OkCupid and Match Apps Partner with White House to Help Singles Get More Matches if Vaccinated

If you’re looking for love advice post-COVID-19, look no further than the White House.

In a White House Covid-19 Response briefing on May 21, viewers heard the importance of getting a Covid vaccine if they’re looking for love online.

White House COVID-19 advisor Andy Slavitt said, “According to one of the sites, OkCupid, people who display their vaccine status are 14% more likely to get a match. We have finally found the one thing that makes us more attractive — a vaccination.”

Starting on Monday, May 24, 2021, OkCupid will launch their “I’m Vaccinated” profile badge and will be able to search for other vaccinated singles within OkCupid’s stacks. OkCupid reports the phrase “I’m Vaccinated” was mentioned in daters’ profiles 1,400% more in May of 2021, as compared to January when the vaccine first started rolling out.

In a press release, Match group’s CEO, Shar Dubey, said, “We are honored to work with the White House on increasing Vaccinations across America, which will allow people to once again meet in person and engage in meaningful ways. This will make dating safer for everyone, everywhere.”

Along with various vaccination profile badges, other Match Group apps, including Tinder, will provide users with “I’m Vaccinated” or “Vaccines Save Lives” stickers to add to their profile. The Match app will add a “Vaccinated” badge, Hinge will give users a free “Rose,” Plenty of Fish will release an “I Got My Shot” badge, along with free Live” credits to live stream with an online date, BLK will add a “Vaxified” badge, and Chispa will add a “Vacunado” profile badge.

Tinder, Match, Plenty of Fish, Hinge, BLK, Chispa will also be rewarding singles who are vaccinated with free Super Likes and Boosts to help them appear more frequently in searches.

The vaccinated campaigns will run through the Fourth of July.

Other apps, including Bumble and Badoo, will be offering vaccination badges to help create COVID vaccine awareness.

It’s time to kick COVID to the curb as we welcome the summer of love and dating safely for those who are ready to date IRL again.

Take our Poll on Dating in the Age of COVID-19

Julie Spira is America’s Online Dating Expert and the founder of Cyber-Dating Expert. She’s an award-winning dating coach who’s been helping singles on finding love online for over 25 years.

FOLLOW @JulieSpira on Instagram and Twitter for dating advice.  

 

Dating Sunday – The Busiest Day for Online Dating is This Weekend

Dating Sunday, on the first Sunday of the New Year, is the world’s largest digital love-fest. It’s also peak season for online dating, so get ready to join the party.

We’re busy at Cyber-Dating Expert with new singles joining the dating pool in what we call the “Trifecta of Dating.”

• Singles are putting love at the top of their New Year’s resolution list.
• More singles are joining the dating pool due to a pre and post-holiday break ups.
• The countdown clock to Valentine’s Day is ticking.

On ABC 7 Eyewitness News in Los Angeles, I spoke with Anabel Muñoz and John Gregory on why Match has proclaimed this Sunday as the most popular day of the year for online dating.

What should you do to get ready for Dating Sunday?

The days leading up to Dating Sunday are a reflective time for many who are thinking about finding a meaningful relationship.

It’s also “peak season,” for online daters, which starts right after Christmas and goes through Valentine’s Day. 

It’s a time for new beginnings, so take new photos, update last year’s profile, and turn on your push notifications to make the most of this season.

RELATED: 5 TIPS TO ROCK DATING SUNDAY

What is Dating Sunday?

Dating Sunday, or #DatingSunday is the day dating sites see the greatest surge of users. Match been analyzing data since the site was launched in 1995 and predicts 9:05pm/ET, will be the busiest, with the most usage.

The site reports a 69% spike in new singles joining on this day. During peak season, 50 million messages are expected to be sent during peak season, through Valentine’s Day, resulting in 1 million dates!

It’s actually quite exciting to see singles become so positive about finding love online and joining mobile dating apps and sites at the start of the new year.

