Technology

Spark Networks operates two of the best-known niche dating sites in the biz – JDate and ChristianMingle – but lately both brands have taken a hit. JDate's userbase has slowly been declining, while ChristianMingle saw an abrupt drop following a cut in advertising spending.

Now Spark Networks is making plans to implement a broad turnaround strategy. The strategy is divided into two action items: upgrade technology for both websites and redeploy advertising funds for ChristianMingle in a more intelligent manner.

To fully understand the need for a technological upgrade, you first have to appreciate how far Spark Networks has come. Its sites have used the same basic technology and design for the last seven years, a feat practically unheard of in the Internet Age. An update is long overdue.

Mobile versions of the sites are either already available or will be launched soon, and a revamping of site architecture is in progress. The latter project means making future adjustments to keep up with the changing times will be a much simpler matter.

Where marketing is concerned, JDate has little to worry about. The site is so well known that it spreads primarily by word of mouth, and about 90% of its revenue remains after accounting for direct expenses. ChristianMingle, on the other hand, has struggled to achieve the same notoriety despite having more overall users.

The new marketing strategy for ChristianMingle has multiple components. First, the site will focus on select urban centers rather than large nationwide campaigns. The company plans to partner with mega churches and Christian organizations to deepen their ties within communities.

Second, Spark will make changes to its internal emailing efforts. Email blasts sent to all users will be nixed in favor of highly targeted messages sent to the right consumer, at the right time.

Finally, Spark is looking to attract new users who don't consider faith the most important thing in their lives. The company plans to bring more humor into its advertising in hopes of appealing to an audience who doesn't consider Christianity to be as central to who they are. Unlocking this larger portion of the market should give Spark a dramatically larger pool of potential subscribers to draw from.

Plans farther down the line involve expanding revenue opportunities by providing products throughout the life-cycle of a relationship and beginning a fremium website aimed at younger users. Both could be serious boons to ChristianMingle's turnaround strategy, but for now they're on hold until Spark Networks executes its current goals.

Plenty of Fish announced on July 1st that POF.com now is a responsive website. With regards to websites, the term “responsive” refers to the websites ability to change the layout of the site on the fly to better accommodate the screen size the person is using to view the website. For example someone viewing a website on a laptop could see a site that has multiple columns with a lot of text and images. When someone views the same website on their phone it most likely would be one column with less images and a bigger text font used to make reading easier. There is more to responsive but that is the basics of what it does.

Before it was responsive POF.com would serve the same webpages for mobile as desktop. This wasn’t bad on a tablet as the dating site is very usable on this size of screen. On a phone though a user would have to scroll around the screen to see different parts of the page. Going responsive allows mobile users to have a more app like experience when using POF.com.

For more on this very popular dating service please read our POF review.

Online dating sites have long wrestled with replicating the experience of dating in real life.

Offline, the love of your life may find you at any moment. You could be standing in the produce section of the grocery store, wondering how to tell if a cantaloupe is ripe, when suddenly an attractive stranger appears to help you pick. It's all about serendipity.

Online, dating feels calculated. You'll never randomly bump into The One. But if U.K.-based Tab has anything to say about it, serendipitous meetings could soon be a part of your digital dating life.

Tab isn't a dating website. It's not a trendy new mobile app. In fact, it's a browser extension for Chrome. Every time a user opens a new tab, they're shown a potential match. If they're not intrigued by what they see, they simply carry on with business as usual. If they do feel a spark, they click a heart button. Mutual “hearts” are connected.

"Imagine you could bump into the love of your life on any corner of the Internet, just like in real life," Shib Hussain, one of Tab's co-founders, told Fast Company. "It was a light bulb moment. We were discussing how online dating is actually pretty time consuming, regardless of what platform."

“You have to actively look for people, switching from ‘not looking’ to ‘I am looking.’ And this isn’t how it is in real life," he said. "You just bump into people and it just happens."

Tab works its magic based on the profile users fill out during sign-up. The fledgling company is also testing out a more intriguing concept: matching people based on the types of sites they visit. It sounds ripe for a debate about online privacy, but the idea is interesting nonetheless.

Productivity gurus may also find fault with the extension. Tab is aimed at users over 25 who are trying to find a healthy work-life balance, but it may be hard to focus on the work part if life interrupts every time you open a new tab.

Hussain says Tab is trying to combat that issue with a simple, clean aesthetic. The design is intended to give users information quickly, with minimal annoyance or distraction, so they can get back to their busy days (and all the other tabs they have open).

So far Tab has launched in beta in the UK, and hopes to go live in the US later this year. A mobile version could also be on its way in the future.

You've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but how about wearing your heart on your wrist?

Purchase an Apple Watch and you could do exactly that.

Tim Cook called the gadget Apple's “most personal device yet,” so naturally developers jumped at the chance to make it even more personal. The smartwatch won't only shake up how we keep time, but perhaps also how we find love on-the-go.

Several of the biggest players in the online dating game were quick to introduce apps when the Apple Watch launched back in April. Match.com, OkCupid, and Tinder (coincidentally – or not – owned by the same parent company) all released apps designed for the device. Each one is an easy extension of your regular online or mobile dating activity.

But it's not just the biggies who are getting in on the ground floor. A few lesser-known dating services have also sprung up for the smartwatch.

