General News

"Playing games" is generally looked down upon when it comes to dating, but thanks to the latest addition to the features at Match.com, members can play games that may actually help their relationships.

The Match blog recently announced the launch of the new feature. "Online dating has been an effective way to meet, but it's not always the best way to get to know someone," says the blog. "So we created fun and easy-to-play games that allow our members to figure out whether they have chemistry with each other before going out on a date." Each game will last one to five minutes, and is designed to "create shared experiences and encourage interaction between players through instant messaging."

Match will debut seven new games in summer 2012:

• Best & Worst: Share your personal best and worst about everything from concerts to movies to road trips, then see how you and your partner match up.
• Food Critic: Who hasn't wanted to become a food critic at one point or another? In this game, you act as a local food critic and pick your favorite places to eat. Compare your choices to your partner's picks, then decide on one you might like to check out together.
• Romance Rip Off: Work together with your partner to create a cheesy romance by taking turns adding the next line to the story. Hopefully your real-life romance will be a little lighter on the cheese and a little heavier on the actual romance.
• Name That Dance: All those times you watched viral dancing videos on YouTube are finally about to pay off! Watch the Match dance team perform their best moves and try guess their names.
• Gut Reaction: This one's a classic. Gut Reaction is a simple game of word association designed to give you insight into the mind of your partner. See a word, react quickly to it, then compare your reactions to your partner's.
• Drawn Together: It's Pictionary for the digital age. Draw three quick sketches on the screen and see who can identify them first. Better brush up on your stick figure skills.
• If I Could: If you could pick one movie to watch tonight, one thing to have for dinner, and one flavor of ice cream to eat for the rest of your life, what would you chose? Compare your responses to discover where your tastes align and where they diverge.

And if you can't get enough of Match's games, check the site for a local game night hosted in your city.

For more details about this dating site, please check out our review of Match.com.

Online dating sites are the future, right?

Well...maybe. If you ask Stephanie Rosenbloom, author of a new piece in the New York Times called "No Scrolling Required at New Dating Sites," that future may have already come and gone. The latest crop of dating sites aren't the kind of sites you find online at all - they're the kind of physical sites tourists travel to see in foreign countries, and the kind of sites that singles are now traveling to to meet potential dates for Saturday night.

Take "Me So Far," a monthly event in Chicago that gives attendees 6 minutes to create a presentation about themselves to around 6 dozen other eligible singles. Their presentations begin with stories about songs they love and experiences that have touched them, as well as slide shows of their refrigerator contents and taste in interior design. A happy hour is held after the miniature monologues are completed, during which daters who are sick of trying their luck online can meet each other in a newer, even more modern format.

"People were just sort of battle-weary from online dating," said Lakshmi Rengarajan, the advertising professional who founded Me So Far in an attempt to move away from the automated questions and scientific algorithms that have come to define online dating. "I think it's really important that we build spaces and places for people to meet that don't feel so data-driven or impersonal."

Now it seems the dating services that are climbing the ranks are a blend of retro dating fads, like in-person meetups for singles, and modern technology. There are singles parties so massive that they have to be organized on the Internet, and matchmakers who are relying on Klout scores in addition to intuition to pair up clients. The resurgence of face-to-face interactions is also clear in the rising popularity of location-based apps like Grindr, Blendr, Singles Around Me, and Skout.

As fascinating as new technology is, perhaps the old adage fits here - "Don't fix it if it ain't broke." Traditional dating methods have been working for...well...ever. Is adding layer upon layer of modern technology actually making things more complicated instead of less? And what's wrong with good old-fashioned friendly introductions, anyway?

Plenty of new dating services are asking those very questions, though the final answers remain to be seen. Read about some of the other up-and-coming dating services that are attempting to bridge the gap between dating's past and dating's future at the original article.

I am sometimes prone to hyperbole - the curse of writers, artists, and other creative folks everywhere - but it's barely an exaggeration when I say that dating is one of the most mystifying and challenging things on the planet. Matisse may actually have spent less time agonizing over his canvases than people spend agonizing over their love lives.

If you're hoping to paint the next Woman With A Hat, 'fraid there's not much I can do to help - I'm lucky if I can draw a stick figure that actually resembles a stick figure - but if you're hoping to expand your artistry when it comes to your love life, you're in luck. WeLoveDates.com, a UK-based dating site and advice blog, recently published the results of a survey called "Interesting Online Dating Facts." And best of all, they've released the results in the form of an infographic, so it's art and advice all in one.

Lesson One: Online dating isn't really as popular as people say it is, right? Isn't it just a ploy to boost the online dating business? Nope...people actually are logging on to find love. 19% are members of one dating site, 19% have joined two, and 9% are trying their luck on three different dating sites.