Other sites, such as Plenty of Fish, expect over 117,000 new signups on Dating Sunday, peaking at 9pm.

Remember, 1 in 3 relationships start online, so you’ll be in good company and we’re here to help you find love in 2019.

Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may swipe or roam. xo

Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and Digital Matchmaker. She’s the CEO of Cyber-Dating Expert, and as an early adopter of online dating, has been coaching singles on finding love online and on mobile dating apps for almost 25 years. Find out how our Irresistible Profiles will help you find your dream date.

FOLLOW @JulieSpira on Twitter and Instagram

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Watch Match: The Musical for a Smile

I’ve always said that music can be an important part of your online dating profile and our friends at Match agree.

I’ve encouraged singles to include their favorite bands, use song lyrics for screen names, or list the upcoming concerts they’re scheduled to attend.

Many dating apps give you the ability to link your spotify account to your profile to see if you have similar musical taste, which is a great ice breaker.

Taking it a step further, Match created this fun musical video about a couple who met online and are excited about their new found relationship. The two are in serious crush mode and it will make you smile.

Watch this video of Match: The Musical

You just might find yourself humming along and clicking the replay button and logging on more often to find that same type of connection.

RELATED: How Music Can Improve Your Dating Profile

Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may swipe or roam. xo

Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and an award-winning dating coach. As an early adopter of Internet dating, she’s been coaching singles on finding love online for almost 25 years.

FOLLOW @JulieSpira on Twitter and Instagram

SIGN UP for the FREE Weekly Flirt newsletter for dating advice delivered to your inbox.

CLICK HERE for 25% of  you membership to Match

VOTE for Julie Spira for Best Dating Coach

Of the many things I was thankful for during Thanksgiving week, one was the announcement of a male client who got engaged, the other was spending time with my family, and lastly, I found out that I’m a FINALIST for best dating coach in the 2017 iDate Awards to be held in Miami in January.

Voting is now open to the general public, so it would mean the world to me if you could cast your vote for Julie Spira – Cyber-Dating Expert for best dating coach.

VOTE HERE FOR BEST DATING COACH

While I was surprised to hear I was nominated, it warms my heart to know the industry realizes how passionate I am about helping singles find love.

In the Beginning

It was over 20 years ago (22 to be exact), that I first embraced online dating during its infancy. It was before Match.com and eHarmony were even launched. After helping myself and mastering the sites and chat rooms, I then started writing profiles for singles, while still keeping my day job as a technology executive. Cosmo named me the “Pioneer of Online Dating” and after my bestselling book, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online was released, my business expanded and I started writing dating advice for JDate, Match, eHarmony, Huffington Post, DatingAdvice.com, PlentyofFish, YourTango, and the list goes on.

Today

After two decades of helping singles find love online, I created Mobile Dating BootCamp, which was featured in the Washington Post,  appeared in the New York Times on the growth of Tinder in 2015 and 2016, have been responsible for many marriages and engagements, several online babies, have appeared in over 1000 media articles, and have some exciting TV and film projects in the works.

I credit those I met at the iDate conferences for helping me spread the news and have attended 16 iDate shows! The January 2017 iDate Awards will be my 17th time at iDate and the thought of accepting this award brings tears to my eyes and joy to my digital heart.

VOTE HERE FOR JULIE SPIRA FOR BEST DATING COACH

Thank you to those who have nominated me to be a finalist and to those who are voting now that voting is open to the general public.

Being a dating coach brings together two of my biggest passions; my love of technology and my strong belief in love. I couldn’t be happier.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my articles, watching me on TV, reading my books, and for your vote.

Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may swipe or roam.

xo

VOTE at iDateAwards.com from now through January 6th.

 

#MusicMonday Quote of the Day

Happy Music Monday. As we start a new week, it’s time to put the digital DJ hat on and share a musical quote from the bankd UB40 about love to warm your heart.

“Love is a thing, well, it’s kid of like quicksand: The more you are in it, the deeper you sink. And when it hits you, you’ve just got to fall.”

