General News

For years, algorithms have ruled the world of online dating - and the more complicated and inscrutable, the better. eHarmony lured in users with it's 258-question personality test, and sites like PerfectMatch.com and Chemistry.com boasted about the experts - a sociologist and an anthropologist, respectively - who designed their matching algorithms.

Increasingly, finding love online feels a little bit awkward and a lot less personal. It's practically a formula: log on, review a stranger's profile, click through their pictures, send a message that refers to something interesting you found on their profile, ask an intriguing question or two, then hit "send" and hope that your message was witty, unique, and mysterious enough to warrant a response.

But all that is about to change, if Nerve.com has anything to say about it. Introducing Nerve Dating, a new service for singles that calls itself "The first dating site for humans." Nerve Dating isn't the site's first time at the rodeo - Nerve Personals (a home for "literate smut") was popular at the turn of the century, but it slowly faded into obscurity as sites like Match.com and OkCupid gained in popularity.

"The story of online dating has become about algorithms and not about having fun with people online," said Sean Mills, the chief executive of Nerve, in a blurb about Nerve Dating on NYTimes.com. "We're moving away from the algorithm era into the social era. This is a dating site that reflects how the Web has changed."

Nerve's newest dating service takes its inspiration from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Instead of basing interactions on static profiles and complex matchmaking algorithms, Nerve Dating is based around status updates and minireports about details like concerts attended and favorite meals eaten. Users can click on the "What did you do last night?" page, for example, and see if someone's activities catch their eye, or discover other users' deepest thoughts on culture, sex, and dating in the "Opinions" section.

"We're giving people a reason to get to know each other rather than setting them up on an awkward blind date," Mr. Mills said. Nerve Dating hopes that the unusual tidbits of information the site provides will act as natural icebreakers for members, and that the social networking style of the service will feel familiar to Web-savvy users who are used to the format.

Given that Nerve is already a popular site that receives two million visitors each month, Mills is confident that Nerve Dating has a shot at becoming a major player in the online dating industry in 2012.

Between Christmas and the New Year last month Mamboo.com users on average viewed 40 percent more pages. New subscriptions are also up by 38 percent and members are also sending 30 percent more online gifts. The most important statistic is probably that the number of messages members sent, doubled during this time period. This all points to a very active dating service.

Mamboo also sees a busy January this year. They forecast a 60 percent increase in traffic in the first two weeks alone this month. Between Christmas and Valentine’s Day is the peak season for dating services so most sites will see an increase in traffic.

For more information about this story you can read the press release.

As 2011 comes to an end, it's time for a retrospective. We've laughed, we've cried, we've dated, and now it's time to look back on all that we've learned about life and love over the course of the last 12 months.

Thankfully, Match.com has done a lot of the hard work for us already, creating a Retrospective In Love Infographic that lays out all the most important facts and figures of 2011 in bright colors and eye-catching graphics. Check out the full version here, and the highlights below:

Match.com:

• 1 in 3 online dates in 2011 originated on Match.com, as did 1 out of every 8 dates of any kind in the United States.

• All in all, singles had more than 23 million conversations on Match.

Location, Location, Location:

• 94% of New Yorkers are willing to date outside of their borough.

• Scottsdale, AZ is the #1 place to find dates with foodie dads.

• Yonkers, NY is the top place for dating single moms.

• 30% of New York women consider firemen to be the sexiest profession for men.

• The top 5 most fit cities on Match are: Boulder (CO), San Diego (CA), Denver (CO), Bridgeport (CT), Los Angeles (CA).

• The top 5 cities for finding your perfect nerdy companion are: Sunnyvale (CA), Cambridge (MA), Somerville (MA), Berkeley (CA), Santa Clara (CA).

The Dirt on Dating:

• 65% of women spend more than $50 preparing for a date.

• 46% of women are ok with their dates using coupons to pay.

• 80% of singles don't believe that their dates should end between the sheets.

• Texting may be popular, but 80% of daters still prefer to hold conversations on the phone.

• Forget the rules about white after Labor Day - 81% of men like women who wear white pants on a date.

• More than half of men think that making out is appropriate on first date, compared to only 1 out of 4 women.

The Low-Down on Love:

• 76% of singles believe that, if they marry, they will be married forever.

• 85% of women believe that it's possible to have both love and a successful career.

• 54% of men say they have experienced love at first sight.

• But only 44% of women say they have experienced the same thing.

• 35% of singles have had a one-night stand that turned into a long-term relationship.

• 35% of men and women have fallen in love with someone they were not initially attracted to.

For more information on the dating site that created the infograph you can read our review of Match.com.

The dating site Chemistry.com let us know recently that they have updated the look of their site with a makeover as well as released a number of new dating features. Most of these features revolves around the new Stream feature. The Stream allows members to see live updates of other users activity in their area. With the Stream members can also send a "Cheers" which is like giving a thumbs up for that particular members profile. The biggest change to the profile layout I found was the use of larger photos.

Stay tune for more information on the new features as we are in the works of updating our Chemistry.com review with all of the latest changes.

According to OPW Plenty of Fish had a Christmas party in which 40 employees went to a high class resort for 2 days and nights. It's good to see that the company values their employees. One of the many ways in which a company can help drive success is to make sure that their employees are happy and passionate about the company's product.

By the way, the last time we had an employee count at POF was in 2009 and it was only 4. They certainly have grown in a few short years.

We have had a number or requests over the last year for our recommendation on the best online service to use to perform background checks. These requests come from people who have met someone on a dating site and are just looking for that extra bit of security to ensure the person they are dating is who they say they are.

There are a number of companies out there that offer this type of service. Over the next few months we will review a number of them and add the ones we feel offer the best service to our new Background Checks category.

Most background check services allow you to find information on an individual including contact and address information, military records, criminal records, and other court documents like marriage records. Remember though no service can offer 100% accuracy. Please read our Background Checks page for more information on this.

The first service we have added to the new category is a review for PeopleFinders.com.