FROM THE WEB: ‘Latest trend in digital dating: Live video chat dates’ – USA Today

A recent USA Today article calls video dating the latest trend in online dating.

Sharon Jayson looks at the new fleet of dating apps – like Flikdate, Date.fm and VideoDate – pushing video chats as a way of connecting users pre-first date.

Nick Bicanic of Flikdate says: “Video communication is coming into its own.

“Technically speaking, it was not possible as recently as two years ago. The power wasn’t there.

“Now, we’re at the very beginning, but it’s about to come into its heyday. This next year will be a really interesting time for us.”

These dating apps are looking to build on the foundation FaceTime and Skype have laid over the past few years, and the success Vine and Instagram had with video in 2013.

At the end of last year MeetMe jumped onto this trend, launching Charm, their Vine-inspired dating app.

Putting users face-to-face certainly cuts out time-consuming messaging, and allays any fears about profile misrepresentation.

The challenge however is overcoming the awkwardness many feel towards video chatting – FaceTime and Skype are largely used between people who already know each other.

And while video dating may not receive the mass appeal Tinder saw last year, it could still be very successful, and it will be interesting to see if both start-ups and the biggest brands follow this trend over the coming year.

Read the article here.