Don’t be afraid of falling into quicksand. Open your heart. It isn’t a lifetime sentence, but could be a lifetime of happiness coming your way.

Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may roam. xo

Follow Online Dating Expert Julie Spira on Twitter and Instagram

Sign up for the FREE Weekly Flirt for dating advice delivered to your inbox.

Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and Digital Matchmaker. She was an early adopter of the Internet and has been coaching singles on finding love online for over 20 years. Find out how our Irresistible Profiles programs will help you find your dream date and read our many client testimonials.

Bumble and Spotify: A Musical Match That Will Work

It appears Bumble has been adding new features to their popular mobile dating app.

First they added gifs from gifphy to up users flirt game, which we adore, but aren’t sure how many people are using them.

Then it was the BFF, where you can find a friend (non-romantic) to hang out with. I actually saw a billboard on freeway on the way to Coachella, so they’re serious about making it a social networking app.

Then they announced that men also had 24 hours to reply to a message from the women to potentially prevent ghosting.

Now on their blog Bumble has announced they will be partnering with Spotify to bring music preference integration to user profiles. This is music to my digital ears and is a marriage I’m quite happy about.

We actually recommended Tastebuds as a potential dating app earlier this year for music lovers.

Here’s how Bumble’s music integration works:

Bumble will allow users to connect their Spotify accounts so that potential matches can view their most played artists and see what music tastes they have in common.

Bumble CEO and founder, Whitney Wolfe, told TechCrunch, “Music says a lot about who we are as people and connecting culturally can serve a foundation for creating meaningful relationships,” so clearly, it was only a matter of time before Bumble and Spotify teamed up for this new feature.

Over the next few weeks, users will be able to connect their Spotify accounts to their profiles. If you’re interested in an artist on someone’s profile, simply click the artist to open Spotify and begin opening your ears (and your heart) to your potential online love’s music taste.

This update will not only provide users with more information about each other before they decide to swipe right or left, but it will also create a conversation starter. “I see Adele is one of your top played artists. What’s your favorite album?” is a great way to delve into your digital crush’s preferences and show interest in what they like to listen to.

If you’re worried about guilty pleasure artists or songs you listen to that you wouldn’t want a potential digital crush to see, you have no need to worry. The Verge reported that artists streamed during private listening sessions won’t be counted when calculating who your most listened to artists are.

This new Spotify feature will also help put music lovers at ease. If you’ve ever been nervous about handing a new love the AUX cord in the car, now you’ll know their music interests ahead of time and won’t have to spend time worrying if they can be trusted to DJ in the car.

Will you be adding Spotify to your Bumble account?

Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and Mobile Dating Expert. She was an early adopter of online dating and as a celebrity dating coach, has been helping singles on finding love online for over two decades with her Irresistible Profiles coaching programs.  Julie’s the author of the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online .

For dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

Interested in improving your odds on Bumble or Tinder? Check out SwipingRight to help you find your dream date.

Cyber Love Story – Becky and Phil

Becky had been married for 30 years when her husband sadly passed away. Out of the dating scene for such a long time, she wasn’t sure what to do.

One day, she decided to turn to online dating and joined Match.com.

“It was the summer of 2011 when I joined Match,” explains Becky.

“I tried Match because I guess….after so many years of not being in the dating world, I figured that would be the best way to meet people.”

Becky had a few dates, but they weren’t her cup of tea.

Then in October of 2011, she started communicating with Philip. Phil had been single for over 10 years before meeting Becky.

After talking via email and phone for a week or so, the two agreed to meet for a late lunch on October 13 at Pappy & Harriett’s.

“It was so much fun,” explains Becky. “We just kept talking and laughing, and talking and laughing, and he took me for a ride on his motorcycle. Five hours later we had a hard time parting ways, wanting to spend more time together. But we did say good-bye for the night.”

