Reviews

Dating apps are fast becoming the rage among young singles, especially location-based apps like Tinder, typically used for the purpose of hooking up. But a new service called Twine aims to do things a little differently.

Instead of scrolling through photos to see who's "hot or not", like Tinder, Twine pulls information from your Facebook profiles and matches you with other members nearby based on mutual interests. Oh, and they also blur out photos so that you can start chatting and flirting first, and then decide if you want to reveal your pics to each other later.

While this might sound like a waste of time to daters looking to meet someone quickly, many women tend to shy away from location-based dating apps, which doesn't help the odds if you're a man. Females (more than males) get barraged with invitations from potential dates, and because of the overload of guys virtually approaching them, they are less likely to engage. However, with Twine, everyone has to work a little harder, which makes it that much more engaging, and potentially that much more appealing to female users.

Another great aspect of Twine's strategy is that it aims to cut down on spam and fake profiles. One way it does this is through gender restrictions. Men and women using the service must be represented in equal numbers, so if there are currently more men signed up than women, new members will be put on a waiting list until more women join. Also, users aren't allowed to upload their own photos, they are instead pulled directly from your Facebook profile, so you can't post a picture of someone else.

Other dating apps have launched recently that are also focused on delivering more quality matches. One such app is At First Sight, which provides short video profiles of members to scroll through. With this app, you're getting a feel for what the person is like, how he sounds, what gestures he uses - rather than just a static photo - which helps when making a decision about whether or not you want to meet someone. (It also helps filter those fake profiles.) When I downloaded it however, it was a little clumsy to use. The videos are presented in a chain, and you can keep scrolling down until you find someone who interests you, which means you might stop and start several different video profiles. I do like that each person chooses a question to answer, rather than just a free-flowing format.

Regardless of your preferences, dating apps are here to stay, and might well be the most popular way to meet singles in the future. Even traditional online dating sites are developing their own apps. Either way, isn't it good to have more opportunities to meet people, no matter how you do it?

You think you may have finally found the one: that one special online dating profile that will take you off the market for good. You've been talking for a couple of weeks, falling for each other's taste in music and mutual love of LOLcats, and now it's finally time to meet in person.

As the big day arrives, you find yourself flooded with emotions. You're happy. You're nervous. But most of all you're excited to finally say hello to the wonderful person behind the computer screen.

Until they make an excuse and cancel. Or they don't show at all. Or they show, but they look nothing like they did in their pictures.

Most people on online dating sites are genuine, but let's face it: some are not, and the Catfish phenomenon is sending online dating right back to the dark ages when everyone was afraid to do it. Dating sites are doing their best to weed out the fake profiles and the scammers, but the margin for error is high. There has never been a good way to determine whether you're wasting your time online...until now?

Enter 'Lots of Fakes,' a new website and app that claims to take the guesswork out of online dating. Lots of Fakes allows members of all the major online dating sites to create reviews of other users they've had experience with.

"The goal is to bring a certain level of accountability to online dating," says Daniel M. of FlashInsight, Inc., the company responsible for Lots of Fakes. "It's a very simple tool that can help people navigate the treacherous waters of meeting people online. For example, if you spent a week talking to someone only to find out they are married, or posted inaccurate photos, why not share that information and save someone else a week of their time?"

Why not indeed?

Using the tool is incredibly simple (and it's all for free!). Anyone interested in getting the dirt on a date can search reviews by username and website. Those who want to leave a review enter the username and website, mark the date as either REAL or FAKE, and leave a comment to describe their experiences. Reviews can be searched and created online at LotsofFakes.com, or on the go using the Android and iOS apps.

The database is entirely user-generated, meaning that it started out empty and will build organically over time as more and more people participate.

Do you think date reviews are the next big thing? Would you consult a review before going out with someone new? Would you leave one?

First there was Singlesnet. Then there was Singlesnet via Match.com. Now there's Kiss.com, the latest evolution of an online dating service that's been in business since 1997.

There was once a time when Singlesnet was the most visited dating site in the United States, but its popularity peaked in December 2008 and steadily declined until a major drop in February 2009. Despite the drastic drop in traffic, Match.com purchased the company in 2010 and Match CEO Greg Blatt had high hopes for the new acquisition.

"While Singlesnet's traffic is currently in decline," he said at the time, "we believe that by applying our category expertise we can reverse that trend, increase the site's profitability and improve the overall user experience."

Quinn Lipin, Singlesnet founder and CEO, was also hopeful that the new partnership would mean a brighter future. "Match.com has been the standard-bearer for the entire online dating industry, so we're excited to team up with them," he said. "I believe working with Match.com will enable us to re-start growth in the business."

Three years have passed, and the company has undergone yet another transformation. The site was rebranded for 2013 as Kiss.com, a sleek, simple, and streamlined dating site better suited to the current online dating climate.

The Kiss.com sign up process begins with an easy fill-in-the-blank questionnaire that makes completing your profile a snap. After you've answered the Mad Libs-style forms, you can then choose the hobbies and interests that most represent you from a selection of cute and colorful cartoon drawings. The list is surprisingly extensive (even pet rocks have an entry!). The same picture-style survey also answers questions about your beliefs regarding politics, religion, and astrology.

