General News

It's not destined to be a classic like "You had me at hello," but "You had me at your hastag" has a certain ring to it, don't you think?

If you answered "yes," you're not alone. I'm not sure what the new black is this season in fashion, but I do know that social media dating is well on its way to becoming the new online dating.

Think of it this way, says Bianca Bosker in the Huffington Post: "traditional online dating sites offer the internet equivalent of a speed dating session," while "social networking sites are the cocktail parties of the web." On a dating site, you're focused on presenting a very specific side of yourself. When you concentrate that hard on meticulously-crafted self-representation, you lose the spontaneity of dating in real life.

On a social media site, your personality has a greater chance to shine. Instead of trying to appeal to someone you think is your ideal match, and feeling pressured to fall in love, a social media site is just about sharing your interests and connecting with like-minded people. It's much more like finding love offline - it all happens when you least expect it.

The options for dating via social media are endless.

Take Ashley, who told HuffPo that she courted her latest love on Twitter.

Or Danielle, who tried to track down a man who caught her eye through a particularly witty and scathing review of a Chinese restaurant on MenuPages.

Or Rayco and Nuria, a Spanish couple who met on Instagram following a sticker giveaway for fans of the app. They continued the conversation on Facebook, then began video chatting using Apple's FaceTime, and now plan to move to Barcelona together.

"Online dating to me is not online dating anymore," says Julie Spira, author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating and a professional online dating coach. "It's social dating and it's a social experience."

The Internet is the second most common way for couples in America to meet, said a 2012 Stanford University study, and social sites are increasingly becoming responsible for making those matches. A paper from Oxford University reported that less than 10% of couples met on social networking sites prior to 2000. Now that number has more than doubled, to 21%.

Of course, there are pros and cons to both approaches. Social media services are free, unlike many online dating sites, and boast millions more members. They also offer a serendipitous, algorithm-free experience that more accurately mimics offline dating. On the other hand, social media sites don't offer the pool of guaranteed-to-be-looking-for-love singles that online dating sites do.

For now, it looks like social media sites may slowly be edging out the competition. "We live a lot of our social lives on Facebook, Twitter and sites like that," says Laurie Davis, the founder of online dating consultancy eFlirt Expert, "so since dating is inherently a part of our social life - it only seems natural to find love that way as well."

To find out more on how the individual Social Networks like Twitter and Facebook are used for dating you can visit our Social Networks Dating category.

Are you the shy type? Do you feel more comfortable going on a blind date as long as you're also with a couple of other friends? If so, you're not alone.

San Francisco-based Tandem has created an online dating website that offers two-on-two blind dates instead of the traditional one-on-one. (That was so 2011 folks...) The reason? People are more comfortable dating in groups - it takes the pressure and awkwardness out of first dates. It also makes the setting more relaxed and makes people feel safer when they're dating. That's a big plus for ladies who don't feel comfortable handing their number out to strangers or meeting someone at a bar after only a few emails.

It works like this: you can sign up using your Facebook account, which pulls your main Facebook photo into your new Tandem profile. You will then be prompted to add "Wings" - meaning wingmen or wingwomen - friends with whom who you want to double-date. Your wing person can be any gender (and hopefully single), so don't let that stop you if you're best friend is the opposite sex.

You'll then be given a series of questions about height, weight, occupation, and general interests, so you can fill in the blanks about yourself and what the general information on Facebook doesn't cover. Then you can check out other members and friends, and if you want to schedule a "tandem" you can send an invite with location and time details. (Make sure your "Wing" agrees on the time first, otherwise the invitation won't go through.) An email is then sent to all four of you to coordinate - replies go to the group but your emails remain private.

This format is similar to Groupr, who also started a group dating service for those who prefer not to date alone.

Between online dating, dating apps, group dating sites, and the integration of social media with dating, there are multiple dating technologies available to help you meet more people than ever. Even if you're the shy type - you get nervous or have been hesitant to try online dating - there are alternatives for you, thanks to technology. If you have a phone or computer, you can be hooked up for a date. So, no more excuses. Now is a better time than any other to get out there and meet new people.

Tandem is currently available in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Madison, Chicago, New York City and Boston.

Earlier this month eHarmony announced that Thod Nguyen has been appointed the new Chief Technology Officer. With this position his responsibilities will include oversight on all of eHarmony's properties when dealing with global growth, strategic development, and technology innovation. Moving forward he will use data analytics and the engineering team at eHarmony to make sure the dating site continues to maintain their technological competitive advantage.

Thod previous job was the Chief Technology Officer at MyLife.com.

