Web Dating Services

Online Dating - Ladies Where Are The Good Men Hiding? - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:05:37 PDT

Online Dating - Ladies Where Are The Good Men Hiding? - Yahoo! News: "Online Dating - Ladies Where Are The Good Men Hiding?

Wed Jul 2, 3:01 AM ET

TheFitnessPersonals.com has a surplus of active and in shape men and is a hidden gem waiting to be found by more ladies. TheFitnessPersonals.com is for online dating and activity partner matchmaking.
ADVERTISEMENT

Miami, FL (PRWEB) July 2, 2008 -- It's not easy finding a good man these days; especially when you break it all down to pin point what you want. Are you looking for tall dark and handsome? Or maybe blond, built and muscular. What ever your flavor of man is, and when it comes to online dating, it seems like TheFitnessPersonals.com has it.

Online since October of 2007, and based out of South Florida, TheFitnessPersonals.com has been signing up new members daily making it one of the fastest growing online dating and activity partner matchmaking websites on the Internet. The interesting twist is that for every one woman that joins there are approximately two men thus making it a hidden gem for ladies all over and especially the ladies living in South Florida.

'We do most of our marketing in the South Florida region. It's no mistake that many of our members come from this area. South Florida is a great place to run this kind of online dating and activity partner matchmaking website from"

IsACatch.com Introduces Online Dating 2.0 - Start Up Makes Online Dating Social - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:02:28 PDT

IsACatch.com Introduces Online Dating 2.0 - Start Up Makes Online Dating Social - Yahoo! News: "IsACatch.com Introduces Online Dating 2.0 - Start Up Makes Online Dating Social

Wed Jul 2, 3:35 AM ET

Modernizing online dating, IsACatch.com introduces a new way to find love on the Internet. By letting people play matchmaker for their eligible friends, IsACatch.com enables the social component of dating, and returns some of the fun that has long been missing from traditional online dating sites. IsACatch.com comes out of private beta today and is currently available for free.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 2, 2008 -- Modernizing online dating, IsACatch.com introduces a new way to find love on the Internet. By letting people play matchmaker for their eligible friends, IsACatch.com enables the social component of dating, and returns some of the fun that has long been missing from traditional online dating sites. IsACatch.com comes out of private beta today and is currently available for free.

'We all have awesome single, eligible friends who still haven't found 'the one,' despite hitting the clubs and paying lots of money to traditional online sites like Match and eHarmony,' said Lijen Tan, co-founder of IsACatch. 'Normally, we try to set them up with other friends in our network... with IsACatch.com, we're bringing that same idea to the Web.'

IsA"

Extreme Growth in Live Video Chat Dating Takes Industry to Next Generation: by VdateOnline.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:36:47 PDT

State College Business | Centre Daily: "Thursday, Jun. 26, 2008
Extreme Growth in Live Video Chat Dating Takes Industry to Next Generation: by VdateOnline.com

CHICAGO — The online dating industry has recently evolved with the latest advances in technology to create the most efficient and personally interactive experience possible by utilizing Live Video Chat via webcam, which instantly brings people together. Similar to having groceries delivered to your door VdateOnline.com, the only TOTALLY FREE video dating site offering live video chat to all members, brings prospective love interests directly to your living room instantaneously. Increased activity in live video chat dating is supported by the PEW Internet Study from January 2008 showing a 45% increase in online video audience interaction during the prior 12 month period. The membership growth in totally free online dating communities has accelerated to approximately 16% as projected by Jupiter Research's February 2008 report which also explains in part why VdateOnline's live webcam video chat interactions have increased by 28% during the second quarter of this year.

VdateOnline remains the only site offering its members free video or photo profiles, instant live webcam dating, video profile sharing, and virtual video dating. Additionally, the site has been attracting numerous members who are interested in the exclusive 24 hour date function w"

Singles Are Searching Online for Their Perfect Match on Niche Dating Sites - PR.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:06:54 PDT

Singles Are Searching Online for Their Perfect Match on Niche Dating Sites - PR.com: "Singles Are Searching Online for Their Perfect Match on Niche Dating Sites

Niche sites from every possible subset of our society are connecting more singles in a phenomenon that is sweeping dating cyberspace

Singles Are Searching Online for Their Perfect Match on Niche Dating Sites
Ashland, OR, June 22, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Singles looking for a love connection desiring to forego the tedious searching and struggles associated with weeding through thousands of profiles that are not even close to what they were looking for will find niche dating sites helpful in finding their love interest.

A few years ago the only online dating sites out there consisted of huge repositories of singles representing a complete cross-section of society as a whole. Today, singles can just about find any type of niche dating site with specialties ranging from a particular religious affiliation to sites that connect individuals that have a STD.

