Dating Services

The reach of IAC in online dating is enviable to its competition. The company owns Match.com, OkCupid, and has a majority stake in Tinder, and now they are looking to acquire a new company with a sizable chunk of the online dating market – How About We.

The buzz has already been growing about the possible acquisition, at least among the company’s employees. When there’s speculation about such a move, the first thing on employees’ minds is – will we still have a job after this acquisition happens?

According to a letter obtained by Business Insider, co-founder Brian Schechter addressed employees directly about the matter:

Indeed, we are still finalizing a deal and zero final decisions have been made. That a deal is even a possibility should remain completely confidential. I know this is a bumpy – and let’s face it – a weird moment but we should proceed in a manner that is really smart, graceful, and empowering for everyone.

It is a strange move considering the recent history of How About We. Earlier this year the company snatched up Nerve.com to compete with IAC. How About We wanted to build its brand in a different way – through its content and unique premise, including three new websites created in addition to Nerve.com. They also wanted to appeal to couples as well as singles, putting more marketing efforts into their How About We for couples date planning service. Most importantly, they wanted to distinguish themselves from the online dating giant IAC.

Despite the potentially lucrative news for co-founders Brian Schechter and Aaron Schildkraut, things have not been going smoothly, at least as far as employee trust and loyalty.

According to Business Insider, to whom the original letter was leaked, one staffer claims many employees had individual meetings with Schechter and Schildkrout last week on Wednesday and Thursday in a glass-walled conference room. During those meetings, the staffer said they were notified they could be fired due to budgetary restrictions when the company transitions to IAC. The founders relayed that after Monday they would know "how many people can stay."

However, it was also reported that three employees were later texted that they would be able to keep their jobs. However, Schechter recanted the offer when one of those employees reminded him of a recent raise.

Regardless of what ends up happening with the acquisition, the handling of it has been anything but “smart, graceful or empowering.” Maybe it’s time for How About We to end the date and move on.

Everybody’s got that one ex in their back catalogue. The one they think they’ll never get over. The one they’re sure is the love of their life. The one who convinces them they’re doomed to singlehood forever, because no one will ever compare.

You'll probably never get that ex back but now, thanks to a partnership between Match.com and a new matchmaking startup, you might have the chance to date someone who looks just like them.

It’s got to be one of the most unusual (or maybe just downright creepy) dating services out there at the moment. Match has teamed up with Three Date Rule to offer a “white-glove approach” to dating for the white-glove price of $5000. For that paltry sum, you can send in photos of your ex that Three Date Rule will use to find you a new suitor.

“If you like one facial structure, you will probably like someone with a similar facial structure,” explains Three Day Rule founder Talia Goldstein. In addition to finding a lookalike, TDR coaches will interview you in person and even go on pre-dates with potential matches to vet them before making an introduction. Why go through the gruelling work of weeding out weirdos when you could hire someone else to do it for you?

Three Day Rule matchmakers are a team of highly-educated dating experts known for their intuition, compassion, trustworthiness, and genuine desire to help clients find meaningful relationships. Most had successful corporate careers before making the transition to matchmaking, often at Fortune 500 companies. What sets the company apart from the competition is its unique blend of traditional matchmaking techniques (like in-depth personality assessment) with cutting-edge facial recognition technology designed to determine what clients are most attracted to.

The powerhouse partnership between Match and Three Date Rule is beneficial on both sides. "We know there is a segment of busy professionals on Match who would love to have a high-touch service to help them find a compatible partner," says Amarnath Thombre, President of Match. "People come to Match because of the quality and scale of our membership base, and now with Three Day Rule as a partner, we can combine the convenience of a white-glove matchmaking service with our huge community of high quality members."

For Three Day Rule, Match’s support means improved access to its current markets and eventual expansion to other markets. “With Match's support, we will be able to further build out our team of matchmakers and realize our vision of becoming the most recognized, trusted, and respected matchmaking brand in the country," says Talia Goldstein.

Just when you thought you had enough things to worry about in your love life, here’s another: your sense of humor. And not just whether or not you have one, but what your specific taste in funny says about your personality.

The fine folks over at eHarmony found that both men and women report that a great sense of humor is the most important thing they are looking for in their match. “Women’s ratings of a man’s humor was significantly associated with their ratings of the man’s intelligence and warmth, showing that women see funny men as more intelligent, positive, and upbeat,” a blog post on the subject said. Men, on the other hand, use humor as a tactic of competing with one another in hopes of catching the eye of a romantic interest.

Looking deeper, researchers identified 4 different types of humor: affiliative, self-defeating, self-enhancing, and aggressive. Each has unique characteristics:

• Affiliative: When people think “sense of humor,” this is what they’re thinking of. Affiliative humor involves telling jokes and making funny comments that are not at the expense of anyone. This type of humor is used to nurture relationships between people, to bring groups together, and to create a light-hearted, entertaining atmosphere.
• Self-defeating: People with the self-defeating humor type amuse others at their own expense. They make themselves the butt of their own jokes in order to gain approval from others (and they’ll even laugh along when others put them down).
• Self-enhancing: Those who use self-enhancing humor find the funny in everything, and typically deal with challenges by looking on the bright side. Self-enhancing humor can be used as a method of coping with adversity, to prevent negative emotions from taking over.
• Aggressive: The name says it all. Aggressive humor can include teasing, sarcasm, making fun of others or putting others down. It’s a hurtful kind of humor used to manipulate and alienate others. People who use aggressive humor can often have trouble holding back from saying things they find funny, even if they’re insensitive.

