Dating Services

Are you addicted to Tinder? There's a new social dating app called Charm that takes the Tinder approach to a new level - this time with videos instead of pictures.

Charm was created as a stand-alone app by the makers of MeetMe, formerly MyYearbook. MeetMe has marketed itself primarily as a social app where people could meet for friendship as well as dating. Charm is its next offering, giving those who prefer dating-specific apps a new way of sifting through potential dates with one swipe of a thumb.

Co-founder Geoff Cook has been impressed with the way Tinder has taken off. But he's not convinced that using pictures to determine whether or not to date someone is a good idea, because pictures can be so misleading. So instead, Charm offers the same easy yes/no swipe feature as Tinder, but instead of using pictures as a way to decide who to date, members view short, looping videos. MeetMe has marketed the product by positioning against Tinder, including creating a slogan that reads: "Because you are so much more than a profile pic!"

The videos on Charm are easy to create - just hold your thumb to the screen and record, similar to Vine, another social dating app. And like Vine, the video plays on a loop.

Each video clip is between six to ten seconds in length, allowing users to show off a skill, deliver a smooth pick-up line or perform a short sketch. If you're unsure of how best to present yourself, Charm advises that: "people who are happy and friendly get the best response."

While Cook maintains this is a better way to meet people than with a pictures-only app, there is something intimidating about making a video. It puts you more on display - there's not much to hide (or Photoshop), and video can display your personality and quirks, giving people a much more intimate view of who you are without ever meeting you. Plus, you have to come up with a creative way of promoting yourself without being shy - which could end up being misleading in its own way, as one of the videos showed a guy twerking while in a handstand position. Does he really do that in his everyday life? This might not click with some daters, who prefer the ease and relative anonymity of Tinder.

For now, the company is keeping Charm as a standalone app, rather than making it a feature of MeetMe. However, Cook says that down the line, some of the functionality of this app could make its way to MeetMe or other standalone apps. The company plans to release three more apps over the next six months.

Would you consider bribing someone to go out with you, say with a nice dinner or skydiving trip? According to Brandon Wade, an MIT graduate and founder of a new matchmaking app called Carrot Dating, most men would.

The idea behind the app (and its name) is that users can "dangle a carrot" in exchange for getting women to go out with them. (In fairness, the site claims that both men and women can accept or offer gifts in exchange for a date.)

Users can accept gifts or activities for a first date, from something as expensive as plastic surgery or as minimal as a tank of gas.

Most of the reviews for the new service have been skeptical, if not downright hostile regarding the purpose of the app.

Business Insider's Christina Sterbenz wrote in a scathing review, "through Carrot Dating, users (but really men)... can buy credits to send "gifts" to other users ... so they'll agree to a first date. That sounds quite like an activity illegal in most of the continental US - prostitution." She goes on to say that, "in fact, this problematic app is teaching men that women are greedy idiots who can't see through blatant and pathetic misogyny."

Wade has a different opinion however, especially when it comes to online dating. He maintains that women constantly get messaged while men struggle to get even one response. This is a way to level the playing field, to ensure that men get what they desire, too, instead of just messaging and hoping.

"Online dating is a superficial game," the Carrot Dating site claims. "With Carrot Dating, you won't get rejected before you even get a chance. Convince singles that spending time with you is worth it by making an offer that they simply cannot refuse."

But does this approach work in the real world, especially if you're looking for a real relationship and not just a pretty date?

Not likely. Some experts have chimed in too, noting that when you're buying presents in order to secure a first date, then she probably won't continue to date you unless you keep buying her gifts. There is no motivation to really get to know each other as you would on a traditional date without such bribes.

This app plays into the insecurities of men, especially when it comes to online dating. Unfortunately, it's not an app that can ultimately help them obtain a relationship. That takes work, not gifts. And it probably takes a few more messages and a more open mind.

When Aaron Schildkrout cofounded HowAboutWe.com, he had a vision for online dating, one that didn't rely on complex mathematical calculations to determine whether two people are compatible. He pictured a site where real-life dates were the focus, so users got straight to what really matters: meeting face-to-face.