Actually, the trend towards these specialty dating sites began when religious sites attempted to connect singles of similar faiths. An example of an early religious startup is JDate.com. This site established a common portal for individuals of the Jewish persuasion looking for a compatible mate. The site has become a huge success with a database of over 700,000 members.

Signing-up for a niche-oriented"

Speed date on Web video - a new concept

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:35:17 PDT

Whats next?

globeandmail.com: Online love is often blind, even more brief

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:45:05 PDT

globeandmail.com: Online love is often blind, even more brief: "Online love is often blind, even more brief

JAMES GRUBEL

Reuters

May 22, 2008 at 12:15 PM EDT

CANBERRA — Matches made over the Internet often do not last because people end up choosing unsuitable partners and forming emotional bonds before meeting face-to-face, an Australian university researcher has found.

Women were especially susceptible to finding Mr. Wrong, as they tend to be attracted by witty comments or clever e-mails, said psychologist Matthew Bambling from the Queensland University of Technology.

“You can never assume things are the way they seem online,” Bambling told Reuters on Thursday.

“Just because they can write a clever comment or a witty e-mail, doesn't mean they will be Mr. Right, that's for sure,” he said, adding some men use the concept of “netting,” sending e-mails to dozens of women and hoping one might respond.

Bambling said you can find a partner online, but warned those using the Web to find love to be aware of the pitfalls.

“There's definitely a dis-inhibition affect online,” he said, with people more likely to exaggerate their good points while hiding anything negative.

“Few guys for example would say �"

Been there; done that: How to start dating

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:51:05 PDT

Been there; done that: How to start dating

Hundreds of Heads

Dating? Here's some advice on pickup lines, blind dates and the personals from the book "How to Survive Dating" (Hundreds of Heads Books, www.hundredsofheads.com, $12.95), straight from people who've done it:

"Don't overlook the online personals, or a newspaper's classified sections. Don't be too proud to use these tools, because they allow you to bypass singles scenes and bars, and they don't put you at the mercy of your friends. I was too embarrassed to do personals for a while, then I tried it and met the most amazing woman I've ever known. And she was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous."

-- M.T., Chicago

"Pickup lines absolutely turn me off. I think a guy should be original and spontaneous. If you can't do that, you're not the kind of guy I want to be hanging out with anyway."

-- A.W., Swainsboro, Ga.

"Just be approachable. Opening lines never work -- that's the problem. Opening lines are for suckers. I stay away from that."

-- Ryan Sieveking, Athens, Ga.

"If I want to talk to someone, I'll look at him and smile. If he doesn't come over, there's nothing else I can do."

-- Kayze, Baltimore

"I think people only use actual pickup lines in the movies. The real business of conversations starting between strangers is usually a slow, boring, predictable ritual, and not worthy of an audience."

-- Shauna McKenna, St. Paul, Minn.

"If someone catches your eye, don't be afraid to go talk to him. Most of the guys that are worth talking to are not the ones that will approach you right away, ready to pounce with a cheesy pickup line. The worthwhile guys -- the keepers -- stand back from the crowd."

-- Jennifer D., Park City, Utah

"Always have stock things you can talk about -- this is critical in bar situations. I'm not going to bring up my secret ones but you can ask something like, 'Who's your favorite Muppet?' That's one that everyone can talk about. Or, 'What celebrity do you look like?'"

-- E.R., Atlanta, Ga.

Hundreds of Heads Books' survival guides offer the wisdom of the masses by assembling the experiences and advice of hundreds of people who have gone through life's biggest challenges and have insight to share. Visit www.hundredsofheads.com to share your advice or get more information.

Face-to-face interaction more crucial than ever in Internet age

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:46:56 PDT

Create a space for community
By Theresa Hogue
Reality Bytes columnist Face-to-face interaction more crucial than ever in Internet age

For the past several years, phrases like “social networking” have become popular, in an attempt to describe the varied ways that people interact on the Web, whether it be chatting with like-minded people about a favorite pastime or trying to meet the partner of your dreams via the Internet.

What’s been striking about the enormous growth of social networking is that it apparently has become necessary to many people because of the increasing lack of social interactions on a face-to-face basis. As the world’s population rapidly increases, it appears that we have fewer and fewer opportunities to connect with each other socially.

Think of Corvallis a century ago. With a fraction of the population, most townspeople likely knew each other by sight. Almost everyone would have attended one of the city’s many churches, where they would have, at least once a week, a chance to gather with others for several hours. Many men would belong to some sort of fraternal or business organization, and while women had fewer social opportunities, they were likely to spend time with their female neighbors, leaning over fences or meeting each other at the local market.

High-tech infidelity

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 05:22:34 PDT

INTERNET, CELL PHONES MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND AND MAINTAIN ILLICIT AFFAIRS
By Mark de la Viña
Mercury News
Rob Hernandez / Mercury News

* Vote: How do you define cheating via technology?

