EME Hive Dating Website Review

Dating is complicated. Dating in the city is complicated and exhausting.

We’re all so busy with our lives these days, from managing our careers to meeting social obligations, that trying to find time for ourselves is nearly impossible. Forget about finding the time to date! So when I was asked if I’d like to try out EME Hive (an Asian dating site) and write a review, I thought “What do I have to lose?”

Hi, I’m Jen and I’m really bad at the dating game.

As a writer, I find myself holed up in my apartment most of the time. Sometimes I’ll go to a coffee shop for a change of scenery but even then, I’ll have my earphones in lest I be distracted by the conversations around me. In other words, I spend a lot of time by myself.

It’s difficult to meet people in the city. Or at least, quality people with whom I might actually want to spend some time.

Everyone seems to be doing some form of online dating these days (“swipe right” and “swipe left” have become common phrases in daily conversation) and I’ve heard plenty of success stories, including from within my own circle of friends. For me, there’s still a weird stigma attached to online dating, but I decided to put that aside (all for the sake of research!) and sign up for EME Hive (EME).

EME Hive is advertised as the “#1 dating site for Asian urban singles”. I can see how this is appealing, whether you’re Asian-American or someone who emigrated here later on in life (like me). I’ve dated non-Asian men before and have had perfectly fine relationships, but I understand the appeal of wanting to date another Asian person. There’s an innate understanding of a culture that isn’t often understood by Westerners (or at least not without some explanation).

And then, of course, there’s the relatability factor. I moved to the US in my early teens (oh hey, adolescence), and it was devastating to leave behind the friends I’d had since childhood. It's always nice to find people who experienced something similar. Luckily, I grew up studying English, so language wasn’t an obstacle for me, but people still spoke to me like I had a hearing problem. (Fellow Asians, you know what I’m talking about.)

Key Features of EME Hive

• Unlimited chat: EME allows unlimited chat as long as either one of the members is a premium user! Whether you’re looking for love, friendship, or community, we provide a place for Asian Americans to come together to meet others who share their cultural values.
• Profile setup: The sign-up process is relatively painless. You provide all of the info that you want to include in your dating profile, such as your interests, body type, faith, and education, along with the age you came to the US and languages you speak.
• Diverse user base: Although advertised as an Asian dating website for North America, you can select from a wide range of countries in your profile. Ethnicity selection isn’t limited to Asia, either.
• User-friendly interface: The UI is simple, making navigation easy, with separate sections for messages, smiles, visitors, and favorites.
• Profile strength meter: This feature gives insight into how compelling your profile is, with notifications when someone smiles or visits your profile.

As for my experience, I was surprised by the number of options available when searching for singles in various cities. The extensive search function allowed me to apply specific filters to narrow down my choices. For example, I focused on guys who spoke English, Mandarin, or Cantonese and who had arrived in the US at a young age.

I began receiving email notifications about users smiling at my profile, which helped boost my confidence. While some messages were lackluster, there were also promising conversations, though grammar and spelling are important to me.

Overall, EME Hive seems like a solid platform specifically catering to the Asian and Asian-American communities, and as I continue to explore, I've even decided to meet someone for coffee!

Next, I’ll be writing a review on the EME mobile app, so stay tuned! Let’s see what it’s like to do online dating on-the-go!