Author: Pamela Lugten

Global Love Report – September 8, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

The number of domestic marriages in Korea may have dropped by almost 13,000 compared to last year. But it doesn’t seem to deter matchmaking agencies in Korea. Duo, one of the largest matchmaking companies in South Korea, is actually seeing an increase in membership of about 33% compared to last year, according to its CEO, Park Soo-kyung.

In fact, the number of members who match and would eventually marry has shown a growth rate in double digits.

Park mentioned that in March and April of 2020 the company’s performance was very low yet by July, it actually bounced back. Park believes that the idea that family is what matters is the reason why their business managed to rebound. She mentioned that it’s also because meetings and communal activities were limited so the number of people looking for a match has increased.

Park also noted that the reason why her company can be so competitive is because of the matchmakers. Their experienced matchmakers wear many hats—not only as matchmakers but also as a relationship coach and even counsellor. What’s more, these matchmakers have—on average—more than 7 years of experience as matchmakers.

Park believes that it doesn’t matter how advanced an AI can be, it simply can’t match with experienced matchmakers. While algorithms can analyze clients’ preferences and come up with recommendations, but finding someone who can become a spouse is a different thing altogether.

But that’s not the only thing different about Duo lately. In fact, even their client base has changed. Previously, their clients were mainly those in their mid to late 30s who urgently wanted to marry. Nowadays, they have people in their 20s who wanted a family of their own, as well as those in their 40s who are remarrying. They’re even seeing first time marriages for members in their 40s and 50s.

To read the full article in Korean, click here.

Original article published by Maeil Business Newspaper.

(Image source: Pexels, Markus Spiske)

Global Love Report – September 8, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

UR Matched is a matchmaking service aimed at students at the University of Rochester in New York. UR Matched utilizes Instagram in order to help their fellow students find love.

The team at UR Matched—whose founder remains anonymous, with only her pseudonym known—don’t use a computer program to find matches for each user who send in their profile. This matchmaking team base their matches on the answers applicants gave from a list of questions provided by the UR Matched team.

The questions include things such as, their preferences, the type of relationship they’re looking for, and their turn-offs, among others.
Because the team consists of students, however, the wait time is a particular problem. However, it seems users are fine with the wait.

UR Matched’s founder’s main aim is to help other students “make meaningful connections”.

To read the full article about this matchmaking team, click here.

Original article published by Campus Times.

(Image source: Pexels, Ivan Samkov)

Global Love Report – September 8, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

While matchmaking agencies and dating platforms have coaches who tell singles what they should do to get a date, one particular app has decided to go a different way. Instead, the dating app, POM, is offering £300 per day for people who have a hard time getting a date.

Why?

Because they want unlucky daters to tell other singles what not to do. The app, which is a niche dating app that matches people based on their taste in music, has decided that people unlucky in love would have better advice for looking singles.

Specifically, these unlucky daters would be able to share their own experience so others can learn from it and refrain from doing the same thing they did.
Applicants for the position are required to show screenshots of their dating mishaps or to share their disaster stories.

For the full article, click here.

Original article published by Mirror UK.

(Image source: Pexels, Monstera)

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Global Love Report – September 1, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

A new dating app for Black women is working with matchmakers in order to create better opportunities for their users. The aim of the app, CarpeDM, is to help Black women find “healthy, stable relationships,” according to one of its founders, Sali Hama.

They want to help a community that they say is, “underserved”. And they want to do that while improving the online dating experience.

To use the app, users must answer 50 questions about themselves and what they’re looking for in terms of a relationship. They must also include a photograph and a video of themselves. But this is where this app differs from other apps. This is because a matchmaker will then review their profile and then contact them for a 30-minute interview.

According to Hama, they’re trying to directly help their users. This is in contrast to the hands-off approach of other dating apps—where users have to swipe and find their match themselves.