Call it crazy, paranoid or cynical, but the next time you peruse the personals on Craigslist or scan profiles on MySpace, consider this: There's a good chance you just ran into a cheater.

Just as purchasing concert tickets or checking baseball scores has become as simple as logging onto a computer, infidelity is a simple keystroke away.

Cheating is on the rise because technology eases the search to find a willing partner, according to therapists, researchers and relationship experts. The unfaithful no longer have to scour bars or cultivate workplace relationships. Cheating has increased along with the growing use of text messaging and cell phones, chat rooms and online dating sites, some exclusively targeting the polygamous.

``The Internet has greatly removed the barriers,'' says Ruth Houston, founder of Infidelityadvice.com and author of ``Is He Cheating on You? 829 Telltale Signs'' (Lifestyle Publications, 192 pp., $29.95). ``If you are a married person who wants to cheat, you can now go online and maintain an affair even while your spouse is in the room. Everything has changed.''

Jill, 45, an elementary school teacher from Mountain View who asked that her last name not be used, learned of her partner's infidelity when she came across his open e-mail account, which he had failed to log off on their home computer. She was shocked to read that he had done ``everything from soliciting hookers to making dates with others'' via the Internet, she says. ``I saw that he does this all day at work. I even posed as someone he had been conversing with, and he e-mailed me 30 times in one day!''

When Jill revealed her identity, he downplayed his online trawling, which ``ruined our romance,'' she says.

No reliable figures exist on the increase in cheaters who use technology, but computer forensics expert John Lucich says the rise is undeniable. The president of Network Security Group, a firm in Union, N.J., hired for computer-related legal issues, says that 95 percent of the cases his company handles involve men and women who set up secret e-mail accounts for the purpose of cheating.

Online dating sites play a key role in connecting people searching for extracurricular activities. While mainstream services such as Match.com and Yahoo Personals ban married people from posting profiles, the dating sites can't stop users from lying. Other companies are happy to pick up the slack.

Private Affairs (www. philanderers.com), an online dating site based in Toronto, targets users looking for what it calls EMRs, or extramarital relationships. Another service, Ashley Madison Agency (www.ashleymadison.com), boasts 1.03 million members in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. With its tag line ``when monogamy becomes monotony,'' the company, also founded in Toronto, has seen its membership double annually, says operations director and founder Darren Morgenstern.

``We're finding that it's just not going away,'' he says. ``People are looking at the plausibility of using the Internet to have an affair, and it just works for them.''

Once the connection is made, technology also helps the affair to thrive. Cell phones and PDAs give cheaters the chance to communicate privately and coordinate with their side dish.

Caryn, 37, a West Valley College student from Morgan Hill, knows this all too well. Like many wired people in Silicon Valley, she used to contact a former boyfriend almost exclusively on his cell phone.

``After several months, I found out he was married,'' says Caryn, who also asked that her last name not be used. ``Much later, he even informed me that on several occasions I had even paged him during his marriage counseling sessions.''

Statistics on cheating vary widely because of the way pollsters word questions, says Infidelityadvice.com's Houston. The data also is muddied by dishonest responses. And as people debate the definition of sex, they similarly debate the definition of cheating.

Sexologist Shere Hite in 1988 shocked Americans when she reported that up to 70 percent of women married five or more years have sex outside of marriage. Other surveys have concluded that anywhere from 38 million to 53 million men in the United States have cheated on their wives at least once, Houston says.

But such ``studies,'' as well as research reported in popular magazines and advice columns, often inflate figures, according to Tom W. Smith of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His 2004 study, ``American Sexual Behavior,'' which polled more than 10,000 people over 22 years, found that 22 percent of married men and 15 percent of married women have cheated at least once.

Technology has helped the cause, prompting the curious to make the jump from fantasy to philandering, says Brian Person, a marriage and family therapist in Los Altos.

``Some people, given the proper social boundaries, would be less likely to cheat than they are now,'' he says.

Network Security Group's Lucich is convinced that the rise in advertising and e-mail spam that hype cheating sites entice people to cross those boundaries, he says.

``I truly believe that there are people out there who have not thought about infidelity and then get spam messages or hear about online cheating and dating sites on the radio,'' says Lucich, whose book ``Cyber Lies'' (StarPath, 212 pp., $35) details how to easily check a partner's cell phone or computer to discover if he or she is cheating. ``In a weak moment, they say, `Let's just take a peek.' Then they start going further and further, and the next thing you know, they're cheating.''

There is some small consolation in the rise of high-tech infidelity, Houston says, because cheaters are often unaware that they have left evidence of their affairs on their PCs or cell phones. E-mails are reportedly how Christie Brinkley found out her spouse was cheating on her with a local teenager.

