child rearing, it’s often difficult for them to find someone to date and eventually marry. Therefore, the Association decided to partner with Clef du Mariage to start a members-only service.

The agency will help members find matches who are aware of their single-mother status and willing to date.

For the original Japanese article, please click here.

Original article published by PR Times.

(Image source: Pexels, Ketut Subiyanto)