Online Dating

The horror-filled days of Halloween may only come once a year, but that doesn't mean fright fanatics can't get their creep on all year round. There are some seriously scary online dating sites (and I'm not just talking about Craigslist ax murderers). Check out these ridiculously specific niche online dating sites designed for your inner horror movie enthusiast:

Match.com's Singles in America study, now in its fourth year, examines the attitudes and behaviors of over 5,300 American singles from all walks of life in order to get a glimpse into how love and relationships are viewed today.

"U.S. singles most often have sex at night, don't want to know their partner's sexual history, have trouble deciding when to have sex with a new dating partner, and overall just want more sex," says Dr. Justin R. Garcia, PhD., Scientific Advisor at Match.com. "But why?"

That's the million-dollar question, one of the many questions Match.com tried to answer in the latest Singles in America study. A survey of what it means to be single would be incomplete without an examination of what it means to be single and sexual, because whether you're a new couple or have been married for half a century, sex is an important ingredient in almost every romantic relationship.

Research has shown that sexual satisfaction influences a huge range of outcomes, from one's happiness, to one's health, to the likelihood of a breakup. So what's the state of sexuality in America today? Match.com says:

• Singles want more sex. We probably didn't need a study to tell us that, but we got one anyway. 68% of single men and 57% of single women say they want more sex in 2014, although it may still be less sex than you're expecting. Most singles ideally would like to have sex 2 to 3 times per week - only 15% of single men 12% of single women would ideally have sex every day.
• We are all really confused about when we "should" have sex. Everyone is stressed out about when to take a new relationship to the next step. Nearly half of singles think it's only okay to have sex with a new partner once they've reached the 6th date. Men, on average, tend to count the number of dates (and observe totally idiosyncratic rules about which number it's appropriate to have sex on). Women, on the other hand, tend to rely on relationship milestones - such as a clear sign of commitment or exclusivity - to mark when it's okay to make things sexual.
• Some of us are keeping our number under wraps, but it's fewer than you might expect. 21% of women and 23% of men admit to altering their number of sexual partners (in either direction) when asked about it. Nearly half singles of both genders simply say they've don't want to know their partner's sexual history at all.
• Television is totally killing the vibe. 77% of men and 82% of women consider the TV a huge turn-off. In fact, it's the #2 sexual turn-off for women and the #1 sexual turn-off for men. Why? Because TV is hugely distracting, and satisfying sex doesn't happen when your attention is focused elsewhere.

We've all heard of dating apps like Tinder and Grindr, aimed at those who are single and not necessarily looking for anything long-term. But what about targeting a community of people who would rather form relationships than have a quick hook-up?

Ariella Furman, founder of dating app Wing Ma'am, saw a need that was missing among lesbian daters. When she moved from New York to Pittsburgh, she found it very hard to meet people outside of the bar scene. She wanted friendship as well as a relationship, but the dating apps that were available didn't really serve her needs. And many of the bars were focused on gay men clientele, rather than gay women. So she decided to create her own way of meeting new people.

It all started when she decided to host her own events every month so lesbians could meet each other for dating or friendship, and so they could form a more tightly knit community of support. When her RSVPs blew up to 4,000 attendees and bars were fighting to host the events, she decided to take it to the next level and develop her app Wing Ma'am. During the beta phase of the app, memberships grew to over 8,000. It launched in the iTunes store on January 23rd.

Part of the way Furman gets the word out is through volunteer sign-ups on the website and through the app. People are invited to share about Wing Ma'am over social media, or even by handing out flyers at local LGBT events, helping to grow the user base in each city.

The app has two components - a location-based matching system that helps you meet women nearby, but also a social component, where you can browse events going on in your area and see if there's something you want to attend. In this sense, the app more closely resembles HowAboutWe, because it is focused on the proposed activity as opposed to just pictures or a profile. Users are able to create their own events as well as browse at what's out there. For instance, if a user wanted to host a cocktail party or go to a concert, she could post the invite and see who RSVP'd.

"The attempts that were out there were very focused on hookups," Furman tells website Mashable. "Women tend to look for relationships."

The app is being used by lesbians who are in partnerships, too - especially ones who moved to a new city and are looking to form friendships based on interests rather than just meeting through the bar scene.

Since its launch, the largest user base for Wing Ma'am is in larger cities like Boston or New York. The app is currently only available for iPhone but will launch for Androids in the spring.

Just in time for St. Patrick’s day eHarmony is having a Communicate for Free 5 day promotion. It starts today, March 13th and runs till the end of day on Monday, March 17th.

Free communication on eHarmony allows all members to communicate via messages with each other at no cost. This means that during the next 5 days you virtually get the full eHarmony experience for free as creating a profile and receiving matches have always been part of the basic membership package.

