Valentine's Day

In 2016, there’s no question about YouTube’s place in the world. The streaming site is the go-to destination for music videos, comedy sketches, makeup tutorials, adorable pets, and any other video whim the internet has. But before it was so firmly entrenched in popular culture, YouTube had an entirely different aim: dating.

According to co-founder Steve Chen, who recently spoke at the 2016 South By Southwest conference, YouTube was initially conceived as a way for singles to upload videos of themselves talking about the future partner they hope to meet.

“We always thought there was something with video there, but what would be the actual practical application?” Chen said, according to CNET. “We thought dating would be the obvious choice.” Chen and his co-founders, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, launched a site with a simple slogan: Tune In, Hook Up. Five days later, not a single video had been uploaded.

In desperation, the team took matters into their own hands. “Realizing videos of anything would be better than no videos, I populated our new dating site with videos of 747s taking off and landing," Karim told Motherboard. They took out ads on Craigslist in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and offered to pay women $20 to upload videos of themselves to the site. Again, they came up short.

The co-founders made the decision to ditch the dating aspect entirely. Early adopters began using YouTube to share videos of all kinds - pets, vacations, performances, anything. YouTube took on a new meaning, got a physical makeover, and this time, it worked.

Although YouTube’s matchmaking element was a bust, it’s an interesting origin story that has inspired a small amount of superstition in its founders. Chen noted that they registered the domain name YouTube on February 14 - "Just three guys on Valentine's Day that had nothing to do," he said.

Today YouTube is hardly “nothing.” It was acquired by Google for a $1.65 billion in 2006. It has launched the careers of many stars, from Justin Bieber to Swedish gamer PewDiePie. The company is nothing short of an empire.

Chen now has a new project in the works. He was at SxSW with Vijay Karunamurthy, an early engineering manager at YouTube, in support of their new startup, Nom. The service describes itself as “a community for food lovers to create, share and watch their favorite stories in real-time.” The food-focused site, which lets chefs and foodies broadcast live video of their edible adventures, launched in March.

eHarmony announced free communication from Thursday March 17th to Wednesday March 23rd, 2016. This week long event is available in the United States and Canada.

eHarmony rarely has a 7 day event where you can message all of your matches for free. If you are interested in trying out online dating and the eHarmony service in particular, I would suggest signing up for a free membership today. This way you will have a full week to try out the service at no cost to you and with no credit card required. When you do decide to join make sure to give yourself at least a half hour for the process as it takes that long to fill out your dating profile and answer the questionnaire. Most questions are multiple-choice but some do require a bit of reflecting about yourself. There are no right or wrong answers, you just want to make sure you answer the questions truthfully in terms of your point of view. After all your answers are what is used by the eHarmony matchmaking algorithm to match you with other members who are looking for a long-term relationship.

The free trial is available both on the eHarmony websites and through their dating apps which can be found on Google Play and iTunes. Features not included during this event are skipping the guided communication process and going straight to email. The guided communication component is a key part of eHarmony's process which allows member's to ask and answer questions about each other. These couple of questions allows you to break the ice with your matches and gives you something to talk about when you start to send actual messages to each other. Viewing of profile photo's and the secure phone call service, which allows you to communicate with your matches over the phone but still keep your phone number private, are also not included in this event and are for paid members only.

For more about this popular online matchmaking service, you can read our review of eHarmony.

The eHarmony free trial starts Thursday February 25th and continues to Monday February 29th, 2016. This 4 day event is available in both the United States and Canada, on the website and dating apps. This is the second free trial eHarmony has run this month.

Existing eHarmony members get access to the free trial automatically. If you don't have a membership all you need to do create one. No credit card is required for this, just the completion of the eHarmony profile questionnaire. The whole process takes about 30 minutes to complete depending on how long you spend answering each question. Most questions are multiple choice and it is important you answer them as truthfully as possible since each one affects the outcome of who the eHarmony matchmaking algorithm chooses to match with you.

Once you have completed the profile your will receive your first set of matches. You can now review those matches and start communicating with the ones you wish, starting with the guided communication process and then continuing on with email. You will continue to have new matches sent to you every day or so. One thing to note about the free trial is that it does not include photos, secure call, or the skip straight to email feature for the guided communication process.

To find out more about eHarmony and how it works, our eHarmony review is a good place to look.

Valentine's Day brings a mix of emotions. For loved up couples, it's a time of warm feelings and sappy Facebook posts. For some singles, it's a time of proud independence. For others, it's a season of heartbreak. And for some, Valentine's Day brings a heartbreak of a different kind.

Online dating websites typically see a surge around Cupid's big day – one that isn't just about finding a mate. The love-centric holiday is the perfect time for scammers to tug on the heartstrings (and purse strings) of naïve victims.

"Especially right before Valentine's Day people start to get a little more antsy trying to find a date,” Emily Bartz told Fox59. “There's kind of a rush and that makes it really easy for scammers to get a hold on victims and try to get money or their information.”