Lesson Two: Creativity can be fun, but the classics are always an option if you're not feeling particularly inspired. Meeting up for coffee or drinks are, hands-down, the favorites for best first date idea. 42% of respondents favored the coffee route, while 46% preferred the bar atmosphere. Rounding out the bottom of the list, at 4% each, were "comedy show," "crowded bar club," and "something active, e.g. hiking."

Lesson Three: Yes, your profile picture is a major component of your online dating profile, but it's what you say about yourself that really matters. 55% said that the "About Me" section is what makes them fall in love, compared to 45% who said that the photo is what attracts their attention.

Lesson Four: Online dating is just for people who are looking for dates, right? Wrong! 21% of online daters are single, but 51% of dating site members are in a relationship and 11% are married. Online dating is for everyone.

Lesson Five: Online love is just as real as real-life love. A massive 80% of survey takers claimed to have found love on the Internet.

To see it all for yourself, check out the infographic here.

eHarmony in Canada is offering free communication this weekend. It starts today, Friday May 18th and runs straight until Monday May 21st, 2012. This weekend is also a long weekend for Canadians since Monday is the Victoria Day holiday. This is also the first holiday of the season which marks the beginning of summer for most Canadians.

As with other free communication weekends at eHarmony, all you need to do to participate is become a member. You can join for free and create a profile. Once this is complete you will receive your first matches and then be able to begin the communication process with your selections. No credit card is required. This promotion does not include viewing photos, Secure Call or Skip to Email.

For more about this popular North American dating service for singles looking to find a long-term relationship you can read our review of eHarmony.

It's an interesting turn of events when one of the largest most well-known online dating sites decides to create a more "real-life" experience for singles to connect.

Match.com plans to offer a new service called "The Stir" which will host 3,000 singles events over 40 different countries so their members can get to know each other face-to-face first, without all the back and forth emails and profile searches. But they're not just announcing events for people who live in the same area, they are matching members using their traditional algorithms to make the perfect singles mixer for their members' preferences, mostly based on ages and interests. So, not every member will be able to attend any event they want. They will have to be selected.

The events will be centered around specific interests and activities, like rock climbing, cooking classes, tequila tastings, or bowling nights, depending on your hobbies or what you typically like to do for fun (according to your profile of course).

Match.com claims the parties address some of the 'fundamental pitfalls of a typical night out for single people' - like meeting people you don't get along with. It also takes the pressure off the first face-to-face coffee date. Some members are reluctant to put a lot of time and energy into online dating, and have a hard time getting past the communication to have the first meeting. By getting members in a room together, the likelihood of two people connecting increases.

Match.com also plans to make two types of event offerings: more casual meet-ups at bars will be free, whereas more involved events like rock climbing will have a cost attached.

It's interesting that other online dating services which offer offline meet-ups like HowAboutWe are influencing online dating. Match.com's goal seems to be figuring out new ways to get people together, along with ways to attract new members who might still be weary of trying online dating. The Stir is a way to overcome that hurdle - by offering the traditional appeal of meeting face-to-face in an informal setting instead of the sometimes elusive process of online dating: looking through profiles, emailing, and setting up a much-anticipated coffee date.

This move will likely boost Match.com's mobile app, too. For the 60 pilot events they hosted, they offered members promotions for those who checked in online, and plan to offer these in future gatherings. There's nothing like incentives to encourage people to attend.

For more information on this popular dating site, you can read our recently updated Match.com review.

FriendFinder Networks just released their first quarter 2012 financial results. For the first 3 months of 2012 (ended March 31) FriendFinder earned $81.1 million in net revenue. This is a slight decrease when compared to the same time last year due to a decrease in overall traffic. From this quarter, FFN continued operations experienced a net loss of $13.4 million and from discontinued opertations a net loss of $8.1 million (closing of JigoCity) which is a total of almost $21 million.

As of March 31, 2012 FriendFinder Networks had a total of 9.5 million new members of their adult websites and just over 1 million new members of their general audience websites. This is about a 12 percent drop when compared to the same period last year. Conversion of members to subscribers is up though. For adult sites it is 4.6 percent (was 4.2) and for general audience sites it is 2.3 percent (was 1.3). This gave FFN a total of 840,984 subscribers to their adult services and 43,275 subscribers for their general services. On average FriendFinder Networks experiences about a 17 percent churn rate of their members during the first quarter of 2012.

For more information on the 2012 Q1 financial report please read the news release. For more information on some of FFN dating sites you can read our review of Asia FriendFinder and our review of FriendFinder.

Related Story: FriendFinder Networks Fourth Quarter 2011 Financials