"We branded ourselves as the offline dating site, as explicitly an alternative to these profile-heavy matching algorithm dating sites," he told The Washington Post. "It's about getting offline, going to the real world and getting chemistry."

It appears to be a smart approach at first glance, but since its founding in 2009, HowAboutWe has evolved to depend more on formulas, not less. As more and more users joined the site, the challenge was no longer to show them as many potential dates as possible, but to show them the right dates. In order to create an experience worth coming back for, HowAboutWe needed to get smarter.

HowAboutWe's two-person data science team created an algorithm that combines a user's profile information (like date ideas and demographics) with data gathered from that person's behavior on the site (e.g. what kind of profiles they looked at and how often).

In contrast to HowAboutWe's focus on casual dating, eHarmony believes its users are looking for long term relationships and its algorithm reflects that. eHarmony members are required to fill out a personality questionnaire with hundreds of parts developed from research of around 50,000 happily married couples. To determine compatibility, historical data is paired with analysis of users' behavior on the site and the constraints, like target age range, people place on their matches.

As expected, predicting love is no easy feat. Match.com president Amarnath Thombre says that what users claim they're looking for is often not the kind of profiles they actually view. How did Match cope with the mixed signals? "We said, 'We're going to base these things way more on actions you take. . . . If you start breaking your rules, we're going to start ignoring your rules,' " Thombre explained.

On AshleyMadison.com, the popular matchmaking site for affair-seekers, matching is driven almost entirely by an algorithm. "At least when it comes to the topic of infidelity, traditional research avenues have been kind of absent," said founder Noel Biderman. "There aren't a lot of universities out there that can give you wholesale data on how unfaithful this population or society is or what triggers this."

Can a mathematical formula ever fully replace the magic of serendipity? It seems unlikely, but if the two can work together, we stand a better chance of finding love than ever before.

For more about Aaron Schildkrout dating site you can read our review on How About We.

Good news, eHarmony users! eHarmony.com has just announced the launch of a new service designed to enhance the experience for those who want a higher level of service from their online dating site. The new service, called eH+, offers the best of eHarmony alongside a very special upgrade: a personal counselor.

The counselors are credentialed therapists working with eHarmony founder, himself a psychologist, Dr. Neil Warren. "Finding the love of your life is the single most underestimated challenge in the human experience," said Dr. Warren in a press release. "In the course of the dating process, we know that some people want or need a higher level of service in finding their marriage partner and since this decision impacts your life more than any other single decision, we want to provide help every step of the way."

So what exactly does it do?

"eH+ melds the power of eHarmony's online capabilities with the guidance and care of the matchmaking industry," said Grant Langston, Vice President of Customer Experience for eHarmony. "eH+ is exactly suited to take our proven compatibility algorithms and bring personal, one-on-one attention to the difficult process of finding the right person to share your life. We know that we have more marriages, with more satisfaction and fewer breakups than any other service and we are confident that eH+ will add another layer of strength to our already powerful process."

And that's not all. eH+ also promises:

• Matches chosen for you by your credentialed professional counselor
• Freedom from your computer - no updating profiles, managing matches, or juggling communication
• Matches who have been vetted for interest in you, so you no longer have to wonder whether your interest is reciprocated
• A deeper and more varied set of matches than what you likely would have encountered without an eH+ counselor
• Increased privacy, because your profile isn't automatically exposed to hundreds of people you've never met

If you think all that personalization comes without a price, think again. The bespoke eH+ service will cost $5,000 for a one year subscription. It certainly isn't cheap, but according to eHarmony 66% of its members were surveyed and indicated they would be interested in subscribing (though who knows what "would be interested" actually means?). Unfortunately the service is too new to hear reviews from users.

eH+ launched in beta on November 1, and its official launch is set for December 1. For more information on this dating site and its features you can read our full eHarmony Review.

Four of the biggest names in the dating industry have released their 2013 third quarter financial info. And it's probably a surprise to no one actively involved in online dating that IAC, Meetic, Spark Networks, and MeetMe all saw growth.