1. Watchme88: This watch-first app helps users meet other users nearby in real-time. Set your preferences (gender, location, age) and when a match shows up within the specified radar, both Apple Watches start to glow. If you're shy, you can send your match a message or a wink before approaching in person.
2. Jack'd: Jack’d claims to be the first Apple Watch app for guys looking to meet guys. Users receive notifications in real-time whenever their profile is viewed by someone nearby. The app also offers key insights on who’s viewed your profile and other revealing stats.
3. The Inner Circle: Think you have what it takes to be part of the inner circle? If the answer is yes, try out this app, which prescreens members to “maintain the highest quality.” The Inner Circle has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, ELLE and more.
4. PlanetRomeo: PlanetRomeo claims to be one of the world’s largest online dating and social platforms for the gay/bi male and transgender communities. Use your Apple Watch to browse profiles, read messages, and save users to your favorites so you'll be notified when they're online.
5. Close Encounter by 3nder: Feeling adventurous? Try a “real-time blind dating app for open-minded people.” The app does away with profile photos to focus on personality. Your watch will vibrate when a potential match is nearby, then you can decide whether to reveal your location. Close Encounter doesn't exist quite yet, but you can read more about its proposed features on Medium.

Or maybe you're not into the big names or the underdogs. In that case, you have a solid middle-of-the-road option in Coffee Meets Bagel. The company released an Apple Watch version of its popular app that simplifies the dating process by focusing on only one potential match each day.

This month, eHarmony and Match.com both announced the release of new dating apps available for smartwatch users.

According to eHarmony, 50% of new users come to its service via their mobile devices, so the company has made a push towards more mobile-friendly technology; part of that initial push includes their dating app being accessible through wearable technology – specifically Android Wear and Samsung Gear S devices.

Not to be outdone, Match.com is launching its own dating app – but for the Apple Watch instead. Match’s new dating app for wearable technology joins Coffee Meets Bagel’s app, the first dating app to announce its availability on the Apple Watch.

Match’s app for Apple Watch is clean and visually based. It works through three basic steps: “Glances,” which provides a quick look at your app and how many matches you have in the queue; “Discover” which allows you to accept or reject a match alongside his/her photo, much like Tinder; and “To send a message,” where once you touch the profile, you can choose from one of the message options or tap the microphone to use voice-to-text dictation to compose your own email.

eHarmony’s new app is a little more complex, as the service is known for matchmaking and their longer communication process rather than for quick swipes to accept or reject a photo. Both the Samsung Gear S and Android Wear smartwatches will display notifications that are synced with the eHarmony users’ phone. When a match sends a communication, the member receives a push notification to their phone and an “enhanced” notification to their smartwatch. The enhanced notification includes the match’s name, age, and location, as well as their primary photo and personal message sent through eH Mail. Users are also informed when they receive a “smile” or questions sent using the company’s Guided Communication options. The member can then select Open Profile, which will open the eHarmony app on the connected Android device, and load their match’s profile.

“Mobile represents a huge opportunity for us to capture new market share and broaden our impact and we are seeing this happen at an accelerating rate in recent months,” said Armen Avedissian, Chief Operating Officer, eHarmony. “New entrants in the online dating category are helping drive interest in eHarmony, while taking market share away from competitors. Combine this circumstance with eHarmony’s powerful brand and industry-leading outcomes and we have the perfect recipe to grow substantially. We are pleased to announce these new releases.”

eHarmony and Match dating apps for smartwatches are available now in Android and iTunes stores respectively.

By now, we all know of Tinder’s unprecedented success in the online dating market. But how exactly did they make it happen – gaining over one million active users in less than a year, and then to gather 24 million users in only two years?

According to Tinder, there were two essential challenges with the online dating market before they launched the product: first, there was social stigma associated with online dating – the perception by the general public that it was a last resort, rather than a good way to meet people. Second was geographical concentration – people like to date others they know are close by; it would have to work on a micro level before it worked on a national or even worldwide level. Meaning, Tinder had to get active users who were all in the same area to enjoy using it to create stickiness. Think about it: when you download a dating app, it’s a little disappointing to see that your matches live an hour or more away.

With these two things in mind, Tinder started its marketing initiatives on college campuses. Two of the company’s co-founders were active in their respective fraternity and sorority, and first approached them for help in spreading the word. Justin Matteen, one of the co-founders, hosted a party at his parents’ house where he invited his college fraternity and sorority members from USC to help launch Tinder. For admittance, attendees had to show their phones at the door – and prove that they had downloaded the app.

This strategy worked effectively, because it addressed the online dating stigma by populating the dating app with young, socially active and attractive young people, creating a desire for a wider audience to download and use the app (in the hopes of meeting some sorority girls, we suspect). In addition, it created a buzz within a geographically close community – fraternities and sororities on the same campus. From there, Tinder’s team went to college bars and approached non-Greek members, enticing them with meeting other attractive young students via the app.

The strategy of marketing to college campus influencers worked – within six months, Tinder had half a million users. From there, the company had to branch out to a larger demographic. They started city by city, holding parties at exclusive nightclubs, appealing to the 24-35 year-old demographic. As of first quarter in 2015, the company had 24 million users.

“In early months, over 85% of our user base was between the ages of 18-24, but now that age demo only makes up about 57% of our user base," said Matteen in website Parantap. "We are seeing a huge upswing in both 25-34 year old demographic and 35-44 year old demographic.”

Tinder has taken off thanks to a remarkably executed marketing and influencer campaign. As a result, they have changed the whole online dating industry.

For more on this dating app you can take a look at our review of Tinder.