The next morning Philip emailed Becky and said…”You definitely have my attention”. They’ve been together ever since, splitting time between both Becky and Philip’s homes.

When I saw Becky and Phil, they were celebrating their 2-year anniversary and couldn’t stop saying “I love you” to each other.

Congratulations to Becky and Philip, who prove you can start your life all over again while looking for love online.

Do you have an online dating story to share?

 

Julie Spira is a top online dating expert and founder of CyberDatingExpert.com. Julie was an early adopter of Internet dating and has been helping singles find love online for 20 years with her Irresistible Profiles and Online Dating BootCamp programs.

Follow @JulieSpira for dating advice and sign up for the free Weekly Flirt.

3 Changes to Instantly Improve Your Online Dating Profile

At Cyber-Dating Expert Headquarters, we hear complaints from both men and women about how every profile seems to look the same after a while. Singles get frustrated too easily, because there are too many choices. As a result, the searching process becomes so blurry, that they often just turn off the computer and go out to hang out with their friends.

Think about it and let’s compare it to selecting the perfect scoop of ice cream to sweeten your palate. If the choices were all vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry, it might not be that inviting as compared to Pineapple Passion Fruit, Cinnamon Buns, or Karamel Sutra, just a few flavors I can’t wait to try when I’m at Ben and Jerry’s.

So without further digital ado and minus the calories, here are a few steps you can do to immediately have a more unique profile, without resorting to posting skydiving photos.

1. Dump the Cliches. Every girl dreams of taking a romantic beach walk or staring at the sunset for a dream date. Let’s take a reality check and ask yourself, just how many beach walks are you going on? Maybe you’ll do so with a date at some point, but it’s oh so boring for them to read this over-and-over again. It goes hand-in-hand with saying you can dress from jeans to black-tie and want a man with a sense of humor. So if you’re asking for a guy who works hard and plays hard, you’re not one in a million. You’re among the multi-million profiles with those same overused words.

Solution: Nix these cliches now and replace them with photos and actions and about what makes you the girl he wants to know more about. If you’re stumped, ask a friend what makes you different and unique. He or she may remind you how you’re the first one out at 6am to clean the bay or love the fact that you volunteer to feed the homeless in soup kitchens on Thanksgiving. Replace the blue jeans to black tie cliche with photos of you dressed in a variety of outfits. He’ll get the picture and will want to see more.

2. Ask a Question. This is something that I believe is an absolute must on every profile. Remember that your profile shouldn’t be a monologue or all about you. You need to start a two-way dialog with your profile as a brief introduction about yourself. ?Your dream date must be able to imagine his or her life with you, not just watching you from afar wondering if he’ll fit it or not.

Solution: Name a few of your favorite vacation spots and ask if your date has ever been there before. List a local mountain you’d like to hike and ask if he’s ever done that before. Mention a rock band that you’ve always wanted to see and ask if you’re the only one who hasn’t seen Lady Gaga in concert. Mention you’d like to take golf lessons and have clubs collecting dust in the garage and ask if anyone would like to go with you to the driving range. This makes it easier for someone to write to you with a specific solution and answer to your question. It will instantly increase the amount of emails that you’ll be receiving.

3. Reduce the word count. Yes, describing your life story should be written in your personal journal and not be on your dating profile. Statistics show that writing a shorter profile will get more responses. Not everyone reads your entire profile and you’ll be lucky if they read the first few sentences. If they scroll down and notice a long-winded profile, it’s likely that they’ll say, “Next!”

Solution: Leave the novel at home. Drop the long drawn out description and reduce your profile by at least a paragraph, if not more. Remember, dating is about getting to know you over time. Details of your relationship and family history and listing every vacation you’ve gone on won’t leave room for imagination. It’s a digital dance, so make it a sneak peek into your life.

Make some of these changes to your profile now and cyber love will just be a click away. Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may roam.