Finally, you're given the opportunity to answer in your own words. Two free-response questions let your creativity flow: 'If you only had 4 seconds, what would you say about yourself?' and 'What if you had an hour to describe yourself to someone, what would you say?' If you're not ready to answer every question just yet, you can hit the SKIP button at any point and come back later.

While the look of the site is different, the price structure has barely changed since it was Singlesnet:

• One month for $24.95
• Three months for $16.65 per month ($3.00 cheaper)
• Twelve months for $7.49 per month

Members who choose to upgrade their subscriptions receive better placement in search results, priority access to new features, and unlimited communication with both featured and non-featured members.

Will a makeover prove to be all Kiss.com needs to climb its way back to the top?

Before Facebook was the site we know and love (mostly) today, it was Facemash: a Hot or Not-like site for Harvard students that compiled pictures from the online Facebooks of nine houses and encouraged users to rate them.

A later version of the site located at thefacebook.com was a small social networking service for Harvard students only. By March 2004, the site had expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale. Other Ivy League schools, as well as Boston University, New York University, and MIT, soon followed. By 2005, it had spread to most universities in Canada and the US, and dropped "The" from its name.

The newly rebranded Facebook.com remained limited to college students until it opened to high school students in September 2005, and finally to everyone aged 13 and over a year later. Though the many iterations of the site were different, a common thread ran through most of them: students.

DateMySchool.com is picking up where Facebook left off. With Facebook no longer limited to students, two Columbia University MBA students, Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer, saw an opportunity. They founded DateMySchool in 2010, after a woman in the Columbia School of Social Work complained that there were too few men in her department.

DateMySchool helps students and alumni connect with other verified students and alumni. "No weirdos, no classmates, no relatives, no stalkers, no colleagues, no Facebook," the site promises. The service has now expanded to 230,000 students in 2,800 colleges, and apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android were launched last month.

What sets DateMySchool apart from the competition is its commitment to safety and privacy. Unlike most social networks, which connect you with friends and family, DateMySchool ensures that you can only see and be seen by people you don't know but can trust. That way you'll never have an awkward run-in with someone you know in real life.

Each user must register with an email address that ends in .edu, to verify that they are an alum or a current student. Members are given control over who can access their profiles by filtering through schools, departments, location, age range, and personal attributes according to their preferences. Alexa and Meyer hope that enabling users to control who can and can't see their profiles will minimize online dating's stigma of embarrassment, decrease the likelihood of fake profiles on the site, and increase privacy and safety for members.

So far, the site has been a hit. DateMySchool was About.com's 2012 Readers' Choice Awards for Best College Dating Site and Best Free Dating Site, and claims to be "the largest dating site for college students in the United States."

If you're a staunch Republican or a true blue Democrat and this past election season has gotten you all fired up, are you also hurting your dating life? Some people avoid the subject of politics altogether at the beginning of a relationship, since it can make a flirtatious night turn contentious.

Politic Matchmakers, LLC has a different game plan, though. They offer two new sites for our polarized country - "Red State Date" (RedStateDate.com) and "Blue State Date" (BlueStateDate.com) - if your politics play a big role in your love life. With these sites, there's no need to avoid or pretend to tolerate the differences of political opinion between you and your date. Sounds great, right?

Well, ideally, yes. But I think a love connection goes beyond politics - and personal bonds are probably the one thing that can bring people with opposing views together. After all, you don't stop speaking to your uncle (except maybe during election season) because he's at the other end of the political spectrum. And you don't divorce your wife because she voted for a different candidate than you did in the last election.

But if you're tired of dating people who don't agree with your political point of view, and you don't want to defend yourself or get into more arguments, maybe it's time to try something a little more catered to your preferences.

Red State Date and Blue State Date not only offer databases of like-minded politicos, but also offer the latest news from your favorite conservative or liberal sources (Drudge vs. Huffington Post) so you can strike up a conversation. (But since you already share the same views about the world, I imagine you will spend a lot of your date nodding and agreeing with each other.)

While this seems like a good way to filter people who share the same values as you, it also leaves little room for all the other aspects of what attracts two people, not to mention all the people who aren't so led by political beliefs. I mean, what about the independents who share both liberal and conservative ideas that you'll miss meeting? And just because somebody shares your politics doesn't mean they feel the same way as you about relationships or anything else. What if your date is completely religious and you're an atheist? Or what if you are interested in marriage but your date prefers to keep things loose?

While political niche sites are great filters, they can also cause you to miss out on some great opportunities you have when you cast a wider net.

Christian Carter’s ebook “Catch Him And Keep Him” is a great resource for women to figure out what a woman can do to meet and attract men. Our Editors review is now online for this book and can be found under our Dating Books category. This male perspective on dating and relationships is ideal for beginners and experienced women. It takes a direct approach in revealing the truth about what men want in a relationship.

To find out more about this popular dating book for women you can read our new Catch Him And Keep Him review now.