Month: January 2009

Marriage Matchmaking Going Strong Online

Posted on January 4, 2009

Looking for wife on shaadi LA TIMES — Jan 3 — Biodata is used primarily by South Asians in arranged marriages and emphasizes compatibility, education and family history, including caste. There are also physical factors such as complexion and blood type. Although biodata is associated primarily with arranged marriages, the increasing popularity of matrimonial Web sites, such as matrimonials.com and southasiancupid.com, has prompted some singles to post their own information. Serving as their own matchmaker may carry a whiff of desperation. Parents often post matrimonial ads.

The full article was originally published at Seattle Times, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony and Shaadi are the big Indian matrimonials sites.

Match.com Launches Free Dating Site

Posted on January 3, 2009
DOWN PARADIGM SHIFT — Jan 2 — Match.com has launched a free dating service. Downtoearth. Downtoearth is headed up by Jacob Solotaroff, the former Director of Product Management and Member Integrity at Match.com. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

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The Dangers Of Romantic Comedies

Posted on January 3, 2009

Movie LA TIMES — Dec 29 — A Scottish university issued an alarming news release warning that romantic comedies "may actually damage your love life" by raising unrealistic romantic expectations and setting them up for a lifetime of disappointment.  In the movies, new relationships are portrayed both as exciting, as most tend to be, and offering the intimacy that usually takes years to develop in real life. Past transgressions are easily forgiven. (You cheated on me with the mailman? Big deal! I still love you; let's live happily ever after!) And finally, older, more committed relationships are frequently portrayed in a negative light, with couples bickering and backbiting. More often than not, married couples are depicted as long-suffering. FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES

Mark Brooks: Internet dating sites can help the cause by educating users, resetting expectations and making better matches. There are a host of dating sites offering up personality and compatibility profiling tests now.  They use a range of sciences to do so. eHarmony is led by a clinical psychologist, PerfectMatch by a sociologist, Chemistry by an anthropologist and even Plentyoffish.com has jumped on the bandwagon and has recently started having all new users go through a page of profiling questions. (Full Disclosure: POF is a client of Courtland Brooks)

EHarmony’s GLBT Site Will Alienate Gays

Posted on January 2, 2009

Compatible partners logo OUT&ABOUT — Jan 1 –  In accordance with their settlement agreement, eHarmony has created a separate site dedicated to matching same-sex couples called Compatible Partners. Although this site will use the same questionnaire to match same sex couples, the site comes with a hefty disclaimer warning that this new matchmaking site was not created with the use of extensive data on what makes a compatible same-sex couple. eHarmony's straight users and their newly acquired homosexual users will remain completely separate.

The full article was originally published at Out&About, but is no longer available.

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