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Say what you want about Google (and believe me, I have), but I can think of no one better to gather the biggest stories of the past 12 months and determine exactly what defined the year 2012.

And they did. It's called Zeitgeist, and it's an annual tradition that analyzes over one trillion search queries in almost 150 languages to showcase what the world searched for. Using data from multiple sources, including Google Trends and other internal data tools, Google has turned the year's searches into a report that reflects 2012.

The report is divided into two sections: Trending and Most Searched. The "trending" queries are the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a sustained period in 2012 as compared to 2011. The "most searched" queries are the most popular terms for 2012, ranked in order of the queries with the largest volume of searches.

Here's what Zeitgeist has to say about the most searched dating services of 2012:

1. PlentyOfFish: POF - the site formerly known as PlentyOfFish - is one of the most popular free dating services on the Web. Since its launch in 2003, POF has appeared in music videos, launched mobile apps, and conducted a contest with Lady Gaga. For a review of this service see our Plenty of Fish page.
2. Match: Match.com may be the most famous dating site in the world. Match has helped millions of singles look for love in 24 countries and redefined the way modern singles meet. Most recently, the company announced Stir, local events by Match.com. For a review of this service see our Match.com page.
3. OkCupid: OkCupid is famous for its lighthearted and affordable approach to online dating. The site is free to use, and features fun quizzes and multiple-choice questions designed to bring out users' personalities and encourage community interaction. For a review of this service see our OkCupid page.
4. eHarmony: eHarmony is where it's at for singles looking for long-term relationships. Its famous matching questionnaire, developed by eHarmony Labs, takes a scientific approach to love that promises to find a deeper level of compatibility. For a review of this service see our eHarmony page.
5. DateHookup: Online daters really like free stuff. DateHookup is another no-cost service for singles that made it into the Zeitgeist top 10. This year it hit the big times after being bought by Match.com and OKCupid owner, IAC/InterActiveCorp. For a review of this service see our DateHookup.com page.
6. Zoosk: Zoosk distinguishes itself from traditional dating sites by putting the focus on its social networking capabilities. It's currently available in 25 languages and more than 70 countries, and shows no signs of stopping in 2013. For a review of this service see our Zoosk page.
7. ChristianMingle: "Find God's Match For You," says ChristianMingle, a faith-based site created to bring Christian singles together for friendship, dating, and marriage. With over 8 million members, the largest and fastest growing online Christian community. For a review of this service see our ChristianMingle.com page.
8. AdultFriendFinder: AdultFriendFinder is an online sex and swinger personals site that helps members meet new friends and sex partners. What started as a small niche site quickly grew in popularity - it even debuted the music video for Flo Rida's "Touch Me."
9. JDate: JDate is one of a number of demographically focused online match-making websites operated by Spark Networks. JDate offers both free and premium plans to Jewish singles looking to date within their faith. For a review of this service see our JDate page.
10. SinglesNet: SinglesNet offers singles a feature-rich environment with free online dating tools like online chat, personals, and dating forums. IAC added the site to its ever-expanding dating services roster back in 2010. For a review of this service see our Singlesnet.com page.

So what do you think...did the Zeitgeist report accurately capture the spirit of online dating in 2012?

We have lots of online dating statistics for you today. Most of them have been compiled by comScore which is a company that measures internet traffic worldwide. This will make a nice wrap-up for the year 2012.

To start things, off did you know for the month of September 1 in 10 users on the internet visited a dating site? Well they did. For users of smartphones this statistic doubled to 2 visitors in every 10. Interestingly in quarter 2 of 2010 only 2 percent of every e-Commerce dollar was spent via a mobile device. In 2 short years this has risen to 10 percent which is 1 in every 10 dollars. I would bet that the online dating segment breaks down in a similar fashion since most dating sites have dating apps now.

Anyways, did you know visitors of online dating sites are not a fickle bunch? 26 percent of them visited more than one in a given month. Personal computers still win for quality time though with on average a user spending 80 minutes using online dating sites. This compares to mobile phone users who spent only 70 minutes. Facebook is a target rich environment for the dating site marking machine. 38 percent of all dating site ads are on Facebook. These ads reach almost half (47%) of their target users.

So what are the top ten dating site companies worldwide at the end of 2012 from comScore? Well compared to last year of the top 50 dating sites, 28 percent are new to the list! That is a lot for any industry.

• 1 - Match.com Sites
• 2 - Plenty of Fish Sites
• 3 - Zoosk.com
• 4 - Xpress.com
• 5 - Spark Networks
• 6 - eHarmony
• 7 - SpeedDate.com
• 8 - DateHookup.com
• 9 - Mate1.com
• 10 - Ashley Madison

So how do our English speaking friends overseas feel about online dating? In September of this year 5.7 million people in the United Kingdom (which has a total population of almost 63 million) visited an online dating site. This is a staggering 22 percent increase over the same time period last year. The 55 plus age group demographic led the charge with a 39 percent increase in visitors which topped 1 million unique visitors. The most active age group visiting dating sites was the 25 to 34 year olds with 1.3 million users which works out to 23 percent of all visitors. What was the most popular dating site in the UK? Why Plenty of Fish of course with almost 1.5 million visitors who spent on average for the entire month 115 minutes on POF.com.

A subject related to online dating is social networking. Worldwide for the month of November in 2012, on average a visitor spent 5.2 hours on one or more social network (excludes mobile phones). Over the past 3 months according to Alexa, Facebook came out on top followed by Twitter and then LinkedIn. In the top ten country list (see this) Argentina came out on top with an average of 9.8 hours in a month. Second went to Brazil with 9.7 hours and third was Russia with 9.6 hours. Canada came in 6th with 7.9 hours and the United States was nowhere on the list. This means in the U.S. visitors spent under 7.5 hours a month on social networking sites.

