Category: Outlets – The Guardian

THE GUARDIAN — June 18 — Michael Birch's (Bebo Founder) original internet plans were aimed at an older age group – thirtysomethings – but he soon learnt that social networking online depends on finding a focus based on more than age – a classroom, for instance, or a particular hobby. Teenagers are always the early adopters online because they have more time on their hands and less money – and social networks are free.' Bebo spread entirely by word of mouth in schools and colleges, to the point where his site now has 100 million page views every day. Bebo is just a refinement of Ringo, which Birch built in 2003 and sold not long after it reached 400,000 members. That grew out of BirthdayAlarm.com, a successful birthday reminder service using eCards that currently has 40 million users. The real reason Bebo has taken off so fast is because it can be mastered by a 12-year-old. Birch believes we are only at the beginning of things. Social networking sites 'are becoming much more of a utility over time rather than being a pure gimmick', he told the website Online Personals Watch. FULL ARTICLE@ THE GUARDIAN

Mark Brooks: The trick to starting a successful social network is… 1. target an active hive of users  2. get the initial userbase seeding right  3. get the site product mix right.  There will be more successful, targeted social networks in the future. There's still space in the market.

THE GUARDIAN — Apr 5 — To budding Casanovas it is the finest of arts, but to a team of scientists, it is a pig of a problem: what is the best technique for seduction? Researchers, along with Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, is hoping to find the answer are staging a mass speed dating experiment to reveal the most effective strategy for pulling a partner. Over an evening of 500 dates, psychologists will tease out the topic of conversation that emerges as the best for showing quickly whether a couple are well suited or doomed to failure.  FULL ARTICLE @ THE GUARDIAN

UK GUARDIAN — June 5 — 'The Infidelity Report' carried out by the Consumer Analysis Group, revealed that 1/3 of people think people were made to stray, over 3/4 consider infidelity more common than ever and nearly as many find it increasingly acceptable.  Nearly a third of over 1,000 respondents didn't consider infidelity in a short-term relationship as 'being unfaithful' – a mindset that has been imported from the New York dating scene.  Most women want to be in a relationship from day one but more and more men are trying to get away with [not settling down] so women are adopting the trend of dating more people too.  Meeting more people has been made possible because of methods such as internet dating and speed dating. In the past you had to wait for single people to find you – now you can go out to find them.  Mobile phones, email and text messaging were all cited as ways to conduct an affair safely. There was a disparity on what would constitute cheating. While some said flirty text messages and emails were too much, almost a quarter did not consider a 'lingering kiss' to be an offence, while 12% said you could only be 'unfaithful' if you were married.

The full article was originally published at Guardian UK, but is no longer available.

GUARDIAN — Feb 6 — Once taken seriously by mental health experts, love stopped being studied by psychologists and doctors in the 18th century. ‘People became preoccupied with sex, not love, thanks to the likes of Freud,’ Tallis said.   People who are ‘lovesick’ exhibit a wide variety of symptoms, including mania, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, which should be treated like any other psychological condition.  Evolutionary theorists hold that ‘lovesickness’ lasts only long enough for two people to produce one or two children, after which it dies or turns to friendship, what psychologists call ‘companionate love’.  FULL ARTICLE @ THE GUARDIAN UK