This dating site is ideal for singles looking for a long-term relationship. eHarmony has a research department that’s sole purpose is to develop an algorithm that matches compatible personalities. This is how since 2001 more than 600 thousand married couples found each other on eHarmony. It is also why 69% of men and 71% of women meet their spouse within one year on the service.

eHarmony’s last free communication weekend happened during Valentine's Day. To find out more about this dating site known for its matching system you can check out our eHarmony review. In the United Kingdom eHarmony is slightly different so it has its own review. You can find the eHarmony UK review here.

If anyone knows how to crack the code of online dating it’s Greg Liberman. Liberman has been president and CEO of Spark Networks since 2004, giving him more insight into the industry than almost anyone else in the biz. He spoke with The Forward in early February about the tremendous success of JDate, the Internet’s most popular Jewish dating service.

Liberman chalks the company’s success up to one simple thing: “this company was built out of a need.” And not just any need – one specific person's need. One of the founders had recently been divorced and was looking to expand his social circle of single Jewish women. Out of that quest, JDate grew organically.

Once the site had gotten its start, it set itself apart from the competition by creating a strong culturally focused community. “Religion is obviously at the core,” says Liberman, “but the majority of the members are Conservative and Reform and interested in a more culturally based identity.” The site provided a meeting place for Jewish singles who wanted to continue the traditions they were raised with, but weren't interested in a heavy emphasis on faith.

When asked how things have changed over the course of JDate’s history, Liberman nominates mobile dating as the decade’s biggest innovation. Mobile is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, and that includes our love lives. “We saw in 2013 a 114% increase in log-ins via mobile,” Liberman says of JDate. “People are connected all the time, and for us it’s really important. I mean, it’s a huge opportunity for us to continue to drive our mission.”

Mobile isn’t the only change in store for JDate. The site announced the launch of a new marketing campaign on Valentine’s Day 2014 that further stresses the “J” half of its name. The rebranding initiative – JDate’s first – is called “Get Chosen.” Liberman hopes that it will help strengthen the Jewish community and ensure that Jewish traditions are passed on for generations to come. He calls it a “fun, living, breathing campaign” designed to “remind Jewish singles of the cultural ties, not just the religious ones, that make dating, and ultimately marrying, someone else who is Jewish so special.”

The multi-platform campaign will begin immediately across various channels, including print, digital and social. In addition to adding the tagline “Get Chosen” to the logo, JDate revealed a new homepage design for the website. The company also plans to run digital billboards in New York’s Times Square and a street sign campaign throughout Chicago. Other creative elements, including television and web videos to support the “Get Chosen” theme, will roll out later this year.

Match.com's Singles in America study, now in its fourth year, examines the attitudes and behaviors of over 5,300 American singles from from all walks of life in order to get a glimpse into how love and relationships are viewed today.

When it comes to modern love, there is no greater expert than Dr. Helen Fisher. Dr. Fisher is a Biological Anthropologist, a Research Professor and member of the Center for Human Evolution Studies in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University, and the Chief Scientific Advisor to Chemistry.com (a division of Match.com). She's shared her expertise in five books on the evolution and future of human sex, love, marriage, gender differences in the brain, and the way personality types shape who you are and who you love.

Needless to say, she's a lady who knows what she's talking about. And fortunately, what she sees in the data from the most recent Singles in America study gives her hope for the future of relationships.

In our modern age of hooking up, friends with benefits, cohabitation before marriage, and constant interaction through computers and mobile phones, many Americans believe that we are living in an era of emotional isolation and sexual chaos. But not Dr. Fisher. In fact, she sees many positives about the ways we date now:

• We are less prejudiced than ever before. 75% of singles say they would make a long-term commitment to someone of a different ethnic background. 70% of singles say they would commit to someone of a different faith.
• Despite our increasingly progressive approach to choosing a partner, most singles still want to wed. 79% of men and women in their 20s and 62% of those in their 30s plan for marriage to be a part of their future.
• Not only do most of us still want to marry, we want to do it for the "right" reasons. Only 14% say they plan to marry for financial security. Instead, 86% of single say they want to wed to "have a committed partner to share my life with."
• Even those who say they'd don't want to marry chalk their feelings up to the fact that they "don't think you need a marriage to prove you love someone." So even if the significance of marriage is on the decline, says Dr. Fisher, love most certainly is not.

Unsurprisingly, traditional forms of courtship and partnering are also on their way out. Around 92% of men say they're comfortable being asked out by a woman, and 33% of men say they would make a long-term commitment to a woman who is a decade or more their senior. Moreover, the majority of singles now also approve of same-sex marriage, childfree marriage, and having children out of wedlock.