To find out more about the state of online dating in 2012 you can check out this page and view a presentation here. For more information about online dating and dating sites you can read our Statistics and Facts page.

POF launched eVow back in September of 2010. Within a few months the dating site went paid. Members needed to buy a subscription to correspond with their matches and to use the advanced search features. eVow did well for a while especially when a link to the service was displayed on the Plenty of Fish website. Since then the site has seen traffic drop by about half according to Alexa. To counteract this it looks like eVow has developed a strategy which is their new dating app.

The eVow online dating app was released in October of 2012 on both Google Android and Apple iOS. The app currently has a 3.9 rating on Google Play with most of the reviews being positive and only a few minor tweaks/annoyances being mentioned. What is interesting is that the eVow app is completely free to use. You do not need a paid subscription. The eVow app doesn’t have all of the features of the website but it does have most of them. This includes sending and receiving messages, viewing your matches, and searching.

So those of you interested in using eVow I would recommend creating a membership on the dating site and then downloaded the app to message your matches. This way you can use the site for free and not pay the regular subscription fee that runs from $19.99 to $39.99 per month depending on the length of the subscription term. I am not sure how long they plan to keep the communication part of the app free so I would try it out as soon as possible.

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is a non-profit organization with more than 37 million members. They are the voice of Americans 50 plus and have several media publications including a magazine and website. On Monday AARP debuted a new Dating Channel on their website (found under the Home & Family tab). Within this dating channel you will find articles on dating and relationships geared towards older singles.

Along with the expert advice and dating resources AARP also has partnered with the dating site HowAboutWe.com to bring online dating to their members. Through the dating portal AARP members are offered a free 7 day trial membership along with a 50% discounted membership for those who choose to subscribe.

To celebrate the launch of AARP's Dating Channel they commissioned a survey of 1000 people. With the survey AARP found that the top 3 reasons singles over 50 try online dating are:

• 23 percent said they can meet a broader range of people
• 20 percent said that there is no pressure to communicate with others until they are ready
• 14 percent said they tried online dating because a friend recommended it

In future articles we hope to dive deeper into the AARP survey and tease out more interesting data about online dating.

To find out more details about this dating site you can read our HowAboutWe review.

eHarmony has announced it's closing the doors on its short-lived sister site, Jazzed.com. Jazzed will be no more on September 18, two years after its launch in 2010.

Years ago, Match.com introduced Chemistry.com, its algorithm-based answer to eHarmony. eHarmony responded with Jazzed, a more casual site that allowed users to freely contact other members instead of connecting only with matches provided by the site. eHarmony hoped Jazzed would be a strong competitor for Match's massive market share, but alas - it seems their dream was not to be.

Jazzed barely managed to get off the ground, despite eHarmony's efforts. The site launched a photo-sharing app last year and was featured on a dating television show called "Excused," but that was the extent of its popularity. After the initial excitement over the site wore off, it never returned to the public's radar.

If you're a Jazzed member, you now have three options:

• Take no immediate action, and continue to use the site until it shuts down on September 18.
• Cancel your subscription before the site closes, and receive a prorated refund for the remaining portion of your subscription. (Users who do not cancel their subscriptions will be issued a prorated refund after the date of closure.)
• Sign up for eHarmony instead, which is offering a discount to former Jazzed users. Use the promo code JAZZEDEH to receive a special rate of $9.95/mo for three months. The offer expires on September 20 at 11:59 pm PST, after which your account will automatically renew at a rate of $29.95/mo.

Upon closure, Jazzed members will not be able to view or edit profile information on the site or access their Jazzed mailboxes. "Any data associated with your account will be deleted shortly after the closure," says Jazzed, "provided that we may archive certain information for record keeping integrity, fraud prevention, enforcement of our terms, or to the extent it relates to a pending dispute."

Unfortunately, that last bit raises a lot of questions for Jazzed users. Exactly what does "shortly" mean? How can data be both "deleted" and "archived?" Does it still exist or not? And if it still exists, what's going to happen to it? How can a site that's no longer active enforce its terms?

What's going to happen to Jazzed profiles? Will the URLs remain active? Will they be sold to other companies? Will they be merged with the eHarmony database? Will the database go offline?

Right now Jazzed seems to be creating more questions than it's answering. I advise all users to keep a close watch over their privacy and data, and monitor the progress of this story as Jazzed shuts down.

2 years ago eHarmony launched a dating site called Jazzed. When it launched Jazzed was free for a time before it eventually went pay (I am not sure when). Back in 2010 we found Jazzed to be a lot like Match.com. The Jazzed dating profile contained about the same amount of information and members could search for their own matches. Unfortunately the Jazzed dating site will be closing next Tuesday September 18th, 2012.

Why are they closing? They never did get the site off the ground and I think very little money was spent in marketing. The site was on our radar to do a full fledge review but we just never got around to it since our visitors never asked about it. I also never saw many ads for the service so we kind of forgot about it (which is saying something since that is all we do around here is talk about online dating. 😉

Overall from a technical point of view Jazzed was a good dating site. It had a solid interface and offered the right tools for finding your match. They even had mobile apps on the iPhone and Android. Maybe if they had marketed the site more this would be a different story, but they didn’t. As a lot of dating site owners know marketing is the hardest part of running a dating site (I imagine this is true for most online services).

To find out more details about the closure you can read the Jazzed FAQ which includes information on refunds if you have an active subscription.

If you are looking for information on another dating site to try please take a look at the reviews on these popular services:

• eHarmony
• Match.com
• OkCupid
• Plenty of Fish