Online Dating

Zoosk's domination of the online dating scene isn't ending any time soon. The online dating site, which first rose to popularity by making romantic links between Facebook users, is preparing to create an important connection of its own - with investors in public markets.

Zoosk was founded in 2007 by Iranian entrepreneurs Alex Mehr and Shayan Zadeh, who met as students at Tehran's Sharif University of Technology. They moved to the U.S. in 2000 and launched the company seven years later. Zoosk acquired users quickly by tying itself to Facebook and the hundreds of millions of users who already used the ubiquitous social networking site to post personal information and photos. It's since branched out to mobile, the most rapidly-growing sector of the dating market, and has raised more than $60 million from investors including ATA Ventures, Canaan Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Crosslink Capital.

Zoosk is now taking steps to go public in 2014. The San Francisco-based company has picked Bank of America to lead its initial public offering, along with Citigroup and Royal Bank of Canada. Oppenheimer & Co. and William Blair & Co. will serve as co-managers.

In the $2.1 billion dating services business, Zoosk has a 2.9 percent market share, trailing behind Match.com and eHarmony in the competitive industry. Zoosk currently has more than 40 million active members, a success rate that can be attributed in part to the additional features the site offers. The challenge faced by most online dating sites is that, if their service is successful, their users have no reason to continue using it. Forward-thinking companies like Zoosk are counteracting that problem by offering other social features - like sending relevant discounts to couples or making date suggestions - to keep users coming back.

The approach is working. Close to 4,000 businesses compete in the dating services market, according to IBISWorld, yet despite that heavy competition, Zoosk said in May that its first-quarter revenue topped $40 million and that visitors to the website more than doubled from the prior year.

There's no question about Zoosk's impressive track record, but there are some questions about the success of these kinds of sites' attempts to go public. Following Facebook's troubled IPO in May 2012, there was a lull in social-networking deals. But Twitter Inc.'s debut last month seems to have put some people's fears to rest, and Twitter is now up 89% from its IPO price. Whose footsteps Zoosk follows in remains to be seen.

Mobile dating apps like Tinder have been getting all the attention because of their hook-up potential. But what if a dater wants the convenience of an easy-to-use mobile app like Tinder but with a little more promise that a meet-up might progress to a relationship?

Enter new dating app Hinge.

Hinge started in the Washington D.C. area and is now moving to other parts of the East Coast, including New York, Philadelphia and Boston. According to founder Justin McLeod, there are about 110,000 single college graduates in the D.C. area, and about 20,000 are actively using Hinge. The total user base is 30,000 and the average age of the users is 27. It's made about 200,000 matches, which are pretty good odds for a mobile dating app.

Part of the appeal of Hinge is that unlike Tinder, it relies on your Facebook networks (friends and friends of friends) rather than a location - (like who is single within a two-mile radius of the bar where you're having a beer). A good amount of information is pulled from your Facebook profile too, so there is a lot more transparency and more qualified matches than with other dating apps. You can only join Hinge if you already have friends on the app, so networking really works to your advantage. Also, it displays your last name along with your age, workplace, school and mutual friends so there's no hiding if you're behaving badly.

Hinge generates the basic profile but there is a bit of personalization you can do, including adding your height and religion as well as "personality tags." These tags are created by Hinge and offered as a list for the user to choose from, adding a little creativity to your profile ("Zombie Survivalist" and "Lawn Game Champion" are a couple of examples.)

Hinge borrows a bit from dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, where a set of matches appears every day at noon. (CMB offers only one match however, whereas Hinge offers five to seven.) The point of restricting potential dates is to ensure you have enough friends of friends to last for a few months, rather than trolling through all available singles in your network right away. You rate each other with either a heart or an "X," and like CMB and Tinder the hearts must be mutual for you to be a match.

This app might end up attracting more women, since Tinder doesn't really offer the same kind of pre-screening for its potential matches. Hinge is definitely an app to watch.

And I'm sure 2014 will keep offering us better and better options for mobile dating.

Newsflash #1: the new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that online dating is now completely commonplace.

Newsflash #2: that is totally not a newsflash. There's pretty much no one left on the planet who doesn't know that online dating is a perfectly acceptable way to meet your partner these days.

This latest study to look into the world of online romance says that 11% of American adults have tried online dating sites, 38% of whom identify as "single and looking for a partner." And if they themselves aren't searching for love online, they almost certainly know someone who is: 42% of American adults who use the Internet say they are personally connected to someone who uses a dating site.

The last time Pew asked Americans about their dating habits was 2005, and as you can imagine, things are more than a little different now. Since then, the rate of people who find long-term relationships using online dating sites has soared dramatically, from 15% of Americans in 2005 to 29% of Americans in 2013. The biggest booms have been seen amongst college graduates, individuals in higher income brackets, and singles over age 65.

For the most part, attitudes towards online dating are positive. 59% of those Pew surveyed say they believe online dating is a good way to meet people, which explains why 46% of them are using dating sites to find a long-term relationship or marriage.

Still, it's not all good news for online dating. Many believe that having easy access to so many potential partners actually reduces the chance of finding a long-term relationship, and a fifth of respondents say they feel that online dating is "desperate" despite all the progress it's made. That number, however, has dropped from where it was in 2005 and will likely continue dropping.

