Online Dating News
New dating sites and new developments in the online dating industry are covered here.
I seem to have blinked and missed the global day of action against online scams, but if you’ve been a victim of online fraud of the online dating variety (and, of course, any other variety, but this is an online dating blog) and are a UK resident, you are encouraged to report it to the UK’s National Fraud Authority where each complaint is taken very seriously.
Check out the press release.
This is good news in a way, but the fact that “millions of Britons” are losing a total sum of 3.5 billion pounds a year to online scammers is pretty worrying.
June 9th, 2010
CNN ran a weird article recently, about people who lie on online dating sites. The article details research done by a professor in the University of Kansas, looking into people’s lying habits on one “big long-term relationship dating site” (unnamed, but I have my suspicions).
The researcher spoke to over 5000 people and asked them whether they would lie on a dating site and why.
The results seem to imply that those people who said they would lie are the type of people who want to please people and tell them what they want to hear. They don’t lie out of malice, but because they want people to like them.
Both the article and the research seem to blatantly ignore things such as scammers, married people passing themselves off as single and players passing themselves off as serious.
All of these are, sadly, a big part of the online dating industry, which people should be told about and taught how to spot and avoid. Unfortunately, I doubt any of those types of online dating liars would take the time to answer the good professor’s survey and share with us the reasons why they choose to lie and cheat.
On the other hand, we’ve learned that people who are lonely, looking for a serious relationship and willing to take a (most likely lengthy) survey for no personal gain are apparently keen to please. Who’d have thought?
And… get this!
“Online daters shouldn’t be concerned that most people are presenting a false impression of themselves,” Hall said in a news release before Thursday’s phone interview. “What influences face-to-face dating influences the online world, too.”
The fact that the professors conducting this survey tell people that they don’t have to worry about people lying to them online just shows me how out of touch they are with what’s going on out there. The only worthwhile conclusion of this so called “research” is what everyone in the online dating industry knows already and has done for years:
the people who would lie to you online are the same people who’d lie to you in the real world, be they scammers, compulsive liars, cheats or just “self-monitors”, to use a term from the article itself.
Did someone actually pay for this research? If I were paying taxes in America I’d be well pissed off.
You can read the full text of this, frankly rather lame, article here.
March 8th, 2010
Lovestruck.com have come up with a convenient little iPhone app (convenient if you have an iPhone, at least).
Subscribers to the site can use the app for free, which is handy, as the site is aimed at busy city professionals who want to meet like minded singles who live or work near them.
Being able to easily arrange such informal dates on your mobile sounds like a damn fine idea.
February 17th, 2010
Here’s an interesting new site from Match.com . The new site is called MatchAffinity
and is based on Match’s personality test. Once you complete the 10 minute test, you can get matches sent to you, as well as look them up yourself.
If you like the way the Match.com site works but want a bit more of a psychological assessment to help you think of people in terms of long term compatibility, then this is a good site to have a look at and see if you like their style.
If you like DatingDirectAffinity, you will find this site extremely familiar…
January 21st, 2010
Well, that’s hardly surprising, is it? With the UK braced for even more snow madness, everyone’s apparently been staying at home and hitting the dating sites.
This is a brilliant opportunity to start your new year on the right foot. I know a lot of you will have made a new year’s resolution to find someone, because this is the perfect time to do it. Not only do you have the power of the new year behind you, you also have many thousands of people out there who have made exactly the same resolution. Maybe one of them is your person?
So use this time (when you’re not out making snowmen and stuff) to work on your profile, try out a few dating sites and teach yourself how to work these to get what you want.
Oh yes, and keep warm, it’s cold out there!
January 8th, 2010
A weekly roundup of some online dating stories and offers from around the Internet and the world, as well as my own commentary, of course. This week – an offer from eHarmony, a new iPhone app and some new online dating research.
Continue Reading November 20th, 2009
More about the OKcupid survey…
A recent article in the Telegraph reported the results of a statistical survey conducted by free dating site OKCupid. The survey aimed to discover the makings of the perfect first online dating message, on OKcupid at least.
Continue Reading September 25th, 2009
New figures released by dating site OKCupid reveal some interesting things about online dating response rates and important information about sending your first message to someone online.
Continue Reading September 12th, 2009
On the 22nd of April, the Long Acre Bar in central London will host Ree-cycle, a singles’ event with a few great twists. The first twist is the concept: a very Sex and the City-like concept of “recycling” your love life. Each guest is to bring someone in their life they think is a great catch but is somehow still single. Everyone can then look around and hopefully find the perfect match among someone else’s rejects. It sounds like fun but the second twist makes it even better – the proceeds go to Phab Kids, which is a disabled children’s charity.
So go on, dust off that ex you’ve been keeping tucked away in your wardrobe and take him or her out for a spin. Who knows what fab finds you might uncover!
More information is on their site: Ree-cycle
April 18th, 2009
A while back, I warned about a common online dating scam involving an Iraqi soldier.