Julie Spira is an online dating expert and author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating. She creates irresistible profiles for singles on the dating scene.? For more online dating advice, sign up for the free Weekly Flirt and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

Photo credit: Maxim_Kazmin – Fotolia.com

Fourth of July Fireworks Special on Irresistible Profiles

So your relationship status is listed as a “dud.” Does that mean you should accept your ho-hum love life or are you ready to ignite some fireworks to kick-off the summer holiday?

At Cyber-Dating Expert Headquarters, we’ve decided to help you ramp up your search with a wonderful 20% HOLIDAY Savings! But we’re only limiting this offer to TEN lucky people.

SAVE over $150 on your package now from July 2 – 8, 2012 and sign up for our Signature IRRESISTIBLE Online Dating Profile Makeover package.

As you know, I’m passionate about helping singles find love both online and offline. I also happen to love holiday weekends. It’s the time to ramp up your flirting techniques and mingle with singles all weekend long.

While fireworks will be in the sky throughout America, what about the fireworks and passion in your love life? Don’t you deserve to have a spark ignited?

That’s right. No gimmicks, no long term commitment. One very special PRIVATE coaching session that will change the direction of your love life. Let the next holiday fireworks be your very own in the arms of someone very special.

• 20-minute Phone or Skype Consultation
• Personalized Dating Assessment
• Customized Online Dating Profile from Scratch or Makeover
• Includes a NEW Catchy Screen Name
• New Bio With the Perfect Word Count
• One Personalized Matching Search
• 30-Days Unlimited eMail Support to help you before, during, and after your dates. (valued at $997)

*Don’t wait as this offer is valid for the FIRST 10 People who sign up and will sadly expire on July 8th at midnight when the price will revert back to the regular rate.

Sign up now and let the next Cyber Love Story of the Week be your own.

*Coaching Packages are non-refundable

Follow @JulieSpira

Do Internet Daters Suffer from Online Dating Fatigue?

Lately, I?ve been questioning whether singles who are members of online dating sites really want to meet someone and create a real relationship that goes from online to offline, or just spend time hanging out in cyberspace. ?It appears that many daters are suffering from a relationship syndrome called ODF, the acronym for online dating fatigue. It can also be defined as IDF, Internet dating fatigue.

While I might sound like eHarmony?s founder Neil Clark Warren, who wrote an article on Huffington Post,?On Second Thought, Don?t Get Married,?where I’m telling online daters that they might need to take a break as well, there’s some truth to ODF. ?In Warren’s article, ?he questioned whether marriage has become obsolete. The article is still being talked about and was shared by over 4000 people on Facebook and Twitter and ?liked? by over 13,000 people. Something to ponder.

As an online dating expert and coach, I?m not suggesting you should abandon online dating completely, but instead consider taking a break and return refreshed, along with a new set of rules and digital tools that might increase your chances of success. Just as athletes get muscle fatigue, daters do get online dating fatigue.

In my coaching practice, I meet singles and divorcee’s who are already fed up with the process. ?There are several reasons why I believe they?re suffering from ODF, and am here to provide some suggestions and online dating tips that just might wake you up from the exhausting process.

1. You?re tired of logging on and coming up empty handed.

You go to the gym three times a week, meet your friends for drinks twice a week, and spend an hour a day logging on to your online dating account to view photos of eligible singles. You hand pick 10 men or women to write to and take the time to personalize the subject line.? The result is, no one ever writes back.? You don?t know why they weren?t interested, wondered if they had an inactive profile where they couldn’t read your email, or were testing the waters with a few others and would consider you for the future. You diligently send emails more often-than-not, and still wake up to an empty inbox. It?s discouraging, I know. You feel like it?s a chore.

?2. You?re tired of trying to create interesting introduction emails.

You know you?re smart, witty, and have that great sense of humor everyone advertises that they?re looking for. ?Yet, you find it hard to write an introduction email that will be catchy and stand out. You didn?t grow up wanting to be a copywriter, so your personality doesn?t shine. As a result, you spend less time logging on. ?Finding a date or a mate goes down a notch or two on the totem pole. You?ve worked hard all day at work. You really don?t want to work that hard when you get home. The end result is, you lose interest. You?re suffering from ODF.