For more on this story you can read the press release and to find out more about this dating site you can read our eHarmony review.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Internet has been bubbling over with discussions of travel and dating. Would you travel to meet a date you met online? Would you use an online dating site to find no-strings-attached fun in a new city while traveling?

It turns out that traveling might be a boost for your love life, if you're looking for something specific in your dates.

For instance...

If you're prefer your dates big and beautiful, HuffPo says these are the best cities to date in:

1. Ogden, Utah
2. Whittier, California
3. Metairie, Louisiana
4. Medford, Oregon
5. Spring, Texas
6. Glendale, Arizona
7. Montgomery, Alabama
8. Carrollton, Texas
9. Concord, California
10. Torrance, California

OurTime.com, a dating site for singles over 50, identified the top 10 cities for plus-sized daters by analyzing the behavioral data of its users to find the location of the site's most popular users who self-identified as "big and beautiful."

If you're looking for interracial dating, try your luck in one of these states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Indiana, Arizona.

The data comes from InterracialDating.com, which surveyed its members to find - surprisingly - that political affiliation is not a good predictor of interest in interracial dating. 10 of the top 20 states for interracial dating have historically voted Republican over the past 5 presidential elections.

If you're gay and searching for a May-December relationship with benefits, SeekingArrangement.com recommends dating in these cities:

1. New York, New York
2. Chicago, Illinois
3. Los Angeles, California
4. Houston, Texas
5. Beverly Hills, California
6. Atlanta, Georgia
7. Dallas Texas
8. Toronto, Canada
9. Las Vegas, Nevada
10. San Francisco, California

The SeekingArrangement.com study found that the average gay sugar daddy is now 39 years old, has an annual income of approximately $215,482.39, and has a net worth of over $6 million.

SeekingArrangement also identified the most promiscuous cities in Europe, for tourists who are interested in a little more than sightseeing during their travels. The cities in which tourists are least likely to get busy with the locals are Edinburgh (Scotland), Naples (Italy), Paris (France), Madrid (Spain), and Hanover (Germany).

Instead, travelers who are hoping to get lucky should add Carlisle (United Kingdom), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Mykonos (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Monaco (France), Paris (France), Dublin (Ireland), and Stockholm (Sweden) to their itineraries.

To find out more about the dating sites which offered these insights, you can read the OurTime review and the Seeking Arrangement review.

About a month ago eHarmony updated their homepage with a new look and feel. Gone is the rich dark blue background and the picture of couples as seen here on the top right. eHarmony has used this general layout and colors with a number of different couple pictures for about 2 years now and has decided to make a change right before the holidays. I think this is a good thing since a number of other popular dating sites are using very similar background colors which I found tended to blend all the sites together and didn't make any one in particular stand out. I find most sites (not just dating) tend to make a fairly major change to their layout once every 2 or 3 years.

In its place as you can see in the screen capture on the bottom right of this article you will find a warmer color scheme that contains lighter blues, yellows and browns. The picture of the person on screen is also larger and appears more down to earth. As you scroll down on the eHarmony website the background changes color abruptly but I think this works as it makes each part of the homepage standout. Along with this homepage makeover eHarmony has also updated their advertising with the same look and feel.

Update: Dec. 4. 2012

It looks like I wrote this article a week to soon. 😊 eHarmony has just updated their homepage again on the US site a few days ago (Canada is still using the older one). The color scheme is very similar to the last update but the message has changed slightly. The title of the page now reads "From single to soul mate" and it then mentions eHarmony's 29 Dimensions of matching. Since Dr. Neil Clark Warren is in charge once again at eHarmony it looks like they want to get back to the core of what eHarmony was founded on. Also instead of one single photo of a person, the homepage now includes 8 to 14 photos arrange like an album with actual eHarmony members. If you put your mouse cursor over the photo a card slides up and includes details of who the person is matched with along with a quote. It looks really good and I think the simpler look will help eHarmony attract more members.

For more information on this popular dating site known for its in-depth matchmaking, you can read our eHarmony review.

Man Cave Daily says Craigslist is "The Internet's Dating Dungeon." Ok... it's not exactly eHarmony or Match.com...but does it really deserve "dungeon?" Those are pretty harsh words for a site that most of us use in one way or another and would probably be lost without.

Why such a negative take on such a popular site?

Well, for starters, Man Cave Daily thinks Craigslist is only for people who fit this description: "impoverished underachiever with little-to-no self discipline." As a Craigslist user who lives in Manhattan (and therefore isn't impoverished), and whose sole career is freelancing (and therefore isn't lacking in self-discipline), and who regularly travels the world with the living she makes from freelancing (and therefore isn't an underachiever), I object!