We each use all four types of humor in combination, but probably have a preference for one or two. Based on researchers’ findings, what that preference is could say something about your personality:

• People who use any affiliative, self-enhancing, and aggressive humor more were found to be significantly more intelligent.
• Affiliative humor users were also found to be significantly more secure in their relationships, value their friendships more, and be less athletic.
• Users of self-enhancing humor were found to be significantly happier in general than those who don’t use this type very often. They were found to be more confident in themselves, to feel more fortunate, and to be more satisfied with themselves overall.
• Individuals who use self-defeating humor are more likely to develop close relationships with others and are not afraid to show their true selves. However, they were also found to be significantly more anxious, depressed, and neurotic, as well as less confident in their own physical attractiveness.
• Aggressive humor users are significantly less kind and caring, more neurotic, more bossy and dominating, less confident in their physical attractiveness, and less likely to want a close relationship with their partner. They may also be more intelligent and more interested in sex, but the cons outweigh the pros in this case.

For more on the dating site which conducted this study you can read our review of eHarmony.

Brazil is heating up for singles, and not just because of its sunny weather.

Dating app Tinder is apparently a hot commodity among those taking part in the World Cup festivities. News site Quartz recently reported that Tinder has seen a 50% increase in downloads since the World Cup began last month.

Brazil is Tinder’s third-largest user base behind the US and the UK, and the app is available in Portuguese.

Hookup apps like Tinder and Grindr, which are popular around the world, allow users to swipe through pictures of potential matches that are geographically close to them, accepting or rejecting based on a few photos and a brief profile description. If two people select one another, they can start chatting and then take it from there. This simple process caters perfectly to short-time travelers looking for a fling.

First, we saw Tinder downloads spike during the Olympics, especially in Olympic Village where the athletes mingle with fellow athletes, fans watching the games or employees working the events. Now with the World Cup festivities drawing fans from all over the world to watch and celebrate the games, we’re seeing another significant spike in dating app downloads.

It seems dating apps are becoming more popular at major events that draw huge crowds. Tinder has become a popular tool for singles traveling during the summer to meet up with other singles, so it only makes sense that events like the World Cup would attract a lot of new users. Why not try something new when you’re in a foreign city with tons of people all around that you could meet?

The numbers also seem to favor women, especially local Brazilian women. Many men have come to Brazil not only to watch the World Cup, but to meet the stereotypical idea of the sexy, beautiful Brazilian woman. An unofficial poll suggested as many as 90% of the tourists are men.

Grindr, a popular app among the gay community, has also seen its numbers spike by 31% in Brazil since the World Cup began. Brazil is the sixth-largest market for Grindr.

An estimated 600,000 tourists from 186 countries are expected to visit Brazil during the World Cup, adding to the 3.1 million Brazilians who will be on the road for the championship. And as reported by Quartz, alcohol and hook-ups go hand in hand. Annual beer sales in the country are likely to rise 37%—bringing in about $816 million—during the month-long tournament.

For more on a popular dating app you can read our Tinder review.

Do you want your dates to be more intellectually stimulating? Do you get bored with conversations about where to eat or what movie to watch when you could be discussing political ideology or philosophy?

If the above describes you, and you prefer brains over beauty and boredom, then you might be interested in Match.com’s new partnership with the Mensa community. American Mensa and Match.com have teamed up to provide a dating experience exclusively for Mensa members, as well as provide all Match members access to some of the most intelligent people in the nation. 

According to Match.com, 80% of singles say they “must have” or find it “very important” to be with someone of the same intelligence level.  Additionally, 89% of singles would make a commitment to someone who was considerably better educated or more intellectual than themselves.

Because of the partnership, Match members will now have the ability to add a Mensa badge to their profiles to express their interest in the High IQ organization and will also have the opportunity to take the Mensa practice test for $1 at the Match.com Blog now through July 6, 2014.

While I’m not a fan of limiting your options when it comes to dating – everyone should meet a variety of people instead of just dating your type – it might be interesting to see how effective this partnership will be in creating lasting matches.

Match’s Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Helen Fisher stated, “Why do we want a smart partner? Because intelligence is correlated with many benefits, including:  higher income; sense of humor; creativity; social skills; coordination; and problem solving. These are sexy.  Money can buy a sexy evening on the town. People everywhere gravitate to smart lovers, because an intelligent partner comes with a host of sexy perks.”

Daters with high IQs are not Match.com’s only focus. It was also recently announced that the company will be one of the first dating apps offered with Android Wearables; small, powerful devices worn on the body. So daters – there isn’t a need to constantly check your mobile device or computers. Instead, just look down at your wrist at your Wearable and check for messages, view and rate your daily matches, and find singles nearby. (Although I’m not really sure there’s much difference, since our phones are always in our hands anyway.)

Traditional online dating services are starting to branch out and appeal to new markets in order to remain relevant as new, trendy dating apps emerge. But Match.com seems to have a handle on its membership and continues to innovate. I’m curious to see what’s next.

I just notice that both SinglesNet.com and Kiss.com have been closed. Both redirect to Match.com.

In 2008 SinglesNet was one of the most popular dating services. In February 2010 Match.com acquired SinglesNet for an undisclosed sum. Since then it has been a slow sinking ship. Match.com didn't change much when they purchased the dating site and it suffered for it. Last summer SinglesNet was relaunched as Kiss.com and it didn't fair any better since as of March 21, 2014 both were closed permanently.

On a related note I also notice that FriendFinder Networks also closed Indian FriendFinder sometime in the last few months.