Online daters are also concerned about other users lying about themselves online. The majority say they have encountered someone who they felt "seriously misrepresented" himself or herself on a dating site, while 28% report being contacted by someone through a dating service or app in a way that made them feel uncomfortable.

On the whole, though, online dating is marching confidently and triumphantly into the future. And that future, for those who are curious, is probably in mobile apps. For now only 3% of American adults say they're using their smartphones to find love, but with mobile usage increasing in leaps and bounds all the time, it's bound to conquer the dating world soon.

"For as long as romantic relationships have existed," says the new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "people have sought assistance in meeting potential partners using whatever options were at their disposal."

And for as long as scientific studies have existed, say I, researchers have been trying to explain love via facts, figures, and other data.

The latest in that long line of relationship research is the 2013 Online Dating & Relationships study conducted by Pew. "The rise of tech-enabled dating help has been one of the most striking developments of the digital era," continues the study, "and these alternative ways of meeting and mating have arisen at a time of fundamental change in the structure of marriage and divorce in America."

The number of Americans getting married is steadily declining and today it is at a record low of 51%, down from the 72% of adults who were married in 1960. Americans are also postponing marriage until later in life, and are often choosing other options - including cohabitation and single person households - instead. But fear not - the institution is not yet dead. Around 61% of men and women who have never married say that tying the knot is in their plans someday.

While there are few left who disagree that online dating is a good way to meet potential partners, some have claimed it actually produces more successful relationships than traditional offline dating. Research is so far inconclusive on that matter, but what it has proven is that online dating and offline dating offer noticeably different experiences.

The perks of online dating include:

• The ability to draw from a deep pool of potential partners that goes well outside of one's existing social networks
• The ability to communicate online or via email prior to arranging a face-to-face meeting
• Matching algorithms that help users to filter potential partners based on pre-existing criteria
• More opportunities for members of niche communities who have limited options for meeting people in real life

On the other hand, online dating nay-sayers believe that the rise of online dating is contributing to the downfall of committed relationships. Young adults are not motivated to choose marriage, they argue, because online dating provides an endless stream of romantic and sexual options that lowers their interest in long-term relationships.

Much has changed, not just our approaches to marriage and commitment, since Pew last conducted a survey like this. 2005 saw the Pew Research Center's last foray into the Internet's impact on dating and relationships. In the intervening years, mobile phone usage has exploded (the iPhone hadn't even been born yet!) and social networking sites have taken over the Web. The ways in which people seek out, research, meet, and interact with potential partners will never be the same.

eHarmony is having it's last free communication weekend (FCW) for 2013 soon. It is starting December 26th and runs for 7 days and ends on New Years Day of 2014 (January 1). This event is happening on the eHarmony dating sites in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The busiest time for online dating is the first 2 weeks after Christmas. This makes this particular FCW extra popular as everyone is home for the holidays and has some extra time on their hands. If you are single and looking for a long-term relationship then eHarmony with their detailed profiles and complex matching algorithm is an ideal service for you to try. No credit card is required and you are able to try most features of the site which includes sending emails. The only features not included during these free weekends is profile photos, secure call and, skip to email.

If you are interested in taking eHarmony on the go then you can also signup using the Android or iOS app which can be found in their respective market place.

The last free eHarmony communication weekend happened a month ago in November (see Story). For more details about this popular service you can take a look at our review of eHarmony.

In online dating, the user name you choose is essentially your name. It’s one of the first things a potential match will see, and it’s how they’ll remember you, think of you. It’s all part of the first impression package - so let’s make sure you’re sending all the signals you intend to, and none that you don’t.

First, it’s good to have a user name that is somewhat memorable - to others as well as yourself. Sure, your first name and the year you were born might seem simple and fitting to someone who knows you, but here you’re telling potential matches that all you have to say about yourself is the year you were born (which might be a touchy subject to begin with). Similarly, you might want to avoid any names that paint you as lovelorn, like “waiting for Cupid” or “holding out for a pince/princess.” For one thing, it’s something of a cliche; for another, it’s redundant. After all, everyone is waiting for Cupid - how would that make you memorable?

Instead, think about your interests, or something that’s easily identifiable. For instance, if you have curly hair, you could use a play on that, or combine it with an interest. You could also just pick words that are interesting, memorable, and sound good together. If a potential match somehow loses your profile and wants to find you again, they’ll have a much easier time with a more unique name than wading through variations of names and numbers.

At the same time, you want to make sure your name doesn’t reveal anything you don’t want it to. Don’t use a name you tend to use elsewhere; you might have mentioned details about where you live, or work, and that’s not ideal when it comes to safety. You might have mentioned past relationships, or other personal details, and that’s not ideal when it comes to privacy and embarrassment. Either way, it’s best that your dating name is kept separate.

Finally, don’t forget to make use of a search engine and make sure your name isn’t taken by anyone or anything you wouldn’t want to be associated with. In this day and age, it’s hard to be completely unique, but if your user name is clearly held by, say, a company or a famous figure or someone spewing hate all over the internet, it’s worth tweaking it.

Choosing a user name doesn’t have to be stressful, but it shouldn’t be an afterthought, either. With just a few simple tips, you can come up with a name that’s more personalized and memorable - just another way to stand out from the crowd.