USA TODAY – Jan 26 – Mobile video communication is one of the latest trends in online dating and is the focus of a number of services including Dating.fm, Flikdate, VideoDate, View N Me and Instamour. "Skype started the whole genre change and FaceTime took it into mobile," says Marc Lesnick, founder of iDate. "FaceTime already proves that the model works." Mobile video communication is made with advances in mobile technology and allows for a limited first date experience without the full commitment of an in-person meeting.
Category: Outlets – USA Today
Online Daters Often Willing To Cross Racial Lines
USA TODAY – Nov 4 – Online daters prefer to contact those of the same race, but new research by sociologist Kevin Lewis of the University of California, San Diego suggests that online daters are often more willing to respond to interest from someone of another race. Lewis finds the strongest within-race contact among Asians and the weakest among whites. White women respond mostly to white men. Black daters tend to be ignored when they contact non-blacks. AYI.com found Asian women the most preferred by all men except Asians – who prefer Hispanic women.
Tinder App Sparks New Way To Seek Romance
USA TODAY – Aug 2 – Founded by University of South California graduates Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, Tinder focuses on the power of first impressions. The main thrill is the lack of rejection. As they swipe through profiles, users never know whether they've been rejected or just haven't come across another user's recommended feed yet, and none of the activity is ever posted to their Facebook account. Since its launch in Sep 2012, Mateen says Tinder has seen 100M matches and 7.5 billion profile ratings. "At first around 80% of our users were 18-24, now 67% are 18-24 and we are seeing more in the 25-34 range joining," Mateen said. Match.com has only 25% of users under 30.
SMS Have Blown Up The Dating Culture
USA TODAY – July 18 – Casual, easy and non-threatening — the simple beauty of SMS. For dating, it has given rise to new ways of flirting and even defining exactly what's going on between two people. Hearing someone's voice on the phone is still a key element for a relationship, yet people are increasingly more likely to rely on the relative "safety" of a text for initial contacts. An Independent research firm conducted a survey in May for ChristianMingle.com and JDate.com. One third of singles agree it's less intimidating to ask for a date via SMS, the survey found. One in four say an hour is the longest acceptable response time to a text. According to Nielsen, 764 SMS per person were sent/received each month in the USA in 2012, compared with 165 mobile calls per month.
DateMySchool.com: Online Dating For College Campus
USA TODAY – May 7 – Co-founder of DateMySchool.com, Alexa built the dating website in 2010 with Jean Meyer for peers at Columbia University where they attended business school. Since then, the college- and alum-exclusive service has expanded to ~ 230K students in 2,800 colleges. The duo launched iPhone, iPad and Android applications last month.
"Once they've seen these people are just college kids they're much more open and receptive," Gobiel said. "You then know there won't be these creepy people you might find on other websites."
This Dating Site Livens Up Airport Layovers
USA TODAY – Apr 23 – MeetAtTheAirport.com allows solo travelers to arrange meet-ups with strangers. The website has just soared to the 80K-member mark. A similar site, Planely.com, matches members who are taking the same flight. And KLM Airlines has a "Meet & Seat" option for flights to and from Amsterdam that lets participating passengers link up via social media.
by Kitty Yancey
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The New Face Of Dating
USA TODAY – Apr 15 – Tinder, the mobile dating app that allows users to 'like' or 'pass' on other users, seems to have inspired a new generation of apps. ExRated, founded by Tom Padazana, allows users to search for a particular love interest and see what past partners have to say. Rebound is an app that privately analyzes available data about your single Facebook friend's past relationships in the last six years. The app generates statistics, a rebound rating and advice for any friend you choose. Lulu app is the ultimate female resource where women can get this information. To date, ~4M reviews have been read and Lulu has ~35M profiles available in the app. LuluDude allows guys to get general feedback about where they stand among other guys. They can also upload their own photos and encourage female friends to boost their ratings.
Mobile Apps Tap The Changing Face Of Online Dating
USA TODAY – Feb 13 – The mobile dating revenue is projected to double over the next five years ($415M). There is a site for everybody, many with their own apps as well. The niches range from ethnic, religious or age-based to sites for occupations (FarmersOnly.com) or eating preferences (VeggieDate.org). For gay men, there's Grindr.com and Stagg, DateMyPet for pet lovers. With the dating industry moving so rapidly, the phrase "online dating" will soon disappear from the lexicon, says Sam Yagan, CEO of Match. "The idea of differentiating online and offline in five years will be anachronistic," he says. Nielsen reports that the number of Americans using apps or a mobile version of a dating site was 13.7M in November 2012, more than double the previous year's 5.8M. Mark Brooks, a consultant who has studied the industry from its infancy, says the online and mobile dating industry is more than just a business: "Going from where it is now and where it's going to be in the next 20 or 30 years time, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a business — outside of the medical industry — that will have more impact on society."
by Sharon Jayson
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Match.com Survey: What Singles Want
Online Dating Has Changed Everything
USA TODAY – Jan 23 - In his new book, Love in the Time of Algorithms: What Technology Does to Meeting and Mating,
writer Dan Slater argues that online dating has changed society
profoundly.
Q: What is it about online dating today that you believe has made such a big difference?
A:
It's the vast expansion of the dating pool. People tended to be moving
from one relationship to the next a lot faster than they seemed to
before online dating existed.
Q: You suggest that online dating has made relationships more disposable. Why?
A: It made a lot more people feel they are part of a larger mating pool than they were used to.
Q: How much science is really involved in matching people the way online dating does?
A: Online dating does seem to be improving at is the likelihood of two
strangers getting along well on a first date. The psychological science
has not provided the ability to predict long-term compatibility between
a couple who have never met.
Q: How did you meet your wife, Sophie?
A: I used a total of two
sites through which I dated on and off about 12 months.Sophie and I
actually met in a yoga class in January 2009. I asked her out, but she
had a boyfriend. We went our separate ways for 2½ years. Then we
reconnected on Facebook.