Take for example *Mike (name changed), who has been sending the same 770 word count email about himself for four years to women promising a lifetime of happiness. He wrote a novel with over 50 sentences to introduce himself.

Chances are Mike never reads the profiles of the pretty faces he views. He diligently copies the same email daily and sends it cold to women with a shotgun approach. His subject line is empty and says, (none). Sure online dating is a numbers game, but if you aren?t an educated player, your email may end up deleted by the third sentence. I finally had to tell him, ?Copy + paste = erase? and suggested that he leave the novel at home. He didn’t appreciate my constructive criticism and is still single to this day.

3. You?re too picky.

If anyone has ever suggested that you might be too picky, chances are, they?re right. Your list may be so long on your profile, that it discourages would-be suitors to find someone more easy-going. If your search parameters are too narrow, it?s rare that you?ll find a compatible partner, online or offline.

Take *Janie for example. She?s a vivacious woman with a lot to offer a man. She has a successful career, beautiful home, loves to cook, and really wanted to fall in love. She came to me as a last resort, having been single for a decade. I looked at her profile and her search requirements were so limiting. She only wanted to meet a man who lived within a five-mile radius of where she resided. Her age parameters only spanned five years. It was an impossible task with unrealistic expectations. She didn?t realize it, but she was too picky. We broadened her search to 40 miles and expanded her age range to 12-years, 6 older and 6 younger than herself. She?s now dating someone age-appropriate who lives a town away. Are you too picky?? If so, it?s time to cast a wider net.

4. You?re unavailable.

You wouldn?t send a resume looking for your dream job without an email and phone contact for the recruiter to call you for the job interview, so you shouldn?t be so difficult to reach to set up a date.

Take *Bill, a handsome and successful man as an example. He always makes a good first impression in his introductory emails. He sends the women his phone number along with a message telling them that he?s only available to speak at 12pm and 9pm. ?Most people have busy lives, both personally and professionally.? So if a woman called Bill outside of those two limited time slots, they?d not only get his voicemail, but he also had ?call intercept? on his line requesting that you announce yourself before he?d pick up the call. Pre-screening your date?s inbound phone call is a netiquette no-no. Of course most of the women hung up. Bill?s still single. A little more flexibility and removing call intercept on his phone to make time for love might help with his search. If you want to get on his or her date card, you need to move the process along from the initial email and find the time to put a real date on the calendar.

5.?You?ve gone on too many first dates.

You?ve managed to pass the dating filters, sent a few emails and text messages back-and-forth, and the first phone call went well. You dined at a restaurant that you hoped might impress him or her. The process took about two weeks, but it seems you never graduate to a second date. While the reasons may vary, most include:

• He or she didn?t look like their photo
• There was no chemistry
• He or she never called again
• He or she didn?t respond to your text or email message

You thought the first date went well. They laughed at your jokes and said they?d like to see you again. ?You spent precious resources of time and money on the dating process with no return on your investment.

Yes, dating can be expensive, but you don?t need to dine at the Four Seasons to impress someone. These days, it?s not unhip to use a deal-of-the-day?coupon?or Groupon for a dating idea, providing you?re not only asking for two-for-one yogurt at $4.99. The result is, you?re wallet is now thin and you still find yourself alone on date night. You get frustrated with the process and end up with ODF.

If any of these five scenarios sound familiar, you?re not alone. Online dating fatigue is very real. Sometimes you need to take a break, other times you need to fine tune your profile or change your parameters and habits. At the end of the digital day, there are over 120 million singles in the world looking for love online. Not everyone suffers from online dating fatigue.

Julie Spira is an online dating expert, social media strategist and bestselling author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online. Connect with Julie on Twitter @JulieSpira and at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert

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