``There are programs you can put onto a computer so you can see everything your mate is doing online,'' Houston says. ``You can even put a GPS device in your mate's car to find out where they are going. It might be easier to cheat, but it's also a lot easier to get caught.''

Is It Over? Log on and See

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 05:18:52 PDT

Article Tools Sponsored By
By MELENA RYZIK
Published: September 3, 2006

AT the end of a teary call last January, Louise Zervas hung up the phone and realized her five-month long-distance relationship was over. Then she did what many people her age do after they have broken up: She went online and updated her MySpace profile, changing her personal status from “In a relationship” to “Single.”

Louise Zervas thought she was doing the right thing when she updated her profile on MySpace. Her ex, James Kenler, disagreed.
Callie Lipkin for The New York Times

Ms. Zervas's ex, James Kenler.

“I wanted a clean break,” said Ms. Zervas, 29, a marketing executive in San Francisco.

Her ex-boyfriend, James Kenler, 27, a record label owner in Chicago, did not know about the cleanup, though, until a friend alerted him to Ms. Zervas’s updated MySpace page.

“I got a frantic phone call from him the next day, saying, ‘I thought we were still talking through this but apparently you’ve made your mind up, because your MySpace status says single,’ ” she recalled. “I felt really bad because I wasn’t trying to hurt his feelings or be malicious. I just thought I was following protocol — that that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Mr. Kenler disagreed. “There’s a waiting period,” he said, “before unleashing your profile on these sites.”

Breaking up gracefully is always hard to do. But in an age when young people practically define themselves by what is on their MySpace or Facebook profiles, properly noting your status — single, in a relationship, married, swinger — and dealing with other online mementoes has posed a host of new protocol challenges.

“It’s like this whole new etiquette,” said Ms. Zervas, who is now friendly with Mr. Kenler. “And nobody has really acknowledged the how-to’s because it’s not really formed yet.”

Unlike online dating networks, whose clientele is self-selected with a single goal (romance) in mind, the public sites air users’ dirty laundry to a broad interconnected audience of friends, family and colleagues. That has its benefits, especially when someone wants to broadcast a change of heart. Last month, for instance, Jenna Jameson, the porn star, became MySpace-single after separating from her husband.

For dumpees, though, the mouse-click announcement may be too quick and easy.

“It’s a tender time, and it just exacerbates it when you take it into a public forum with all your friends on it, and their friends on it, and everybody’s all linked up,” said Diane Mapes, author of the guidebook “How to Date in a Post-Dating World.”

“Emotions can be complex enough,” she added, “and every time you throw some new fabulous dating gizmo out there, and people try to figure out how to use it, it makes it more complicated. You need to learn a new set of rules.”

But what are the rules? How long are you supposed to wait to change your status after a breakup — or, for that matter, when a relationship begins? And beyond checking off status, what should you do with sexy comments a fling has posted? Or when do you downgrade an ex’s online avatar from your list of top friends?

Without a common understanding of how to approach those changes, there is a lot of room for confusion and heartache, say dating experts, therapists and people active on the sites.

“If you’re dating someone for a long time and they immediately change the status, it hurts more because you don’t want them to get over it that quickly,” said Elena Price, 20, a college student in Philadelphia.

Her last boyfriend, she said, “canceled” their relationship on Facebook a week after they broke up, and “it stung because it sort of shattered my last hope at getting back together,” she wrote in an e-mail message. Then she discovered that he had created a MySpace account listing himself as single even before he broke up with her. Ouch.

While some behavior is clearly caddish, much is open to interpretation. Even the sudden post-breakup switch from “relationship” to “single” may not be as cold as it seems.

“It could be a very painful and sad — ‘Oh, I can’t believe that I’m single’ — and then you’re painfully and reluctantly clicking the button,” said Alexander Cathcart Dobbs, 25, a graphic designer in Boston. “I did that. I was, like, crying, and readjusting my MySpace profile.”

Then again, some behavior is clearly meant to spite. One of Mr. Dobbs’s exes would frequently change her status to single — “to provoke me,” he said.

Fly-by-night sites

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 05:10:22 PDT

By Rick Holland
Sunday, September 3, 2006

Signs advertising local online dating services have cropped up on utility poles in busy traffic locations, but experts say the sites may be little more than an invitation to telemarketers and spam e-mail.
Recently tacked up to poles on Rte. 126 in Bellingham, just north of the intersection with Interstate 495, a set of signs all read: "Single?" below which they provide the Web address bellinghamsingles.org.
But online dating expert Evan Marc Katz said he believes the site -- and its mirror image, milfordsingles.org -- may simply be fronts to snag e-mail, telephone numbers and other personal information to sell to advertisers and marketers.

