Types (Niche)

Earlier this month Zoosk released a iPad version of their dating application which quickly ranked in the top 20 list for Social Networking Apps in the United States. Like their dating apps for other platforms, this app is available in 25 languages and offers the user the ability to search, browse and communicate with other Zoosk members. It is also optimized for the iPad and takes into the account the larger screen real-estate available.

Zoosk also noted that their mobile apps have been downloaded over 2.5 million to date. Search algorithm changes over the last year have also increased communication on the dating service by increasing message replies 133 percent.

For further details about the service please check out our review of Zoosk.com.

If you think online dating is the domain of the young, think again.

IBISWorld and the U.S. Census Bureau estimate that approximately 37% of men and women over 50 are unmarried. With so many people entering their later years unattached, and more and more older Americans becoming comfortable using the Internet, turning to cyberspace has become an increasingly popular option for senior singles.

The percentage of over-55s logging on for love has increased 39% in the last 3 years according to Experian Hitwise, a leading Internet research firm. Singles in the 55+ age bracket are now visiting dating sites more than any other age group, with the #2 spot currently being occupied by singles aged 45-54.

Online dating has proved to be a major advantage for many older singles. Niche dating sites like SilverSingles and SeniorPeopleMeet go above and beyond the offerings of other dating sites by helping members navigate the brave new world of senior dating. Some stress the importance of safety when dating online, some offer tutorials on creating an online dating profile, and others post articles with tips for those who have taken an extended leave of absence from the dating game.

Their work has paid off - some experts even believe that online dating has more potential for older singles than younger singles, citing their superior knowledge of what they're looking for in a partner as the primary source of their success. Younger singles are often focused on marriage and children while older singles, many of whom have been married before and have learned from the mistakes of past relationships, take a more logical approach to dating that focuses on shared interests and long-term compatibility.

For silver surfers looking to get back into the dating game, love gurus offer the following advice:

• Take as much time as you need to recover from a previous relationship, but don't feel that there is a predetermined mourning period that must be observed following a divorce or breakup. Move on whenever you feel ready to explore something new.

• Reflect on what you've learned from your relationships so far. What went wrong? What went right? What do you want? What don't you want? What knowledge can you take into your next relationship that will make it the best one yet?

• Look to the future and think positively. Don't dwell on the past or get caught up in the quicksand of negativity.

• Make the first move. Finding a match online requires a proactive plan of attack, not a passive approach. Don't wait to get lucky - make love come to you.

The Jewish New Year just happened and I noticed that JDate has more to celebrate than Rosh Hashanah. They just released the results from a survey by ResearchNow (an independent research company) which shows that JDate is responsible for 52 percent of all Jewish marriages that started online. From the survey of 948 married Jewish internet users they also concluded that 63 percent of the online dates originated at JDate, this is many times more than the leading competing dating services. The survey also showed that 76 percent of Jewish internet users who used an online dating site to find love, became a member of JDate.

For more information and statistics you can read this post from the JDate blog. To find out if this dating service is something you would be interested in you can also check out our review of JDate.

It was a "Midsummer Night Affair" at the Hudson Terrace, a trendy Manhattan nightclub, earlier this month, as 400 men and women seeking sugar daddy/sugar baby relationships flooded the venue in hopes of meeting a match. Despite the $40 entrance fee for women, and the $80 cover for men, hopeful sugar daddies and sugar babies packed into the party, sponsored by the sugar daddy dating site SeekingArrangement.com.

Perhaps it's the recession, or maybe it's just that the stigma of these sorts of agreements is lessening more and more with every passing day, but it seems as though sugar daddy arrangements are more popular now than ever before. A recent article in the Huffington Post, which profiled several men and women in this kind of arrangement, attributed the sugar daddy's rising popularity to the soaring cost of higher education.

"I was thinking about going on Match," one 25 year old student says, "but I needed help financially. I guess what finally pushed me over the edge was that I needed help to pay off my loans from school." The work of two anthropology graduates at George Washington University revealed similar findings: of the 100 participants in their study of sugar daddy culture, more than half reported that the money they received was paying for their education.

Brandon Wade, the CEO and founder of SeekingArrangement.com, has also noticed the growing popularity of the site with students. "Over the past few years, the number of college students using our site has exploded," he says. "College students are one of the biggest segments of our sugar babies and the numbers are growing all the time." Wade considers this a public service, a unique opportunity for individuals to form mutually beneficial relationships, and it seems that many of the site's male members agree.

"Most of these young women have debt from school," says a sugar daddy who goes by the name 'Jack' and describes himself as a 'humanitarian.' "I guess I like the college girls more because I think of their student debt as good debt. At least it seems like I'm helping them out, like I'm helping them to get a better life."

Many have called these arrangements prostitution, but Wade is quick to defend them. "The media loves to use the term prostitution, but I'm adamantly against that," he told the Wall Street Journal. "There is chemistry involved in these relationships. It's not a one-time exchange of money for sex." In fact, he believes that sugar daddy/sugar baby agreements have the potential to be healthier than other relationships, because both parties are immediately upfront about what they want from the relationship and what they are offering. When each person's expectations are clearly stated, the potential for romantic disaster is significantly lessened.

Some, like a girl referred to as 'Jennifer' says, see both a practical and a romantic side to the sugar daddy phenomenon. "I realize I'm not going to have it forever," she told the Huffington Post. "While I've still got it, I'm going to milk it for all it's worth. I mean, maybe I'll get swept off my feet. Really, anything could happen."

So what do you think? Is the sugar daddy culture a thinly-veiled form of prostitution, or an acceptable and mutually beneficial agreement made between consenting adults?

For similar dating services you can take a look at our Wealthy Singles Dating category.

PlentyOfFish has just updated their mobile dating applications for both the iPhone and Android OSs. The big improvement with this version is speed and lower bandwidth use. This is achieved by caching the profile and picture data retrieved from POF so it is only downloaded once or when updated.

Other improvements include easier editing of both photos and profiles. Pinching and zooming profile pictures has been added along with updates to editing your location and searching for local users. Users can also now just search for mobile users near them.

The POF App on the Android Market currently has a rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars with almost 6,000 votes. According to a number of reviews the only thing missing from the app is the ability to chat via text.

For more on this story please read the press release. To find out about this dating site and what other singles think you should check out our PlentyOfFish review.

For the first time this year shipments of tablets and smartphones exceeded those of desktops and laptops. According to the Flurry blog, 2011 is also the year that the daily time a user spends on mobile applications exceeded that of normal internet browsing (both on the desktop and smartphone). They came to this conclusion while compiling internet usage data from Alexa and comScore, and comparing it with their own data that they track for mobile application usage.

In June, 2010 the average user spent 64 minutes a day on the web and 43 minutes a day using mobile applications. By December of that year web use jumped to 70 minutes and mobile application use went up 23 minutes to 66. By June, 2011 web use has risen to 74 minutes a day but, mobile app use surpassed that and has reached 81 minutes a day. According to Flurry, this means that the average user now spends daily 9 percent more of their time using mobile apps than browsing the web.

I was initially surprised by these numbers but after thinking about it they do makes sense as mobile applications have come a long way in only 3 short years of popularity. When looking at these numbers from Flurry it looks like that more people now use mobile applications than browse the web. That is not the case, many more people still use the internet than mobile apps, it's just that those who have both tend to use their mobile applications more. Still, these numbers are interesting and it shows that dating sites need to take into consideration not only allowing their members to access their service by the web but by mobile applications as well.

For dating sites who offer a dating mobile application please read our Match.com review and our eHarmony Review.