Now news has come out about a British woman who fell victim to a very similar scam, losing £10k in the process. The scammer pretended to be an American soldier serving in Afghanistan.
Continue Reading April 11th, 2009
It’s finally happened! The gay and lesbian dating site from eHarmony has launched. CompatiblePartners offers all the best features of eHarmony ( and eHarmony UK ) for gay and lesbian singles who are looking for serious relationships.
The site’s launch follows a legal battle, as eHarmony were sued for their refusal to allow non-heterosexual daters on their sites. After losing the battle, they finally decided to invite gays to their compatibility matching party, but decided to keep things separate, possibly to avoid putting off their more conservative members or to appeal to their founder’s own conservative views. Either way, the site is now up and running and looks every bit as shiny as its hetero counterparts.
Continue Reading April 1st, 2009
I was reading today that a pair of gorillas are celebrating the birth of their first child after being successfully matched by online dating.
Someone left a comment on the article, lamenting the so-called death of similar love-focused introduction agencies for humans and claiming online dating is now only used by people who want to make use of the large number of available singles to lead lives full of casual relationships only.
But is romance really dead online?
Continue Reading March 30th, 2009
GirlsDateForFree,the fast-paced dating site where every night is ladies’ night, has started offering a moneyback guarantee, comparable to the Match.com
offering.
This being a fast-paced site, often known for being a casual dater’s heaven, you don’t need to wait a whole 6 months to get a membership. If you date on the site for 3 months without seeing any action, you can get your membership extended for an extra 3 months. Obviously, this is for the men. Women never have to pay to use the site, which is the secret of its appeal.
Terms & conditions obviously apply, but they are pretty standard – you have to have uploaded a photo and filled out every field of your profile within a week of registering and you must have made an effort to contact people on the site.
The new offer is available only to people with profiles created after February 12, 2009.
March 17th, 2009
If you’re single and still looking for something to do on the Valentine’s day weekend, you can always try speed dating or a lock & key party. I already wrote in this blog about singles’ events companies in the UK, but I thought I’d also point out that as of today’s date, there are quite a few singles’ parties scheduled for Valentine’s day that still have places. Prices vary but are usually around the £20 mark, although they do vary can go down to £10 per ticket (or go up to about £25).
If you’ve never tried this sort of thing before, this could be a good time to give it a go. Especially, if you like going out but want to make sure you meet eligible singles while you’re partying. Speed dating was written about quite a lot in the past when journalists thought it was new and exciting, but it has now sort of disappeared from view (apart from the occasional return on the lead up to V-day). It’s still, however, a good way of meeting people and it does work for quite a few people. Here are the events I know of that still have spaces:
Continue Reading February 3rd, 2009
Loopylove.com
used to be one of the most popular dating sites in the UK. It used to be known as one of the best Internet dating sites for people new to dating online, with a simple, unassuming design and a nice collection of useful features. Then it got sold and had rather an ill-advised botched facelift, making it look both unappealing and ever so slightly pretentious. I’m sure this put quite a few people off dating there, to be honest. Now it’s been sold again, to a company that seems to appreciate a clean, functional design. The pretentious elements are no longer to be found and the site now offers a very simple one page sign up, so people can start running detailed searches much much quicker. Hopefully this will see the return to glory of one of the busiest and easiest sites the UK has ever known!
January 20th, 2009
Great news for cosmopolitan, metropolitan daters everywhere! Metrodate.com, 
the world’s largest urban dating site is now totally free to use (as in, “no credit card needed ever” free, rather than “sign up free but pay for messages”). Instead of charging for membership, they will sell locally targeted ad space on the site to cover costs.
The site is available in over 220 countries and an impressive selection of different languages. Its main focus is cities (and it offers city guides as well), but apparently it’s now big enough to have members outside of urban areas. I’m guessing it will grow even more now it’s free.
January 8th, 2009
*** Please note, the website below no longer works. I had a look to see if there are any others and found this one, which claims to be free to use (and I just love the front page image!). In the UK, Lovestruck.com, the chic international urban dating site, were recently offering poker night singles’s events in London, in conjunction with PKR Casino. They do weekly online poker nights for registered Lovestruck members on the PKR site, which I *think* are open to Lovestruck users from all over the world. The site is free to use in many cities, but not in others (though there is a free trial going on at the moment in those, including the London one)***
—
I don’t normally pick up on other people’s press releases when they’re advertising new sites unless I have a specific point to make about their workmanship (see earlier post), but this one made me laugh so much when I saw the headline in Google News, I had to blog it:
Poker-Online-Dating (www.Poker-Online-Dating.com) launches its new and exciting free dating site for online poker players. It matches poker players together from around the world who are looking for true love.
Our site provides a safe environment where people of similar interests and hobbies can meet. Imagine meeting someone online who loves playing poker as much as you. You can discuss the latest poker tournaments you’ve entered, your best poker hands, or your highest winnings without boring your date. Even better, your date understands you!
(and the rest)
Of all the niche fusion ideas in the world this one’s right up there with the Korean Pizza.
“Are you ready to combine online poker with online dating?”