"I would guess these sites are simply trying to collect information for an e-mail list to market something else," said Katz, CEO of the company e-cyrano.com and author of a best-selling book on Internet dating.
In a quick review of the site, Katz chuckled at the date below a picture of a happy couple on the bellinghamsingles.org site.
"Look here, they got married in 1996," Katz said. "That’s before (industry giant) Match.com was started. Maybe Match.com stole their idea," he joked.
Neither the bellinghamsingles nor milfordsingles sites provide any company contact information. Both Web site addresses are registered to domainsbyproxy.com, a Scottsdale, Ariz., company that referred all inquiries to an invalid e-mail address.
An unrelated site, franklinsingles.org, is registered to IMAT Group, located in Baroda, India. Completion of its registration page leads users to a series of party pictures, and an odd claim: "We are not an online dating service and we are not a nonprofit organization." The site goes on to explain it is a "great resource for singles looking for a serious relationship!"
Completing the initial registration form online at bellinghamsingles.org -- which requires a home phone, e-mail address and annual income range, among other items -- users are told they "will be contacted" by a relationship specialist.
But the sites don’t seem commercially viable, according to Katz. Plenty of sites attempt to match singles around areas of interest. For example, there is a dating site (trekpassions.com) for fans of "Star Trek" and science fiction. But trying to bring them together based on whether they live in a relatively small town, is a difficult proposition.
"If you restrict the use of a site to singles living in Bellingham, and half the town is married, it’s very limited," Katz said.
And when it comes to Internet dating sites, some among those the businesses are trying to attract, see no advantage to going local.
"You don’t know really who’s on the other side of the computer with any of these sites," said Jetta Panagopolous, who works at Dean College. "And I wouldn’t use (franklinsingles) because there could be creepy people in Franklin."
Second-year Dean student Philip Yu agreed. "It doesn’t matter if it’s franklinsingles," he said. "People could be lying about who they are...I have enough friends around here anyway."

Site introduces honesty to online dating

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 05:03:12 PDT

It aims to separate fact, fiction in Web profiles
Sunday, September 03, 2006
By Lisa Irizarry

Mandy Moreno thought she had found the guy, looking at his online dating profile. Especially the part where he said he wanted to "find just the right girl."

So they arranged to meet.

"I saw him coming across the street," Moreno said. "And I went, 'Whoa!' I don't know if he was in denial or if he was just effeminate. But he wasn't what I was looking for. . . . I thought maybe we should go guy-hunting together."

Moreno, and others who have been stung by misleading Web profiles, have been looking to a Web site that helps separate online fact from fiction.

People can post reviews of their dates on TrueDater.com and also plug in a prospective date to see if anyone else has posted a comment about the person.

It's also about truth in dating advertising, not to malign people, said Jamie Diamond, a spokesman for the Los Angeles-based company.

"You review your date or review reviews of your date. It's not the Bible or the Quran, but it's something to help you out," he said.

Among the dating sites that can be accessed through TrueDater are: American Singles, Black Singles.com, eHarmony, HotorNot, JDate, Match.com, MySpace, Nerve.com, PlanetOut.com and Yahoo Personals.

All that's needed is the person's profile identification or name to see if they've been reviewed on a Web dating site.

More than a half-million people have used True Dater since the site launched last year. "Reviewers" are encouraged to stick to the facts regarding a dater's actual height, weight, age and gender. There is space for comments, but Web site staffers monitor the remarks.

Couple finds love online

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:29:48 PST

The Rapid City Journal: "Couple finds love online
By Mary Garrigan, Journal Staff Writer

Newlyweds Steven and Cheryl Smart look a lot like a commercial for eHarmony.

In fact, the Rapid City couple could be one.

The Smarts are among the estimated 8 million people who have filled out the online dating site’s exhaustive 436-question personality profile in the past five years. More importantly, they are among the more than 90 eHarmony clients who now tie the knot on an average day.

According to new polling data from Harris Interactive, there were an estimated 16,630 marriages between eHarmony couples from September 2004 through August 2005.

Those numbers are proof that eHarmony’s patented Compatibility Matching System works, says founder Neil Clark Warren, a clinical psychologist and relationship expert who launched the site in 2000.

It worked for the Smarts. Their compatibility — discovered online and later proved in person — is evident as they talk about their online romance. They intertwine fingers, touch tenderly and smile constantly.

They met on eHarmony’s Web site in July 2004, nine days after Cheryl, the single mother of a 12-year-old son, registered with the matchmaking service. She had rarely dated in the eight years after her divorce, content at age 42 to raise her son, run her Rapid City hair salon and be single.

“My sister made me do it,” Cheryl explained of her first foray into online dating. “It was completely out of my comfort zone. Internet dating? It seemed so creepy, so sleazy.”

That negative image of Internet matchmaking is rapidly being replaced by the idea that online introductions are simply another way to meet people. Increasingly, Americans of all ages are turning to online dating services such as Match.com, Yahoo Personals and SeniorsCircle.com.