IAC

Revenue for Q3 2013 was $756.9 million, a growth of 6% from Q3 2012, the majority of which came from Search & Applications. Websites revenue increased primarily due to the contribution from About.com (acquired September 24, 2012) and CityGrid Media (moved from Local to Search & Applications in July 2013).

IAC also saw growth in Match revenue. Core, Meetic, and Developing revenues grew 7%, 11% and 58% to $118.8 million, $56.3 million and $26.0 million, respectively, thanks to increased subscribers and the contribution of the introduction service Twoo. As of September 30, 2013, IAC had $768.0 million in cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as well as $580.0 million in long-term debt.

Meetic

At the end of Q3, Meetic, the European leader in online dating, had increased revenue over the first nine months of 2013 by 2.7% to €126.1 million. Meetic's subscribers for the same period of 2013 increased by 72,998 or 9.5% year over year to 840,801 as of September 30 , 2013. Meetic owes the majority of its growth to its online offerings, but mobile is playing an increasingly important role in the company's success.

Spark Networks

Total revenue for Spark Networks grew for the 11th consecutive quarter in Q3 2013. Divided, Christian Networks revenue grew for the 12th consecutive quarter and Jewish Networks revenue grew for the 2nd consecutive quarter. Q3 2013 revenue totaled $17.4 million, up from $15.9 million in Q3 2012. Most importantly for Spark Networks, revenue growth outpaced the growth of marketing expense, meaning company-wide contribution hit its highest level since the first half of 2012.

MeetMe

MeetMe's 10.1 million in quarterly revenue for Q3 2013 was primarily driven by its mobile segment. Mobile revenue reached another quarterly record of 2.9 million, up 65% year-over-year and 12% sequentially from the second quarter of 2013. The MeetMe team is now focused on driving engagement and bringing new audiences to the MeetMe application, with a significant update planned for the first quarter of 2014.

David Clark, Chief Financial Officer of MeetMe, added, "Third quarter results build on the improvement in top and bottom line financial performance achieved in the second quarter. Together with the launch of our new apps, we are encouraged by the start of what is traditionally our seasonally strongest quarter.

Are you concerned about your privacy when you use online dating sites? EFF is, and you should be too.

What is EFF? EFF is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to confronting cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights in today's digital world. Of course, no discussion of today's digital world would be complete without a conversation about online dating sites. When EFF examined eight popular online dating sites to see how well they safeguard user privacy, they found that the majority of the sites tested did not take even basic security precautions.

We already took a look at how well the two most popular free dating sites, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid, performed on EFF's tests, and the results were less than stellar. Now the question is: does paying for a dating service guarantee better protection of your privacy? Let's take a look at how major dating sites eHarmony and Match stacked up against the freebies...

Neither Match nor eHarmony uses HTTPS, standard Web encryption, by default. By failing to use HTTPS, these sites expose their users to eavesdroppers when accessed from shared networks. All it takes is free software such as Wireshark for someone to access data that is transmitted in plaintext. This is potentially worrisome on any website, but it's particularly distressing on dating sites where information of a sensitive nature is routinely posted.

The next factor tested by EFF was whether or not the sites are free of mixed content. Mixed content is a problem that occurs when the site is primarily secured with HTTPS, but delivers part of its content over an insecure connection. Even if a page is encrypted over HTTPS, it may still be possible for an eavesdropper to access portions of the page if it displays mixed content. In some cases, EFF warns, a sophisticated attacker could even rewrite the entire page. Both eHarmony and Match contain mixed content.

EFF also tested whether the sites use secure cookies or HSTS. Failing to use secure cookies, which both eHarmony and Match are guilty of, can expose users to session hijacking. HSTS (HTTPS Strict Transport Security) can be used to request the use of HTTPS when communicating with a specific website. The user's browser will remember this request and automatically turn on HTTPS when connecting to the site in the future. Once again, both Match and eHarmony failed to employ HSTS.

Finally, EFF investigated the sites' policies on deleting data after the closure of a user's account. eHarmony's policy was deemed "vague," while on Match.com the fate of a user's information wasn't discussed at all.

So, where privacy is concerned, does it pay to pay? According to EFF, the answer is no. There is no significant difference between free dating sites and paid dating sites when it comes to privacy and security practices.