The company is currently carrying out a survey for Black women, to find out about their experience in online dating and what CarpeDM can do in order to fill in any gaps that exist. The app is expected to launch this fall.

To read the full article, click here.

Original article published by Technical.ly.

(Image source: Pexels, Christina Morillo)

Global Love Report – September 1, 2021
Summarized in English by Pamela Stephanie

Professional “Love Support” company, Last Partner, offers date coaching for men only in Japan. Established in 2020, the date consultation agency is currently offering a Personal Training package exclusively for men.

CEO Makoto Toki initially started the service because he was concerned about how men were looking for love and saw that there was a need for full support for Japanese men. After initially working with dating app Pairs to help male users take professional pictures to help them on their search, he decided to establish Last Partner.

In terms of appearance, their training includes: a professional fashion coordinator for clients who will help them find suitable clothing. They have also partnered with a local hair salon so their clients can have a haircut and have their hair styled. Clients will also have their profile picture taken by a professional photographer.

For training purposes, clients will have date coaching with a female trainer for a total of 4 sessions. They will also have online coaching through Zoom with a female trainer for 12 total sessions. Furthermore, they will also be able to have 24-hours unlimited consultation with a female trainer on the LINE messaging app.

To top it off, they’re also able to attend Last Partner events for free and they will be able to have a face-to-face date with 9 women in order to put their newly learned skills to practice.

To read the full article in Japanese about Last Partner’s date coaching for men only, click here.

Original article published by PR Times.

(Image source: Unsplash, Hunters Race)

Global Love Report – September 1, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

Two Irish dating experts are claiming that Covid is causing people to forgo dating apps and also to be wary of physical contact.

Jennifer Haskins, Introductions Director of Two’s Company, a matchmaking agency, explains that people are fed up with other users’ behaviors on dating apps. They’re tired of the constant swiping, and negative behaviors such as ghosting.

This sentiment is echoed by dating coach, Frances Kelleher, who believes that the fact that people are fed up with online dating was speeded up by COVID. At this point, she believes that people are tired of communicating online.

However, the constant online communication is making singles more wary of being closer to someone new; someone who’s essentially a stranger to them.

Haskins herself has noted that her clients nowadays would choose to first have a video call with their matches before meeting in person. It may take some time before people will be comfortable enough to go to pubs or clubs, according to Haskins. So more “traditional” way of meeting people may take a backseat during these post-lockdown times.

Furthermore, people are less likely to have physical contact with their date, according to Kelleher. She believes that it would take longer for physical contact to occur now—whether it’s hugging or kissing or more.

However, Kelleher thinks that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. If anything, people are more inclined to get to know the person better before taking the relationship further. And she also believes that face-to-face meetups will make a comeback after a period of post-lockdown adjustment.

To read what else these two Irish dating experts have to say, click here.

Original article published by Irish Mirror.

(Image source: Unsplash, Dương Hữu)

Global Love Report – August 25, 2021
A review article by Pamela Stephanie

Dating platform Match is beta testing their newest feature, “Matched by Us”.

This new feature is aimed at users who are older and who are generally tired of swiping, sending and receiving messages, and not getting the results that they want. According to Match’s chief product officer, Dushyant Saraph, this new feature helps eliminates the need for users to swipe through countless profiles before finding someone who matches their preferences.

Currently, the feature will give one “customized” match every week to the app’s users. The recommendations are based on questions that users have answered regarding their preferences and things like their five-year plan. Although it’s still based on algorithm, Saraph did mention they’re also testing using humans to pick these custom matches.

Thus, using more traditional means of matchmaking and not relying on the algorithm fully. Though Saraph did mention that it’s still in its testing phase.

But Match is beta testing other features, such as date coaching.

The other feature is to deter ghosting. So, when one user fails to respond after a set amount of time, the app will nudge the user to respond before the conversation is archived. Or it will give them the option to unmatch.

For the full article, click here.

Original article published by TechCrunch.

(Image source: Pexels, ThisIsEngineering)