I’m not sure I am, really!
June 23rd, 2007
Internet lothario meets his match
A serial internet dater who was banned from one site for displaying a “lack of commitment” has finally met his Ms Right, it is reported.
(Full story here)
I totally missed out on this when the news came out, but just found it on the Pocado news section.
I remember this guy from my moderating days. It wasn’t our site that banned him, and looks like that was the right move 
Maybe all he needed was the love of the right woman?
May 27th, 2007
From the BBC:
Man proposes after four minutes
A single father-of-two proposed to an American woman he met on the internet four minutes after flying 4,000 miles to see her for the first time.
Sometimes the face to face meeting is only needed for a final confirmation.
Warms your heart, doesn’t it?
April 15th, 2007
According to the UK’s office for national statistics, more than seven million people in Britain live alone now, compared with three million in 1971. Single parent families are also on the rise, especially those with lone mothers. Not only are more people living alone or without a partner, people are also getting married later, especially the men. (Full BBC article here).
Add this to the fact over half of the UK’s adult population now have access to broadband and you’ll realise that not only is there a real need in this country for online dating services, the infrastructure exists to make it relatively easy for comapnies to fulfil that need.
April 11th, 2007
Looks like Plentyoffish is going to do more stuff in the UK, with the launch of a new affiliate programme. The UK market still has a lot of scope for growth. I would say much more than the US market right now. We’ll see how big a chunk of that growth Plentyoffish can get.
I’d just like to point out the happy fact that 3 of the 7 sites mentioned in the Hitwise report are ours. Dating For Parents took a lot less than a year to hit the top 10. I’m not sure where our latest site stands, but it’s growing pretty fast so if it’s not there already it will be soon.
Oh, and our affiliate programmes (via Webgains or Tradedoubler) pay better. Just saying
Let the games begin.
April 8th, 2007
Dr David Voas from The University of Manchester said that zodiac ‘love signs’ have no impact on our chances of marrying – and staying married.
The Senior Research Fellow at the University’s Centre for Census and Survey Research analysed the birthdays of all 20 million husbands and wives in England and Wales.
The investigation – using 2001 census data – failed to reveal any evidence of attraction between star signs.
(Full article here)
The research takes into account the fact that professional astrologers view the complete birth charts, rather than rely solely on sun sign, but assumes that sun signs would account for a level of measurable influence, if it existed.
There is no shortage of dating sites out there that offer astrological matching but somehow I doubt any of them will suffer too greatly from the publication of this report. Astrology is still a highly popular way for people to measure their supposed “compatibility”.
Astrology has different trends in it, much like psychology. Astrological compatibility tests are used to measure particular compatibility factors and ignore others (much like trends in psychology ).
The important thing people should keep in mind following this survey is not to take astrological compatibility too seriously and, in particular, not to write off any supposedly “incompatible” matches.
Anything that pigeon-holes people based on factors they cannot control is limited at best.
March 27th, 2007
I’m surprised hotenough.org is the first site in the US to vet people based on looks. The UK’s Gorgeous Dating has been doing it for years and attracting some pretty well-off members who often say they’d never dream of dating on a “normal” site.
With online dating having now become so big, there’s gotta be a way for people to weed out those potentials they’re not likely to ever want to date. Regardless of what qualities you choose to vet people by, the mere act of making a site exclusive only to some daters is always going to be somewhat controversial. By the same token, there will always be a demand for it. The more people discover the fact that online dating usually involves a lengthy process of browsing, searching and physically dating a multitude of unsuitables, the more they will require market niching to make their lives easier. Clubs and bars reserve the right of admission to ensure the right atmosphere, so it was only a matter of time till dating sites started doing it too.
March 22nd, 2007
* That’s the London Underground, for you non-Brits
Just saw this ad today for Indian website, Shaadi.com:
Crappy pic, I know, but I didn’t have a proper camera on me. Click on the image for the bigger version.
It’s a bit unclear in the pic, but the woman is said to be a model into “modern art and boxing” and the guy is a “businessman” who likes Stallone and wildlife. The man is 5’11″ and 29, the woman is 5’4″ and 25. Seems like some very traditional, stereotypical assumptions are being made about the preferences of the target audience. Then again, The Asian community is often quite traditional so maybe they’ll all be flocking to Shaadi.com to find their own businessmen and models.
I noted there aren’t any calls to action, nor are there any promotional codes, mobile shortcodes or any other method of tracking conversions from this campaign. Pure branding? I hope they have money to burn. I know how much these campaigns cost…
March 15th, 2007
A recent report has shown that 20% of British Internet users used dating sites in December last year compared to only 13% in America . The French, however, beat everyone, with 22% of their Internet users logging on for love.
December is traditionally a busy month on the sites, because the holiday season can make people feel pretty lonely. I wonder whether the figures would have been significantly different if the research had been done in a different month. Either way, if you account for the fact that not all Internet users are single, it emerges that online dating has now become pretty much standard in the UK. About time, too.
February 23rd, 2007
