Many experts in online dating believe that 2022 will be a truly breakthrough year compared to 2019-2021. Such assumptions do have a serious basis. More than two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, the social life of billions of people literally paused. No new acquaintances, a minimum of dates and a constant lack of even basic human communication! It is only to be expected that people are tired of this and want to return to normal life as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are some optimistic forecasts in this regard.
You can see from the latest news around the world at the beginning of 2022 that life is gradually returning to normal:
- Greece has reduced quarantine for those infected with coronavirus by half — from 10 to 5 days.
- Since the end of January, the UK has been lifting a whole range of Covid restrictions that were in effect previously.
- The Czech Republic has canceled the decision to introduce mandatory vaccination for people over sixty and key professionals.
- The WHO has asked countries not to impose strict restrictions on international flights, as this does not give tangible results in the fight against the spread of coronavirus, only increases social and economic tension.
Of course, there are countries and regions where the trends are completely the other way, but we hope that the world will gradually return to its former rhythm.
So what about online dating? What trends are waiting for us in 2022? What changes have already taken place? Let’s look at that now!
ReincarDating, Hybrid Dating, Voice Dating and other new online dating trends
It is obvious that changes in the world and mass self-isolation have greatly influenced the online dating industry. The number of users of dating sites and applications has grown, the competition between services has heated up, and requirements for their quality and functionality have also increased. At the same time, completely new trends have appeared that no one could have dreamed of a couple of years ago. What are these trends and what’s their story?
ReincarDating
Recently, the developers of the Happn application began to actively talk about this trend. To describe it as briefly as possible, ReincarDating means “entering the arena as a new person who is in complete control of their desires, needs and goals.”
Experts even identify several main components of ReincarDating:
- Reviewing your goals and desires on a dating site.
- Attentiveness to yourself, your feelings, intuition and emotions.
- A positive attitude in any situation.
- Sincerity to yourself and to others.
- Love for yourself.
ReincarDating is a kind of reboot, a change in your basic approach to online dating, a willingness to be more conscious and purposeful in the search for your ideal match.
Hybrid Dating (including emphasis on video communication)
We’re sure that in the life of every person there has been at least one unsuccessful first date, which was just a waste of time. Even worse — when the realization of the futility of dating comes after several such dates.
More and more people are starting to think that it’s time to leave the usual format of having the first date offline in the past. Instead, many prefer so-called hybrid dating — communication in chat and instant messengers, long and sincere phone calls, and video conversations.
Not surprisingly, all the major apps and dating sites hastily implemented the video chat feature — it became especially popular during the pandemic. Let’s pause and look back at the history of video chat sites.
When the first random video chat services, such as Omegle video chat and its rival Chatroulette, appeared in 2009, few could have predicted how popular they would become in the near future. In the early years, they gathered a multi-million audience every day, and on that wave of popularity, many alternatives to Omegle appeared. Later, there was a slight decline in their popularity, but the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine restrictions again spurred interest in this format. To be precise, in 2019, the Omegle site usually had about 10-15 thousand users online, and at the moment there are almost always more than 35 thousand of them. That is more than triplicate growth!
But Omegle video chat is far from the most popular and functional of the existing sites. Many alternatives are much more interesting and attractive to users. For example, OmeTV — a very minimalist video chat with several important advantages in comparison to Omegle: gender and geographic filters, a built-in message translator, and convenient mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Another interesting Omegle alternative — Omegle TV. An exclusive feature of the site is a gender filter which never makes a mistake. Omegle TV chat connects men exclusively with girls, and there are no fakes and bots hiding behind women’s accounts. Why? Because every girl must confirm her identity when registering. Plus, Omegle TV has excellent moderation and a 24/7 support service.
Among the “old-timers” of video chats, Chatrandom can be identified. The platform has been operating for more than 10 years, since 2011. Users have access to search filters by gender and location, search by interests, themed chat rooms and a separate paid chat with girls feature.
Finally, it is worth remembering ChatRoulette, one of the pioneers in the world of video chat. An extremely simple and intuitive platform that has suffered from poor moderation for a long time. Luckily, the developers have finally addressed this issue, implemented artificial intelligence to track violators, and made Chatroulette usable again.
It’s no surprise that Omegle alternatives have skyrocketed over the past couple of years. People like this format because it gives a lot of freedom. In addition, bloggers and TikTokers have made a great contribution to the popularization of video chat sites, by recording viral videos on them and thereby attracting a new young audience to the sites.