With Valentine's Day 2016 in the recent past, the subject of online dating scams has been big in the news. Bartz published an article on NextAdvisor that details three kinds of online dating scammers and the red flags you should watch for.

Up first are the survey scammers, who typically match with as many people as possible and begin coversations by inquiring about their match's experience using that particular dating service. “Once they’ve convinced their match that they are simply a fellow dater who is curious about other’s experiences with the service or are an employee of that service,” writes Bartz, “they are able to establish a level of trust that leads to victims unknowing giving out personal information, like their phone number, home address or payment information.”

Bartz cautions daters to be wary of anyone who asks them to participate in some type of survey. The word “survey” itself may appear, or the scammer may ask questions more subtly. Ignore queries about your opinion of the dating service and other users, as well as requests for account or personal info.

Up next are identity thieves. This type of scam is often discussed, particularly by critics of online dating, and is one of the most difficult to recognize. An identity thief can invest months in a victim before completing their scam.

An honest dater and an identity thief can sound confusingly alike. To tell them apart, Bartz recommends watching out for affection that comes on too strong, too early – especially if it's followed by personal questions. The scammer is trying to build a false sense of romance and rapport as quickly as possible. “Identity thieves residing on online dating sites are often very charming and know just what to say to their matches to get them to hand over everything they need to steal their identity,” Bartz warns.

Your best bet to unmask an identity thief is to suggest meeting offline (if, assuming it isn't a scammer, you're ready to take your relationship to that level). A scammer will usually refuse or avoid an in-person meeting, while a real suitor will be thrilled at the prospect.

eHarmony has setup a free communication trial which starts Wednesday morning on February 10th and runs for 5 days until the evening of Monday February the 15th. This event is for both the United States and Canada.

To be able to participate in the trial an eHarmony account is required. So if you haven't done it already, all you need to do is create a free eHarmony membership and fill out the profile questionnaire. No credit card is required. When you do fill out the profile make sure you have 30 to 40 minutes as there are a number of multiple choice questions. You can save a partially answered questionnaire and continue on later, but I always find it is better to finish it in one sitting. Also, make sure you have a few photos picked out for your profile before hand. A head shot for your main profile photo is good along with a few more photo's showing yourself having fun.

Once your profile and questionnaire is complete, eHarmony will then send you about 5 matches right away. These matches are created by the eHarmony matching algorithm which is based on years of research by eHarmony Labs. The information from your profile and questionnaire about what you want in a partner along with what best matches with your personality traits is used to figure out what eHarmony members, when matched to you, have the best chance of creating a long-term and happy relationship.

eHarmony free communication trials happen about once a month. The dating site and app (which is available both for the iPhone and Android devices) is always extra busy during this time especially in February when Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Features not included during the trial include skipping the guided communication process and going straight to email. The guided communication process is where you and your match each answer a couple of questions about yourself. These questions are picked out by you and your match and are designed to help break the ice before you start writing to each other via email. Viewing of profile photos is also only available to paying members during this event.

For more details about this popular dating matchmaking service, you can read our eHarmony review.

Looking to get the year started on a more romantic note? Now’s the perfect time to join online dating sites. According to Match.com and other notable online dating sites and apps, the biggest surge of new member signups happen between January 1^st and Valentine’s Day.

So, you have a lot of time to see who’s out there and try a new app.

This year, eHarmony reported a 21% increase in mobile registrations since the holidays began, and dating app Zoosk also expected a 20% jump in users the first two weeks of January. Grindr, a dating app for gay men, typically experiences a 30-50% increase in users over the holidays, and Match expects an increase of 60% in new members before Valentine’s Day. Most dating apps agree that this is the busiest time of year for them.

The desire to sign up for an online dating site now may be for personal reasons. Most people have spent the holidays together with family members, creating a sense of warmth and togetherness that some singles feel might be missing from their lives. For those who spent the holidays alone, this time of year can feel particularly isolating, which can provide inspiration for expanding social networks and dating. There’s also the plethora of Instagram photos of happy couples taking vacations together, not to mention the announcement of engagement or baby news over social media, which can also create the desire for more people to want to meet someone special. And what about New Year’s resolutions to date and meet more people?

It seems there’s something about this time of year that motivates people to try online dating – but perhaps it’s less about emotion and more about having the time off for the holidays. People have the opportunity to look at their personal lives and see what they could be doing when they have free time.

According to news website MarketWatch, there’s evidence that people tend to join online dating sites when they have time off work and want to look forward to something personal. So it makes sense that the biggest online dating membership surge the Sunday after New Year’s Eve, when most people are still enjoying the holiday break but know that work is about to start up again.

Interestingly, this theory holds true outside of the winter holidays. Some dating sites, including Zoosk, also saw a surge in new members during the U.S. government shutdown in 2013, when many people’s jobs were affected and they were prevented from going to work.

Regardless, this is the best time of year to join a dating website or download a dating app. More people are online now than ever, which means more opportunities. For more information on the popular dating services mentioned you can read our Match.com review and our eHarmony review.

Happy dating in 2016!