General News

OkCupid seems to be more and more popular with every year that goes by.

It's young, it's fun, it's hip. It doesn't feel stuffy or impersonal like many of its competitors. It has everything that the tech-savvy, younger generation is looking for in an online dating site.

Sam Yagan, CEO and Co-Founder of the site, says that OkCupid has a strong social media strategy to thank for its success. But unlike other websites, Yagan isn't talking about Facebook or Twitter when he attributes OkCupid's popularity to social media - he's talking about OkTrends, the OkCupid blog.

Readers of this site will be familiar with the OkTrends blog. I used to cover every new post, because they were informative, witty, and visually engaging. Much to my dismay, the blog hasn't been updated since April 19, 2011 - not too long after Match purchased OkCupid - but the posts are still relevant, funny, and surprisingly enlightening.

Yagan told Business Insider that the now-defunct blog contributed to OkCupid's success by producing "great, sharable content." The blog used eye-catching graphs and interesting, sometimes provocative topics to draw in readers. OkTrends always walked the fine line between entertaining and educational, and wasn't afraid of the potentially-controversial topics ("Gay Sex vs. Straight Sex," "How Your Race Affects The Messages You Get," "The Case For An Older Woman") that made their readers so eager to pass the articles on.

"If you read any of our blog posts you'll see almost immediately why this concept would be interesting not just to a single person but really to anyone," says Yagan. OkTrends mastered the art of "producing content that was widely, broadly interesting."

Though it was at the forefront of OkCupid's social media strategy, it wasn't just the blog that made OkCupid a hit. The team behind the site has always been conscious of building a wide audience and targeting potential subscribers who don't initially seem to be likely online daters.

"We target people between the ages of 18 and 80 on OkCupid," Yagan explains. "Because dating is an inherently social process, it's very important to also influence the influencers.... That's why it turned out to be a really great thing for our blog to not just target the single people but also the single people's friends and families."

OkCupid has focused significantly less on the major social networking sites - Facebook and Twitter - than its competitors in the industry. As of September 27th this year, OkCupid had only 18,083 Twitter followers and 12,860 Facebook page likes. Compare that to the OkTrends blog, where each post got upwards of 10,000 (and sometimes over 100,000!) likes or shares on Facebook.

So OkCupid...don't you think it's time to bring the blog back? Please? Pretty please?

For more information on this free dating site you can check out our OkCupid review.

eHarmony Australia is offering a free communication weekend that starts in the morning on Friday November 2nd and ends Monday November 5th at the end of the day.

If you are an Australian single and wish to try a dating site which performs the matching for you, then eHarmony.com.au is a service that offers the features you are looking for. To try it out just create a free members account this weekend and fill out the profile questionnaire. This process will take you about 30 minutes or so and is important because the questions you answer are used to determine what other members will make a quality match for you. Once you have finished with your profile you will receive a number of matches right away. From here you can look at their profiles and pick the ones you feel a connection with. Communication is free with any of your eHarmony matches and no credit card is required.

For more about how this Australian matchmaking site in helps singles, please read our eHarmony review.

We have added a new review to the free dating sites category for the popular Latin site Amor en Linea. This dating site is available in English and Spanish and seems to have at least 12,000 members logged in at any one time.

This dating site is extremely easy to use. While this is a benefit for those of you new to online dating, the service does sacrifice functionality because of this. Still, it has all the basics needed by Latin singles who want to find, communicate and meet up with other singles online. One of the main reasons why this site is so popular in its niche is because it is completely free. Unlike other “free dating sites” there are no paid upgrades since everything the site offers is included in the membership.

To find out more about this popular free Latin dating site please read our new Amor en Linea review now.

IAC which owns Match.com, Chemistry, Meetic and People Media acquired OKCupid.com in February of 2011 for $50 million (see Story). The CEO and co-founder of OkCupid, Sam Yagan continued to run OKCupid after the acquisition. Last week IAC announced management changes. It looks like the IAC board liked how Sam continued to operate OKCupid since they have now put him in charge of IAC’s Match segment. This comprises all of IAC's online dating and related operations, internationally and domestically.