Two out of every five single people have tried Internet dating services, and its revenues are expected to grow to more than $640 million by 20"

National Survey Reveals Single Males and Females Choose Coffeehouses as the Perfect Place for First Dates: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 05:45:50 PST

National Survey Reveals Single Males and Females Choose Coffeehouses as the Perfect Place for First Dates: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "A first date can be nerve-wracking, but 90 percent of singles feel more relaxed if that initial face-to-face happens in a familiar place, according to a new national survey of dating preferences and trends conducted by StrategyOne. The survey of singles also reveals that the rise in online dating has made safe, comfortable meeting places with easy 'outs' more important than ever, especially for women.

ADVERTISEMENT
'Coffeehouses are familiar places that feel like a home away from home -- as a result, they have become incredibly popular for first meetings. From there, singles can determine if they want to move on to a second date,' says dating and relationship expert Logan Levkoff, M.S. 'When singles meet someone there, they have the comfort and confidence that comes from being on their own turf, as well as the safety of being in a public place and the freedom to leave whenever they're ready.'"

Starbucks, Yahoo create online dating guide: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 05:43:34 PST

Starbucks, Yahoo create online dating guide: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance: "Starbucks, Yahoo create online dating guide
Thursday January 19, 1:37 pm ET

Starbucks Corp. has teamed with Yahoo Personals to create the 'Espresso Dating Guide,' which offers expert advice from a dating and relationship expert.

The Seattle coffee retailer (NASDAQ: SBUX - News) said a national survey indicates that more than 50 percent of online daters preferred coffeehouses as an ideal site for a first date. The dating guide, which can be found on Yahoo, will also offer fashion tips and how to end a bad date gracefully.

Starbucks has more than 10,500 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim.

Published January 19, 2006 by the Puget Sound Business Journal"

Dating Coach Uses Corporate Marketing Strategies to Help Singles - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:03:32 PST

Dating Coach Uses Corporate Marketing Strategies to Help Singles - Yahoo! News: "Dating Coach Uses Corporate Marketing Strategies to Help Singles

Wed Jan 4, 7:00 AM ET

January 4, 2006 -- How can singles attract their Perfect Match in 2006? Liz Kelly, Dating Coach and Author, shares proven marketing strategies for singles in the hot new release of Smart Man Hunting (Kensington, January 2006). “With over 100 million singles in the US, and 50 million dating online, we're actually living in the best time to date and find a mate,” says Kelly.

Smart Man Hunting is about positioning yourself for dating success. Based on Liz's corporate background in marketing, she is helping singles define their key selling points, pass a 60-second screening test and target market their type. She offers Smart Dating Services such as Profile Makeovers, online photo critiques, one-on-one consultations, and a new audio CD, 'How to Find Love Online.'

Smart Man Hunting's Marketing Strategies

1. Define Brand U - Define your Key Selling Points
2. Add Sex Appeal to your Style - Pass a 60-Second Screening Test
3. Target Market your Type - Attract the Dates You Desire

1. Define Brand U: Singles are defining their key selling points using Smart Man Hunting's new marketing strategies. Liz recommends highlighting unique and desirable"

Lying to Your Date: Is It Ever OK? -- ThirdAge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:56:12 PST

Lying to Your Date: Is It Ever OK? -- ThirdAge: "Lying to Your Date: Is It Ever OK?

Think midlife marriage ends when men leave their wives for younger women? Think again. It's actually the ladies who are walking out the door! Here's why. go >
• Tips for Conflict Resolution
She gets so angry that she can't see past the problem to find a solution. A relationship expert helps clear her vision. go >

By Tom Blake

Many single women feel that if they're honest about their age in a personal ad or if they provide a current photo, they'll get few date offers. Likewise if they disclose a health issue.

To improve their marketability, they shave off a few years, provide an older photo or don't reveal their health problem upfront.

Take, for example, Edie Dickinson of Raleigh, N.C. Edie visited an Internet dating site and posted an ad and photo that stated she was 55, although she's 60.

'I want and deserve a social life. You could call it social survival/catch 22,' e-mails Edie. 'I tell men by the second date I'm older. Some don't care; it's a risk I take."

Match.com Attorney: Suit Claiming Fake Dates 'Frivolous'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:19:40 PST

law.com - Match.com Attorney: Suit Claiming Fake Dates 'Frivolous': "'
Kellie Schmitt
The Recorder
12-28-2005

Match.com, the popular online dating site, has recently gotten the attention of the media and dozens of bloggers over a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles claiming it set up a fake date to keep a client subscribing.

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips partner Robert Platt, who is representing Match.com, said the case is simply a 'frivolous' claim that the company plans not to settle. Just like any other business, people are looking to make an easy buck, he said.

