General News

Ever dreamt of becoming a romcom star like Meg Ryan, Kate Hudson, and Matthew McConaughey?

Bob Murray - a 34 year old commercial real estate investor from Milwaukee - didn't set out to become a leading man on the silver screen, but his search for The One might make him a film star anyway. After three long-term relationships that spanned 12 years, and a year of singlehood, Murray decided to embark upon an adventure that he hopes will lead to lasting love and a movie deal. Last month, he began a 17-day road trip that will take him through 8 cities - St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, Santa Fe, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and a TBD city in Oklahoma - during which he will go on prearranged dates with women he met online, all the while documenting his every move with the help of a small film crew.

And did I mention he'll be traveling by cab?

In addition to a production assistant, sound expert, and camera operators, Murray will be joined on his journey by Paula Heus, a cabdriver who will also dish out romantic advice as an unofficial life coach. "She's a real firecracker and not afraid to state her opinion about things," Murray told the Bellingham Herald. When his quest is over, Murray hopes to tour the film festival circuit with a documentary about his unusual search for love.

Heus' cab has hardly left the driveway, but already Murray's project has hit a few roadblocks. A planned stop in Amarillo, TX had to be abandoned after Murray was unable to get a response to his search for a date in the city, and a rule that dates could only be arranged two weeks in advance was made when scheduled meetups with two women fell through after they found boyfriends before Murray arrived in their cities.

Murray was also able to raise less than $5,000 of the $20,000 he hoped to earn to fund the trip, so he was forced to foot much of the bill himself and exchange equity in the film for further donations from his largest investors. In spite of these setbacks, however, Murray has been on his first date in Milwaukee, with an actress named Cynthia Kmak, and has plans for adventures along the lines of mountain climbing and skydiving in other cities.

You can follow his progress on Twitter, at www.twitter.com/percent40dateamerica, and Facebook, at www.facebook.com/dateamerica.

There's no doubt that Facebook is becoming increasingly influential when it comes to relationships. When we're dating, we ask ourselves what we should and should not post about our dates, if we should friend them, or when we should change our relationship status. Sometimes what you do on Facebook can make or break a relationship.

Online Dating University recently constructed an infographic to show us how Facebook can affect our relationships, as well as offering tips for how to deal with the challenges we face.

Some interesting findings:

• The average percentage of single Facebook users by country is 39%.

• Women make up a greater percentage of Facebook's user base.

• Of all active Facebook users, 50% spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

• Those with few friends on Facebook tend to be more genuine in their posts, while those with many friends tend to have more superficial interactions.

• Facebook allows you to show a more positive version of yourself, boosting your self-esteem and contributing to overall happiness. But depending on how often you use Facebook, it can make you over-aware of yourself, causing stress and anxiety.

How relationship problems can occur from Facebook:

Overanalyzing. When you're on Facebook a lot, you can overthink your love interest's posts which can cause you to feel insecure in the relationship.

Everyone knows your business. When you post something about your past or current relationship, positive or negative, it may translate to TMI in your partner's eyes. Also, posting your relationship status before talking with your partner can cause unnecessary grief. What if he doesn't reciprocate, or what if he is upset by this public declaration before you've discussed with each other?

Break-ups lead to obsessive behavior. When you break up, your ex's new life is there for you to see on Facebook, including the pictures she posted with her new boyfriend. It's hard to resist checking in and seeing how your ex is faring, but it also makes it harder to move on.

What to do:

Talk about it. If Facebook is creating misunderstandings in your relationship, try being more open and honest in person with your partner. If you have a question or problem, it's best to ask directly. Communication is key in any relationship.

Look over your page. Be mindful of what you post. If your partner is uncomfortable by your openness about your love life and the types of comments you get from friends, maybe it's time to delete or change privacy settings. There's no need for everything in your personal life to be made public: agree to what you feel comfortable sharing.

Let go of your ex. Remove her from your feed so you aren't reminded of her every time you log on. Make a decision to not look at her page, or de-friend her if you need to take more drastic action. Allow yourself to move on.

For more information on using this social network as a dating tool, please read our Facebook review.

For the first quarter ending March 31, 2011 Spark Networks reported revenue of $11 million. This is an 8 percent increase in revenue over last quarter (the largest growth between quarters in the last 5 years) and a 4 percent increase when compared to the same quarter in 2010. Spark Networks reported a net loss of $0.2 million in the first quarter due to $1.8 million being spent on direct advertising. In the same quarter last year a net income of $0.9 million was recorded.

Revenue for JDate this quarter was $6.9 million which was the same last quarter. JDate did have a 2 percent increase in subscribers at 91,545.

Revenue for the Other Affinity networks (ChristianMingle, BlackSingles, etc.) was $3.8 million. This is a 35 percent increase over the last quarter. Average paying subscribers was at 81,889 which is a 26 percent increase when compared to Q4, 2010.

Revenue for General Market Networks was down 20 percent to $190,000 when compared to the last quarter. Subscribers also fell similarly (19 percent) to 4,207.

For the full 2011 Q1 release visit Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks Fourth Quarter 2010 Financials

eHarmony in the United States is having a free communication event this weekend from May 27 to May 30, which falls close to Memorial Day. During this eHarmony event, new and existing members will be able to use the guided communication process for free which allows you to interact with other members by asking and answering questions.

Along with guided communication, members will also be able to create a profile and receive matches at no cost and with no credit card required. Viewing of members profile pictures and Secure Call communication are not included in this promotion.

This will be eHarmony's 34th (I believe) free communication event with the last one occurring for the entire month of February (see Story).

To find out more details on this popular online dating site that matches you based on personality, please check out our eHarmony.com review.

Markus over on the Plenty of flish blog posted that the Plenty of Fish dating service surpassed 6 million logins in one day for the first time on Sunday May 15 (Sunday is usually his peak traffic day for the week). In the post he displayed a point chart which shows that about 4 years ago they had maybe 1.2 million logins per day and since then it has been a slow but steady rise to the 6 million milestone.

For more information on this dating service you can check out our review of Plenty of Fish.

FriendFinder Networks expected to raise $50 million in gross profit from its IPO which started trading May 11, 2011 on the Nasdaq under the "FFN" ticker symbol. The company expect shares to go for around $10 and plan to sell 5 million. The money raised from the IPO has been earmarked to pay down their debt.

FriendFinder Networks stock price currently sits at $5.67 per stock and it has been as low as $5.32 per stock in the past few days.

To find out more about dating sites owned by FriendFinder Networks you can read our review of Passion.com and our review of FriendFinder.

Related Story: FriendFinder Networks Plans To Revisit Public Offering