Types (Niche)

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.

Last month It's Just Lunch celebrated their 20 year anniversary. Since 1991 they have not only been matching singles in the United States but in a number of countries around the world. It's Just Lunch is not an online dating site, they are a service run by matchmakers who help busy business people to meet other singles. Everything has the personal touch from meeting with clients face-to-face for the important first interview, to setting up the dates between matched clients.

To find out more about this matchmaking service please check out our It's Just Lunch review.

To streamline the profile creation process for mobile users eHarmony announced last month that they put together a questionnaire for their profile that can be completed in about 10 minutes. eHarmony's normal relationship questionnaire can take about an hour or so to complete.

The mobile questionnaire has 100 questions that eHarmony has tested and experimented with to ensure that mobile users who fill out this shorter version will still receive very high quality matches. They have also updated the interface to use the touch screen much more effectively with less key strokes or touches. Users question will now auto save as well so they can come back at any point and finish up the questions if something comes up.

The look and feel of the dating app also has changed to make it more personal. The test is now constructed like a book with chapters. To help people answer questions more accurately some of the profile questions also have been re-phrased into first person statements.

To try out this new version (1.4.1) of eHarmony's dating app you can visit iTunes.

For more information you can visit the official eHarmony blog and for more details on the dating service you can read our review of eHarmony.

In May of 2010 ChristianCafe released their iPhone dating app. Well, this month the Christian dating service has released a version for Android phones. Those of you with Android base mobile phones can now enjoy dating on the go. The new app integrates directly with your account on ChristianCafe.com and for those new to this dating site have the option of signing up for a free trial right from your phone.

Features of this new dating app include performing basic and detail searches, viewing profiles and seeing who is online in your area. Photo uploads are a snap to do along with communicating with your matches via email and winks.

For more information about the app you can watch the video tour:



To find out more about this dating site, read our ChristianCafe.com review. To download the app visit the Android Market and search for 'christiancafe'.

A new Guinness World Records title for speed dating was set on February 8th, 2011 in Chicago. 414 daters participated in an event organized by HurryDate.com. Official Guinness World Records guidelines for speed dating state that each participant has to participate in at least 20 speed dates for a minimum of three minutes each. No intermissions are allowed and participants cannot date the same person twice. Log books must also be kept by participants and the event must be hosted by an established dating agency.

The previous record for speed dating was 313 daters set in New Jersey on January 29th of last year.

Related Story: HurryDate Seeks Guinness Record for Speed Dating

For more on the story you can check out the press release. To find out more about this speed dating service, please read our HurryDate.com review.

While Justin Bieber is trending on Twitter, what's trending in the world of online dating?

According to the Google Barometer Blog, mobile dating is the newest trend sweeping the U.K. Bickey Russell and Elizabeth Song, Senior Industry Analyst and Analyst Intern, respectively, for Google UK, studied the rising popularity of mobile dating and found that "the volume of Google searches on mobile devices related to dating grew by 215% YoY ['Year Over Year'] since 2008" in the UK alone. And, in an even more remarkable turn, "the volume of dating queries on mobile phones shot up ten fold in just three years' time."

As smartphone usage has become increasingly prevalent, the usage of mobile devices - and the constant Internet connectivity they provide - to access dating websites to search for potential matches and answer messages from interested members has become more and more popular. The market is so large, in fact, that Juniper, a market research firm, has estimated that "the overall mobile dating sector will grow to $1.4 billion worldwide by 2013." That's right - $1.4 billion in just three years. Google research has also found that searches from laptops and desktop computers for "mobile dating" and "text dating" have grown over 72% YoY in the UK.

So what can on-the-go online dating do for you? New interactive features are being invented constantly, allowing you to take advantage of countless new online dating opportunities like proximity dating, which uses GPS or Bluetooth technology to alert users when other singles are nearby. Mobile and location dating also introduce a real-life context into the online dating scene, "making the process less detached from users' everyday lives, social networks, and gathering places."

If you're interested in trying mobile dating, you don't have to venture far outside your comfort zone - many major dating sites, like Match, eHarmony, and JDate, have mobile apps available for download. If you're ready for something new, however, check out these popular apps:

1. Meet Moi: Meet Moi is a location-based mobile dating app that updates your location in real-time and alerts you when a match is nearby. Their basic service is free.

2. SpeedDate.com: Members can search through millions of profiles and start conversations via email with prospective matches. SpeedDate provides an advanced set of filters that allows users to search based on specific criteria, as well as a tagging feature that ensures that favorite profiles are saved.

3. Grindr: Grindr is the largest location-based dating app for gay, bi, and curious men. Grindr is free, and has about 600,000 users per month (about 250,000 users per day, who log on approximately eight times within a 24 hour period!).

4. Zoosk: Zoosk won the award for Best Mobile Dating Site at the Internet Dating Conference this year, and is consistently a #1 dating app in the iTunes Store. The app has all of the functionality of the website, with a GPS location tagging feature.

For more information on the service which won the award Best Mobile Dating Site, please read our Zoosk review. For other dating sites which also offer their services over a phone, check out our Mobile Phone Dating category.