Platt has also been dealing with a class action that says the California dating act applies to online dating. That act, which was established in the era of brick-and-mortar dating services, required companies to refund money if the user did not receive the intended services.

That act was created to avoid situations where candidates paid huge upfront fees after they were assured they'd meet a suitable person, Platt explained.

'They'd come in, and there would be one guy who weighed 700 pounds, was unemployed and smelled,' Platt joked. Of course, candidates would want their money back.

The act also says that if you move more than 50 miles from the dating office, you can get money back.

'How does that apply to us"

Dating Web Site, Megafriends.com, Adds New Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 08:12:06 PST

Dating Web Site, Megafriends.com, Adds New Feature - Yahoo! News: "

Wed Dec 28, 1:00 AM ET

(PRWEB) November 10, 2005 -- The popular dating/friendship Web site Megafriends.com ( www.megafriends.com ) has recently added a feature to make it easier for members to meet people with similar interests.

The feature is called MySpots and allows members to interact with and find people who enjoy the same activities. Members who enter MySpots can read messages in a forum, read articles about topics within a category and vote in polls, all posted by other members. MySpots gives an advantage to Megafriends users by combining two trends in online dating and friendships.

'We believe that with the growing trend towards more niche type dating/friendship sites, we can offer the best of both worlds. At Megafriends ?MySpots,? a member can access a larger database of multiple interest points without the need to join multiple Web sites,' said Joe Monro, a Megafriends spokesperson.

MySpots allows members to stop searching through wide databases and instead place their search for people with a smaller, more tailored group of individuals. Instead of age and location being the main criteria of a search, the things members have in common becomes the main search criteria. MySpots connects people from "

Matchmaking online: Is it love or a lie?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:09:18 PST

MiamiHerald.com | 12/18/2005 | Matchmaking online: Is it love or a lie?: "Matchmaking online: Is it love or a lie?
Internet dating sites such as Yahoo Personals and Match.com will rake in more than $500 million this year in an industry increasingly under fire from customers who believe they were ripped off.
BY ASHLEY FANTZ
afantz@herald.com

''Kimberly'' is a fit blue-eyed blonde from California who says she likes martinis and walks in the rain.

''Beth,'' a leggy brunette and successful lawyer who lives in Dallas, says she enjoys clubbing and rollerblading.

But these women -- or others like them whose photographs are prominently featured on major Internet dating sites -- don't even exist.

At least, not according to a Coral Springs businessman who alleges that Yahoo Personals, one of the Web's top matchmaking sites, posts fictitious profiles -- which critics have called ''date bait'' -- to lure customers to play the Internet dating game.

''These were not real people,'' said Randy Rosenblum, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing Mark Anthony, the 39-year-old limo business owner who filed a federal lawsuit last month against Yahoo Personals. In his suit, which seeks class-action status, he accuses the matchmaking giant of sending fake e-mails to subscribers, urging them to reply to find out more abou"

A Hot & Provocative New Dating Book Hits Bookstores, From April Masini -- Nicknamed 'The New Millennium's Dear Abby'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 19:49:01 PST

A Hot & Provocative New Dating Book Hits Bookstores, From April Masini -- Nicknamed 'The New Millennium's Dear Abby': "A Hot & Provocative New Dating Book Hits Bookstores, From April Masini -- Nicknamed 'The New Millennium's Dear Abby'

Dating and Relationship Expert, April Masini, releases her second book, ?Think & Date Like A Man? -- a dating book full of uncensored advice and tips that will take women 'from whiner to winner' (with men).

(PRWEB) December 16, 2005 -- How many dating advice columnists would tell women that men would rather date a captivating and fascinating seductress than a sweet, inexperienced 'good girl'? One: April Masini. And she says it without apology. Masini recognizes that today's single woman craves that type of frank advice. Today's woman wants brutal honesty and useful dating tips. Today's woman needs someone who can tell her -- once and for all -- how she can attract, date, seduce?and keep?the man of her dreams. And just in case that kind of dating advice isn't controversial enough, those dating tips are coming from April Masini -- 5'8', with full lips, long blonde hair, and 38-26-36 proportions.

'Think & Date Like A Man' (iUniverse, 0-595-37466-2) will take readers on a journey from whiner to winner and help women to think less like Princess Diana, and more like Camilla Parker Bowles -- the woman"

New Belarus Bill Retricts Online Dating

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:10:41 PST

New Belarus Bill Retricts Online Dating - Yahoo! News: "New Belarus Bill Retricts Online Dating

Thu Dec 15, 3:22 AM ET

MINSK, Belarus - Belarusian lawmakers have passed legislation that would crack down on Internet dating and online spouse searches in the latest of a series of stringent government controls backed by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.
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Authorities said the measure, which was passed 101-1 by the lower house of parliament Wednesday, was intended to help halt human trafficking in the former Soviet republic. The bill still must be approved by the upper house and signed by Lukashenko before becoming law.

