AYI Blog

The Valentine’s Day Blues: The darker side of the holiday of love

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:47:00 -0500

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, the team here at AYI (AreYouInterested.com®) surveyed more than 500 of our Facebook fans to find out what people will be up to. Wondering how likely you are to get dumped on Valentine’s Day or how many people will be logged on to a dating site come Feb 14th? Keep Reading to learn more about the darker side of this supposedly-loving holiday:

QUESTION: If you don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, how will you spend it?
** WINNING ANSWER: 29% - Continue looking for love online

We were proud to see that being dateless on Valentine’s Day doesn’t discourage our fans, since so many said they would use this night to continue to look for love online. Good choice!

QUESTION: What would be worse on Valentine’s Day?
** WINNING ANSWER: 40% - Canceling a date by text message

Word to the wise—if you have to cancel your Valentine’s date, don’t do it by text message; forty percent of people said that’s the worst mistake you can make—even worse than canceling a date through a friend or keeping a date just because you already spent the money.

QUESTION: If you wanted to break up, when would you be more likely to do it?
** WINNING ANSWER: 38% - Before Valentine’s Day

What type of role does Valentine’s Day play in break-ups? Most of our fans said they’re more likely to break up before Valentine’s Day, perhaps in an effort to save the money on flowers and chocolate. 21% think it’s best to get through the holiday and then break up, and to make for a Valentine’s Day you will never forget, 12% thought it would be best to break up on Valentine’s Day itself. Awkward!

BIG Things Coming...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 13:23:00 -0400

Here at SNAP Interactive we are all passionate about developing brand new ways for people to connect with other interesting people.

Since 2007, we have been working on our AreYouInterested.com app, making almost daily updates in order to maximize the number of valuable connections made between our members. And over those five years, we have seen our app consistently grow to become one of Facebook’s largest and most visited apps. As of June 2012, the AreYouInterested.com Facebook app is currently installed for 60+ Million people* and visited by over 7.4 Million people each month*.

Now for the past several months we have taken a step back and are getting ready to relaunch AreYouInterested.com to build off what we’ve learned as well as the wealth of data we’ve received from our millions of Facebook-synced users. This relaunch will provide our members with a fun new way to meet people who share meaningful interests.

Other digital companies have improved how people find new books, movies and music based on their other interests and actions. Our objective for this relaunch is to do the same thing for finding new people. AreYouInterested’s competitive advantage in achieving this lofty goal lies with the amount of data and brainpower we have amassed over the past 5 years.

One of the most exciting aspects of being a data nerd working on AreYouInterested is that our roughly 20,000,000^ Facebook-synced members have given us access to the interests that they ‘like’. That totals more than 800,000,000^ structured data points (i.e their interests) of what our members truly care about - and they are updated in real-time!

Every day, we receive 450,000^ new updates on what our community is liking right now that come from anywhere on the web where a Facebook Like button exists. Combine that with over 350,000^ matches made every day on our app and you can see why we’re geeking out about the potential opportunities for determining what sort of interests get people to connect.

To do this, we have begun organizing this massive amount of data while building a team of analysts, data scientists and engineers devoted to introducing our members to people who share the interests that truly matter to them. Over the next few months, this team will be publishing some of our findings as well as the nitty gritty into how we are managing such an immense amount of data right here on this blog.

Stay Tuned…

Follow our future findings via RSS or Twitter

^{* Source: Facebook Insights, 6/12/2012 (from 5/11/11-6/11/11)
^ Source: Internal Metrics, 6/11/2012}

^{Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains “forward-looking statements” made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Words such as “anticipate,” “assume,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “goal,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “seek,” “target,” “will” and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our ability to successfully develop, test and launch our redesigned product; unexpected delays in this process; general economic, industry and market sector conditions; the ability to obtain additional financing to implement the Company’s long-term growth strategy; the ability to effectively manage the Company’s growth; the ability to anticipate and respond to changing consumer trends and preferences; reliance on the Company’s chief executive officer and sole director and the Company’s ability to attract and hire key personnel; reliance on a very limited number of third party platforms to run the Company’s applications and the ability of third party platforms to take action against these applications; the intense competition in the online dating marketplace; the ability to establish and maintain brand recognition; the ability to develop and support successful applications for mobile platforms; the ability to advertise the Company’s products through a variety of advertising media; the ability to develop and market new technologies to respond to rapid technological changes; increased governmental regulation of the online dating, social networking or Internet industries; and circumstances that could disrupt the functioning of the Company’s applications and websites. In evaluating these statements, you should carefully consider these risks and uncertainties and those described under the headings “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and other recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement was made.}

“The Business of Online Dating” SNAP CEO Featured on CNBC’s...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:23:04 -0500

“The Business of Online Dating” SNAP CEO Featured on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange

SNAP President and CEO, Cliff Lerner, spoke with CNBC’s Jackie DeAngelis on Worldwide Exchange on Valentine’s Day, sharing his thoughts on SNAP’s roadmap for AreYouInterested.com and disruptive technologies in the online dating industry.

New AreYouInterested.com Survey Uncovers What Singles REALLY Want This Valentine’s Day

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:21:32 -0500

This Valentine’s Day, we asked our male and female AreYouInterested.com fans to share their thoughts on dating and mating on the national day of love. Over 500 singles on the AreYouInterested.com Facebook Fan Page responded over the course of several days and interesting insights included:

• About 1/3 of singles surveyed expect to end up in bed on Valentine’s Day — 38 percent of men, and 25 percent of women;

• 33 percent have checked their ex’s Facebook status to see if they had plans for the holiday;

• Singles are not deterred by blind dates — 74 percent believe a first date on Valentine’s Day is a good idea;

• 58 percent believe the man should pay for dinner on Valentine’s Day;

• 43 percent of singles could envision using a mobile dating app to find a date; an

• Nearly 67 percent said they would end a rocky relationship before Valentine’s Day.