Voice Dating
Have you ever wondered how much voice affects how you perceive another person? In 2019, University of Miami professor Casey Klofstat conducted a study in which he proved that the level of attractiveness, physical strength and social status of a person is subconsciously interpreted by us through the pitch and timbre of their voice. The researcher even singled out four “voice floors”: “Boss”, “Agitator”, “Inspirer” and “Philosopher”.
Not surprisingly, the voice in online dating is very important. That is why many dating services are actively implementing voice chats in their applications. Some of them are completely based on “voice dating”, when you do not see the other person, only hear them. Among the most popular services of this type we can identify Vox, Vocal, Blink, Revealr and others.
It’s worth mentioning that the hype around the voice social network Clubhouse contributed to the growth in popularity of the Voice Dating format. That trend has passed, but interest in voice communication remains.
AI Dating
No, this is not about using artificial intelligence to find the perfect match — that’s already a well-known practice. We’re talking about communication with artificial intelligence, friendship with them, and perhaps even love.
A classic example is the Replica application. A virtual person appears in front of you — an artificial intelligence that talks to you, supports almost any topic of conversation, but most importantly, it constantly learns and adapts to you. That is, it becomes your true friend.
Replica is one of the most popular apps in its class right now. But there are already many others — Anima, iFriend, Moko AI and others.
If you suddenly think that love or at least emotional attachment between a person and artificial intelligence is impossible, we advise you to watch the movie “Her” starring Joaquin Phoenix. The film, although it belongs to the science fiction genre, still gives a very good idea of what the future of a person and their relationship with an AI could be.
Some unusual new trends in online dating
We’ve listed only the most significant trends of 2022. But there are many more minor movements we’d like to tell you about.
- Communidating — the use of dating apps not only to find a match for a relationship, but also to find new friends. You may be surprised, but this trend is massive. Last year alone, about 50% of singles in the world were able to find friends online through dating sites and apps. Of these, more than 57% are representatives of generation Z.
- Dar-WIN-ing — an amusing trend, the essence of which is the unwillingness to meet with those who put forward and support anti-scientific theories. For example, about chipping and the spread of coronavirus through 5G towers, the flat earth, and so on. Anti-vaxxers also belong here.
- Handticipation — more of an anti-trend, the essence of which lies in the feeling of anxiety when personal boundaries are violated, which has grown due to the pandemic and social distancing. 64% of single people admit that they’ve begun to experience more awkwardness and insecurity in close communication offline.
- Hesidating — another anti-trend that, fortunately, is on the decline. It consists of apathy to dates and uncertainty whether a person wants to make new acquaintances at all after the promising beginning of a relationship.
- Moderna Love — an important and useful trend. More and more people prefer to get acquainted with vaccinated users, and many are reluctant to date those who have not yet been vaccinated against the virus. The Moderna Love trend has greatly influenced dating sites and apps. Many allow you to set the appropriate vaccination badge in your profile, and also offer advanced functionality to vaccinated users for free.
- Weekend Up-Dating — a trend in using each new relationship as an impetus to find the next, more promising acquaintance. People now are in no hurry to start a strong relationship with the first person they meet, but consider different options, compare and look for a person with whom they’ll have a real emotional connection.
The online dating industry is changing very rapidly. Some of the trends listed above may not make it to the end of 2022, while others will stay with us for decades. The main thing is to follow these changes, learn to adapt to the new reality and use all the opportunities that online dating gives us. So lastly, we want to give you some useful recommendations.
7 tips to make online dating more successful in 2022
- Don’t take every online date too seriously, but don’t be overly frivolous either. Stay neutral, but engaged
- Be active and purposeful. Love will not come by itself, to find it you need to take positive actions.
- Be prepared for a few failed acquaintances and unsuccessful online dates. They happen to everyone. Take them as a new experience.
- Search for new acquaintances with the same interests as you. Believe us, focusing only on appearance is a futile plan.
- Do not hurry. Now, during the pandemic and quarantine, there’s more free time. Use it, take your time.
- “Renew.” Change your profile on dating sites, set priorities, set clearer goals for yourself, use the ReincarDating principle.
- Use new formats — voice dating, video dates, random video chats like Omegle and its alternatives. Expand the horizons of online dating at times.
And most importantly — try it! 2022 promises to be a year of experiments, interesting innovations and fresh trends. We hope it will turn out to be the most promising year for you in recent times. Good luck and happy dating!
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