The legislation would place new restrictions on organizations that promote dating or help match potential suitors with spouses, particularly via the Internet.

The bill also would require Belarusian students to receive written permission from the Ministry of Education to study abroad if the length of stay is longer than 30 days. Foreign companies seeking to hire Belarusian students for summer jobs also would need ministry approval.

'The measures are directed at improving the mechanisms guaranteeing effective counteraction to human trafficking ? one of the most dangerous phenomena modern society faces in its development,' First Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Shurko said.

Lukashenko has turned his nation of 10 million people a"

Online dating background check proposal receives national attention

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:07:37 PST

The Southern Illinoisan: "Online dating background check proposal receives national attention

BY NICOLE SACK
THE SOUTHERN

Even though no formal legislation has been drafted, Rep. John Bradley's proposal to create mandatory background checks for online dating sites has already garnered national attention.

On Tuesday, USA TODAY featured the Marion Democrat's idea of conducting criminal background checks in one of its technology stories. And on Monday, Bradley is scheduled to appear on FOX News 'Your World With Neil Cavuto.' The show airs at 3 p.m.

'I guess I've gotten some people stirred up,' Bradley said in a phone interview. 'I think most of the people are saying, 'yes, we need it.' Of course the industry is fighting it pretty significantly, it appears.'

So how did Bradley, a married man, get interested in the online dating issue?

'That was a constituent concern,' he said. 'It just seemed like common sense to me that there would be some kind of peripheral background check. People come to me with ideas all the time. I just had no idea it was going to take off like this.'

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Bradley is having the bill drafted and it should be introduced to the General Assembly in January.

Similar proposals have been considered by legislatures in six other states, but none have been passed."

WEAK IN THE NEEDS - Yahoo! News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:10:23 PST

WEAK IN THE NEEDS - Yahoo! News: "
By ELIZABETH HAYT Mon Dec 12, 6:00 AM ET

LAST spring was an unbearably dry season - and I don't mean weather-wise. Without a steady man in my life, I hadn't had sex in several months. Now in my 40s, an age when a woman realizes that her youthful ability to turn male heads was something she once took (wrongly) for granted, I worried whether my celibacy was less a matter of circumstance than the start of something more permanent.

Online dating offered a short-term fix. Browsing the nerve.com personals, I found 'Word Guy,' a 38-year-old poet who, according to his ad, was looking for 'fun.' In his photo, he appeared clean-cut: fair hair, wire-rimmed glasses, white oxford shirt with rolled-up cuffs, an athletic build and healthy-looking teeth.

Had I been looking for true love, I might have ignored him since, to me, being a poet is synonymous with being penniless, and my romantic radar is permanently set on guys with secure day jobs. But given that my immediate needs were otherwise, I was not about to discriminate against a charity case.

Contrary to Darwinian theory -or common sense - studs are not the only ones who score. Schlubs do all right, too. But it isn't desire that drives women into their arms. Pity does.

I 'winked at' (Nerve speak for "

10 Reasons Why Dating Makes You Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 07:33:00 PST

ThirdAge - Love & Passion Newsletter - 10 Reasons Why Dating Makes You Happy: "

By Mark Goulston, M.D.

Feeling unlucky at love? Having trouble trusting partners -- and yourself -- after falling in and out of love? Been hurt enough to think you?d be better off single? Well, here are some reasons to reconsider dating and to give love another chance:

1. Dating is good for your heart and your coronaries. A study pioneered by Dean Ornish, M.D., revealed that of a group of people undergoing coronary angiography, those who felt loved had substantially less blockages in their heart arteries.

2. Giving love and support keeps you younger. Whereas feeling loved may help your heart, studies have shown that giving love appears to reduce the effects of aging. It may have something to do with the fact that giving love increases your sense of self-worth.

3. Aloneness easily worsens. When you?re alone in pain, it frequently crosses over into suffering. When you?re alone in fear, it?s easy to panic. When you?re alone in anger, rage is not far away. As upsetting as pain, fear and anger can be, suffering, panic and rage are significantly more stressful.

4. Talking and connecting with another person releases your endorphins. Just as exercise releases endorphins, so too does exercising your ?social?muscles by dating. Throw in a whole bunch of other chemicals that are triggered, including prolactin, adrenalin and PEA (phenylethylamine), and you may never need prescription meds again.

5. Love is a natural antidepressant. Being in a loving relationship releases dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Dopamine and norepinephrine are the body?s natural stimulants. Serotonin is the body?s natural anti-worry chemical (it is the one increased by taking Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil).

6. Dating makes you take better care of yourself. It?s easier to exercise and diet when someone special is in your life. Even if you?re at first only doi"