To read more, please visit http://media.snap-interactive.com/polls-and-surveys

“Before Zynga, There was SNAP.” SNAP Featured on...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:40:00 -0500

“Before Zynga, There was SNAP.” SNAP Featured on TheStreet.com

SNAP President and CEO, Cliff Lerner, recently sat down with TheStreet.com, following the ringing of the NASDAQ opening bell as part of the launch of the Only In The Alley calendar.

SNAP Introduces “Only In The Alley” 2012 Calendar

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:02:00 -0500

During a Summit Series cruise this summer, we got together with our friends at Hotlist and thought, “What if we gathered together a bunch of NYC-based tech entrepreneurs and had them pose for a calendar?” Fast forward six months, and the “Only In The Alley” 2012 calendar was born.

The idea, sparked by our CEO Cliff Lerner and Hotlist’s Chris Mirabile, was to showcase some of New York City’s hottest tech startups in the hopes of drawing attention to the breadth of talent and promise the east coast has, compared to Silicon Valley. We also wanted to foster a strong tech community and presence, something often overlooked for traditional industries in the city.

The tech community loved the idea. Mashable and Betabeat wrote about it and the launch party last Friday attracted over 500 people, including VC’s, media, entrepreneurs and techies.

“The City of New York is proud of the promising tech startups and entrepreneurs who are helping to make NYC the leading digital city in the world,” said Rachel Sterne, Chief Digital Officer of NYC. Mashable’s Adam Ostrow also contributed to the calendar saying, “While Silicon Valley will always be a home to remarkable technological innovation and progress, Silicon Alley has emerged as a truly unique place to create companies as diverse as the people who call it home.”

You can view photos from the calendar here, featuring all of the 2012 startup companies.

Additionally, we are thrilled to share that SNAP, Hotlist and executives from a half dozen of the other startups featured in the calendar will be ringing the NASDAQ opening bell on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 9:30 a.m. EST.

We extend our gratitude for your support and wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Top 10 Cities for Online Dating with Hottest Singles

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:00:00 -0500

What are the top 10 cities for online dating? What about the most active cities for mobile dating? And, of those cities, which ones do you think have the HOTTEST singles? By combining data from AreYouInterested.com, our popular social dating app, with a user survey of over 500 singles on our AreYouInterested.com Facebook fan page, we’ve uncovered the hottest and most active cities across the country. You may be surprised to learn that your soul mate lives closer than you previously thought!

While New York tops the list for online dating AND attractive singles (anyone else have a New York state of mind?), a number of survey respondents believe Los Angeles has the hottest singles – no surprises there. But be wary, as Los Angeles natives play hard to get, ranking fourth in the list of top cities for online dating and sixth for mobile dating. Maybe the gender ratio of men to women is finally catching up with the City of Angels?

The Deep South makes a big splash, with Dallas and Houston placing high on our lists. While No. 8 on the list for online dating, survey respondents ranked Dallas third for best looking singles and Houston came in SECOND for online dating. Thanks to a large population of hip 20-something residents, tons of live-music joints and all-night dance clubs, Dallas and Houston offer the perfect opportunity to meet that special someone. What’s more, both Texas cities are highly active when it comes to mobile dating, indicating singles have an even greater chance of finding love - either at home on their laptop or out and about on their smartphone.

Love abounds in the windy city. Chicago came in THIRD for online dating! Not only that, Chicago singles are mobile (No. 2), and cute (No. 4 hottest singles). Best grab your phone and trek over to the City by the Lake!

Below are the Top 10 cities for online dating in the U.S. according to *AreYouInterested.com:

New York
Houston
Chicago
Los Angeles
Denver
Indianapolis
Phoenix
Dallas
Philadelphia
Seattle

And here are the Top 10 cities for mobile dating in the U.S. according to *AreYouInterested.com:

New York
Chicago
Dallas
Washington
Houston
Los Angeles
Atlanta
San Francisco
Denver
Minneapolis

*Based on visits per month

(click to enlarge)

Sorry, Philadelphia and Seattle.

INFOGRAPHIC: Mobile Dating: Love in the Palm of Your Hand

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:30:00 -0400

Now that online dating has reached a tipping point, where nearly one in three who use the Internet have visited an online dating site, it’s never been easier to find a potential partner with similar interests, all with the help of a simple algorithm. Today, the search for love has jumped from the computer screen to mobile devices, increasing opportunities for singles to meet, chat, flirt and possibly fall in love with someone else nearby. No longer are singles relegated to their laptops — as demonstrated by the AreYouInterested.com® mobile dating infographic below.

The infographic pulls data from the more than 50,000 AreYouInterested.com singles who use the mobile dating app every day, currently ranked in the App Store as a top 5 grossing iPhone social networking app in the U.S. Some of the more notable findings include:

Mobile Dating is a Rising Trend - 4 out of 5 people surveyed prefer mobile dating to online dating sites.
Mobile Daters are Highly Active - Nearly 600 online dating profiles are viewed each minute on AreYouInterested.com… and the average person looks at 20+ online dating profiles a day!
Mobile Daters Get More Action - 61% of AreYouInterested.com users surveyed believed they are more likely to “hook up” on a mobile dating app than an online dating site.

For more, see the infographic below. And to get in on the action, be sure to visit the iTunes App Store and download AreYouInterested.com today!

(click to enlarge)