General News

Here is a short video clip of Sam Moorcroft, the CEO of ChristianCafe.com being interviewed about his dating service and why more Christians are turning to online dating to meet their soul mate.

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

In the video they also talk about other popular dating sites and why there are some disadvantages to using a large generic dating site if you are looking for someone of the same faith.

For more on the story you can read CBN. ChristianCafe.com is a service dedicated to connecting Christian singles together for marriage. If you are interested in this service you can check out our Christian Cafe review for more information.

Plenty Of Fish is reporting that they had over 300 million monthly visits to their Android and iPhone apps last month. I am not sure if they mean they had 300 million visits to their respective app pages on iTunes and Android Market or if members used the apps on their phones a total of 300 million times (probably the latter, but how can you visit an app, I thought you used an app).

Plenty Of Fish is also seeing mobile traffic increasing by 3 percent every week with 40 percent of all United States signups now coming from mobile phones and tablets. iPads saw an increase of usage by 88 percent alone from December 2011 to January 2012 (must be those Holiday presents). All this traffic equals to over 3 billion page views a month coming from mobile apps. Wow, that is a lot! I never expected such a large percentage of signups would come from mobile devices already.

I guess the iTunes PlentyOfFish app description needs an update though, as I write this post it currently states that Plenty Of Fish has over 145 million monthly visitors and 38 million users.

To find out about this dating service and their mobile apps you can read our Plenty Of Fish review.

Every online dating site boasts about their "success stories," hoping to entice new members who are looking for success stories of their own to join up.

But when it comes to online dating, what does "success" actually mean? Does going on dates make your online dating experience a success? Is a long-term relationship the desired successful end result? Is marriage the only measure of online dating success?

Two Ph.D students at Drexel, Rachel Magee and Christopher Mascaro, and their advisor Dr. Sean P. Goggins decided to find out exactly what success means to online daters in a study called "Not Just a Wink and a Smile: An Analysis of User-Defined Success in Online Dating." The team collected success stories dated from 1997 through early 2011from three of cyberspace's most popular dating sites - Match.com, eHarmony.com, and OkCupid.com - then examined the relationship status ("Dating," "Engaged," or "Married") of a random sampling of 20% of the stories.

They found that the definition of "success" varies between the Web sites. eHarmony's success stories are primarily married couples (84%), while the number of married couples on Match and OkCupid are lower (46.7% and 23%, respectively). They also found that the number of success stories on eHarmony and Match increases from "Dating" through "Engaged" to "Married," indicating that they are good options for singles looking for serious, long-term relationships. On the other hand, OkCupid's frequency decreases from "Dating" through "Married."

Success, the researchers determined, is strongly defined as marriage on eHarmony, whereas a successful experience on OkCupid is most commonly defined as dating and the definitions are more evenly distributed on Match. Additional findings showed that most success stories credited the site that brought the couple together in a phrase like "Thank you (site name)," meaning that the dating site chosen to find a partner was a very important part of the story for the couples studied.

So what can other online daters take away from this information? Choose your dating site wisely. All sites are not created equally, and which site you choose is likely to have a significant impact on your online dating experience. Singles who are looking for a relaxed experience and low-key dating should check out OkCupid, while singles who are looking for a serious connection may want to steer clear of it. For long-term relationships and marriage-minded members, Match and eHarmony may be better bets.

For more on the dating sites mentioned you can read our review of Match.com and our review of eHarmony.com.

Valentine's Day will be here soon and the dating site Chemistry will be offering free communication this weekend for members of their service. Starting first thing on Friday February the 10th and running till end of day on Sunday February 12th you will be able to flirt, communicate and connect for free. No credit card is required for this promotion and you will be able to view other members complete profile including photos. Communication includes Chemistry starters and email.

Chemistry is a dating site designed for singles looking for a long-term relationship. Their advanced matching system is based on the work of Dr. Helen Fisher. With the information you provide in your free Chemistry profile you will be matched with other members on not just your location and interests but personality types as well.

Just over a month ago Chemistry had their last free communication weekend. To find out more about this popular dating site you can read our review of Chemistry.

The big game has come and gone (and my home team took the trophy!), but that doesn't mean it's too late to take a look at what single women think of Super Bowl XLVI. Zoosk asked more than 1,000 ladies about what they think of football, the players, and how the biggest match of the year might be affecting their dating lives. This is what they had to say:

• Think that women aren't into sports? Think again! 91% of single women said that being taken to Indianapolis to see the game would be a dream date. You may have missed your opportunity to woo her with tickets this year, but at least now you know a great gift to get your girl for 2013.

• Is the famous "women's intuition" good enough to predict the winner of this year's game? 51% of women said the Patriots would be victorious and 49% put their bets on the Giants. I guess women's intuition will have to prove itself elsewhere.

• Women really only watch the game for the commercials and the halftime show, right? Wrong. 66% said they're in it for the actual football, compared to 20% who said they're only interested in the commercials and just 14% who tuned in for Madonna and the rest of the halftime crew.

• Quarterbacks are the undisputed sexiest players on the field. 68% of female Patriots fans voted Tom Brady into the top position, and 61% of Giants fans gave the title to Eli Manning. Patriots supporters put Rob Gronkowski and Chad Ochocinco the second and third places, respectively, while Justin Trattou took second and Ahmad Bradshaw took third for the Giants.

• Women may be more into the game than they are into the halftime show or the commercials, but they're not into betting on it. Less than half of single Zooskers (34%) said they had plans to participate in a Super Bowl pool.

• A narrow majority of women (55%) thought that the man they voted the sexiest in the game, Tom Brady, had what it takes to get a 4th ring in spite of his injuries and lack of defense support, but it looks like they'll have to rethink who they'll be supporting for next year.

• Lady Gaga who? Madonna is still the queen of pop, and the song single ladies were most hoping to hear her perform during the halftime show was "Express Yourself."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to celebrating with my fellow New Yorkers. See ya next year, football fans...

For more information on the dating site who compiled these statistics you can read our Zoosk.com review.

Market Research released a new report this month on the current US dating service market. In it they state that dating services are a $2.1 billion business with online dating representing 53 percent of the market (other types include print personals, matchmakers, etc.). Year over year since 2001 online dating has become more popular. This year though, revenue is only expected to grow 7.5 percent in the United States. The reason for this is that competition has exploded with an estimated 1,500 dating sites serving the US. Dating sites also have found that they are competing more with social networking sites. That is why dating companies in the US are starting to expand into Europe where the next online dating boom is predicted to happen.

In 2007 it was reported that by 2012 revenue projected for the entire dating industry would be $1.9 Billion. It looks like the projection was only about 10 percent off. JupiterResearch (who also offer industry reports) also estimated revenue for the year 2007 to be $900 million.

For more information on this report you can read the abstract at Market Research.