Picking the appropriate dating app or website is like buying a new vehicle-you have different options to consider. You may want something flamboyant that keeps up with the latest trends, or you may stick to something that’s more reliable and time-tested. It is totally up to you.
Nowadays, you may find pretty much all types of dating sites that suit your fancy. Whether you care about a psychology-based or a niche user match algorithm, certainly there’s a dating website that’s built with you in mind. You just have to find it. To help keep your priorities on track, we’ve put together a list of the most crucial features you should consider when choosing a dating website or app.
An Easier and Faster Sign-Up process
First of all, you should consider how much time you wish to spend setting up your dating profile. Do you want to simply just join and go? Or you want to put together a detailed profile thoroughly? The time you’re prepared to spend signing up will influence the selection of dating websites that are available to you.
For example, eharmony is known for its prolonged sign up process. It may take anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour to complete your personality questionnaire, which includes close to 70 questions that examine what you’re looking for and who you are.
Through gathering info on your temperament, upbringing, family values and other details, eharmony enhances its matching algorithm to suggest potential dates that are compatible with you.
If you wouldn’t like to commit your time, however, a dating app might be more of your liking. Most apps require only the primary information and some pictures upon signup. Essentially, you download the application, upload your profile picture, type in your name, and start swiping.
Social Media Embedding Adds a Level of Trust
When you are signing up for a dating website, you may have noticed a button prompting you to log in with Facebook or Instagram. Many dating websites use these integration tools because of folks that are eager to immediately start swiping.
It’s a meaningful way to verify people’s identities. Through connecting with a social media account, a dating website can automatically access all the relevant info such as the person’s location, birthday and previous profile pictures. The dating network then puts together a proposed dating profile using that information.
By connecting via a social media forum, the participants use their real pictures and names, which adds that level of security on the dating website. But if you’d rather keep your social media life private and away from a dating website, you can join a site that doesn’t link to Facebook or Instagram, or any other social media website.
Membership Numbers and Popularity Tells You If the Site Worth a Try
Dating is a numbers game. You need to go where many people are. Popular dating websites are going to give you an excellent chance of meeting many potential dates since their membership numbers are high. If a dating website has few people signed up, it won’t have a large enough pool of folks for you to match with.-particularly if you live in rural areas.
Of course, Niche Matchmaking Dating Websites don’t have the sheer size of some of the more popular dating sites, but they try to counteract this by sorting specific types of people. The idea is this, while they don’t have every single person signed up, the people that are there are all going to have something in common with one another. Maybe they are all liberals.
Anything which brings people together becomes a focal point for the small dating websites to spark a connection. If you are not prepared to trade quantity of folks for the quality of membership, then a small niche dating site is right for you.
While small niche dating platforms can find it hard to compete with longstanding dating websites like OkCupid, which boasts over 1 million active users and more than 50 million registrations, they create unique dating environments where singles don’t have to search extremely hard to find someone who shares their values, interests or background.
Videos and Pictures Appear Eminently In Profiles
Most dating sites will require you to at least add one picture to your profile, and some have moderators making sure that all uploaded photos are suitable for the site. Guidelines do vary. Some sites won’t allow videos while others urge their participants to upload flirty video clips of themselves.
Mature dating platforms, in general, don’t restrain from posting ‘nudes’, but mainstream sites will swiftly remove nude pictures from profiles and maybe even revoke the membership of someone who posted them. This restriction keeps everything family-friendly and clean.
Zoosk moderators may verify pictures upon request and post a verified badge on the profile of their members who want to show everybody that they’re the real deal. All you’ve got to do is capture a selfie or record a video and send it to the team.
Safety Features-Photo Verification & Blocking Members
Safety is always a top priority concern for singles that are joining a dating platform, and with good reason. Some criminals use the obscurity of a dating website to take advantage of naive and lonely singles. According to an FBI report, the most targeted group is that of people aged 40 years and above, widowed, divorced and elderly.
Nonetheless, dating sites can fight back by adding safety features and measures to protect users from criminal characters on the internet. By monitoring online activities and verifying identities of new users, dating platforms can reduce the numbers of spammers and scammers on their website or apps. They also need to encourage their users to moderate the site by blocking and reporting anyone behaving in a threatening, harmful or suspicious way. Remember always cut-off communication if it does not feel right.
If someone harasses you online, you need to have some tools at your disposal to help you curb the situation. Datinggurus report offenders, police their dating platform and make it safe for everyone to mingle.