Other changes included making Mandy Ginsberg CEO of their core dating site, Match.com and moving Josh Meyers from People Media to focus on creating new businesses at IAC.

You can find out more about the changes at IAC by reading the press release. To find out more about IAC’s core dating site you can check out our Match.com review.

If first-date nerves make you come across as a totally different person than you'd like, then maybe it's time to try something different. Instead of making awkward small-talk and trying not to trip over yourself, would having a couple of friends around put you more at ease?

New York-based social site Grouper seems to think so. Now they've expanded their service to other cities, and have expanded their friendship-finding capabilities to the dating arena.

It works like this: when you go the the Grouper website, it links you back to your Facebook page to pull information about you - what your interests are, your photos, etc. (Don't worry, your Facebook friends won't find out you joined - that information is kept private unless you want to share.) At this point, you choose two friends to be your wingmen (or wingwomen). Then you are asked some basic questions, to rate on a silding scale. For example, would you rather go to a dive bar or a fancy club or some place between those two? Would you rather talk about "Jersey Shore" or philosophy or something in the middle?

Then comes the interesting part: Grouper uses its technology to match you, but you have to wait a couple of weeks because they also say their staff personally oversees matches as well. And they do the heavy-lifting to coordinate the meeting between all six of you. They throw out a few dates and times, pick a central location to meet, and voila - the group date is set. (I like that Grouper tells you where to meet because it takes the pressure off of planning the first date.)

Michael Waxman, the site's founder, claims Grouper is more effective because "when you're with your friends, you're going to behave more comfortably and naturally. There aren't any labels or expectations."

Group dates are an interesting concept. In my experience, it's an indication that one or both parties want to keep things casual, with no expectations. It's less about dating and more about hanging out, no strings attached. But for people who are new to dating, haven't done it in a while, or just get too nervous to act comfortably one-on-one with a date, this provides an interesting alternative, and one that could work out very well. (Besides, your friends could vouch for you, too.)

If you've been looking for something different, or if you want to work up to trying online dating, this might be a good way to begin. After all, your friends are there to help you, even with your love life.

Sometimes it feels like you've set impossible standards for your dates to reach. Your date has to have the right job, live in the right location, enjoy the right hobbies, have the right physical features...no one could live up to all that, could they?

If anyone can, it's probably this guy: Superman. In fact, not only can he do that, he can do it while saving the world and looking smashing in spandex. Talk about going above and beyond the call of dating duty...

Wondering if you're compatible with the Man of Steel? Match.com has you covered.

DC Comics and Match named Superman the most kissable superhero, after a poll put him in the top spot. 72.6% of Match's single ladies said Superman is the superhero they'd most like to lock lips with, ideally while flying through the air. How romantic!

Match.com also had a surprise in store: in honor of Superman's budding relationship with Wonder Woman in the comics, both superheroes received their very own Match.com profiles!

Are they actually as dateable as they seem on the surface?

After a thorough review, I'm going to have to say...no.

Superman looks hot in tights, but not so hot on paper. He says he has "a pretty sweet man cave." Sure, the Fortress of Solitude is great...but why such a bro, Superman? I expected someone from another planet to be much more cultured! He also explains his exercise habits like this: "I don't really need to exercise. I also eat and eat and never gain a pound! Ha ha! Hate me yet?" Yeah, I kind of do. And I definitely didn't expect Superman to be into emoticons.

Wonder Woman doesn't fare much better. Her idea of a great date is "fight[ing] our way through a hoard of harpies over the Elysian Fields." I think I'll have to pass on that one. And it's misspelled, which every online dater knows is a major no-no. (It's horde, Wonder Woman!) She also says she's into cats, romance novels about vampires, and being treated like a princess...which sounds awfully high maintenance for my tastes.

So I guess they're not perfect for me, but Dr. Helen Fisher says they're perfect for each other. They are "a very high testosterone male and a very high estrogen female," and they have "many cultural and biological traits that will fuel their romance."

See what else she had to say about their romantic potential here, and read the profiles here.

Would you date Superman or Wonder Woman?

To find out more about this dating site you can read our Match.com review.