General News

Planning the perfect first date is hard. It's nearly impossible to choose the right place, the right time, the right ambiance...unless you're a current Match.com member, that is. Thanks to a new feature recently launched by the site, the perfect first date is only a few clicks away.

Match.com's DateSpark is an innovative approach to finding love online that takes the emphasis away from reading countless trite profiles and sending oodles of dead-end messages by helping users actually meet people with compatible interests in real life.

Using the new feature is as simple as proposing a date that you find interesting, like riding upside down on the Gravitron at the county fair or trying to order 1 of every cocktail on the menu of your favorite restaurant, and waiting for a response from members who are interested in the same activity. Match.com describes the new feature like this:

"DateSpark is a fun new way to meet people on Match.com. You suggest an interesting date idea, post it on your profile, and see what it sparks. If you see a DateSpark idea on another member's profile, you can tell them what you think. It's a great conversation starter with the added bonus of a natural first date, already planned!"

To suggest a date, click on the "DateSpark" link under Profile in the top navigation bar. Write a short description of your idea, select the appropriate options from three dropdown menus ("Type of date?" "When is it?" "What time of day?") and hit "Post this date." Once it's approved, your DateSpark idea will be added to your profile and other Match users can respond if it sparks their interest. Match.com wisely recommends being original, as creativity will draw more attention to your DateSpark proposal, and protecting your safety by keeping some information, like an exact location, date, and time, and personal details, private.

What I love most about this feature is that it reminds users that the reason they're on an online dating site in the first place is to go on dates. Instead of relying on the algorithms of the site to find members it thinks will be good matches, and hoping that love comes along, DateSpark allows users to personalize their search and encourages them to be proactive in the pursuit of potential partners. DateSpark focuses on the activity, rather than an often-uninformative profile, and gives Match members the encouragement they need to take their dating offline.

It's too soon to tell whether or not DateSpark will be a hit (it currently is available in only certain areas), but I'm excited to see how Match.com's newest development evolves.

To find out more about this online dating site, check out our review of Match.com.

eHarmony's Free Guided Communication Event begins at 12:01AM on Friday, January 28th 2011 and ends at 11:59PM on Monday, February 28th 2011 (US only). This is the first time ever that eHarmony.com is having a free communication event that is a whole month long. Best yet, it is happening at the busiest time of year for online dating sites, during the month of February and Valentine’s Day. This ensures that many singles will be taking advantage of this promotion.

During this event no credit card is required to create a profile, receive matches and to use the guided communication process. This communication process has 3 stages that help you and your match to get to know each other better. eHarmony Mail, viewing of members profile pictures and Fasttracking the communication process are not included in this promotion.

This free guided communication event will be eHarmony's 33rd with the last one occurring at the end of December (see Story).

Update #1: eHarmony.co.uk is also having a free communication event. It ends on February 15th, 2011.

For more information on this online matchmaking service, you can read our eHarmony review.

eHarmony's last press release contained information about milestones they achieved in 2010. Let's review them:

• eHarmony's latest Harris Interactive research was released showing that 542 Americans who met through eHarmony marry on average everyday (see Story)
• eHarmony ended the year 2010 with a record number of subscribers
• The launch of eHarmony in Brazil tripled revenue for the company in international markets
• eHarmony's Tokyo office open in 2010 with the expected launch of eHarmony Japan sometime in the first part of 2011
• eHarmony launched dating apps for the iPhone (iOS) and Android mobile phones and devices. Visitors from these devices now account for 20% of global site visits with more than 16,000 profiles viewed every hour

Congratulations on the big year eHarmony. For those of you who didn't know, 2010 also marked eHarmony's 10 year of being in business (see Story).

For more information about this dating site please check out our eHarmony.com review.

Do you appreciate it when men open the door for you? If so, you’re not alone. A recent “tongue-in-cheek” campaign by Dockers (yes, the pants-makers) found that chivalry is alive and kicking.

The Dockers campaign encouraged men to “wear the pants” in the relationship and challenged five major cities to a so-called “chivalry smackdown”. Cities included in the campaign were New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco.

The campaign stunt included placing a young woman or elderly male in a high-traffic pedestrian area where they clearly struggled with toppling boxes, hoping passers-by would help. And in all cities, both men and women did….but some had far more helpful people than others.

As it turns out, the most chivalry is in the South. Atlanta came in first, with only 8 people on average passing by the struggling woman or man before someone stopped to help. San Francisco was second with 17 people passing by before someone stopped to help. Chicago was third with 20, Los Angeles fourth with 35, and New York came in last with 40 people passing before someone stopped to help.

Although this campaign was a publicity stunt for Dockers, it’s an interesting statistic. Many daters feel that chivalry is a thing of the past and that people are far from considerate, but the Dockers stunt proves that they’re wrong, at least in Atlanta and San Francisco! Los Angeles and New York men and women still have a lot to learn when it comes to chivalry…

Remember that whether or not you’re single, chivalry and consideration go a long way in making a good impression, so put your best foot forward.

This month OKCupid.com has updated their privacy controls for profiles and communication. Members can now specify the type of singles they do not want viewing their profile or communicating with them. These privacy controls work on a number of the profile attributes including your age and sexual orientation. For example, young women now can specify an age range of members they feel is appropriate to contact them. If they are not interested in older men, this feature will makes sure that these members cannot view and contact them.

For more on this story, take a look at The Washington Post. To find out further details about the dating site you can read our OKCupid.com review.

Gregory Waldorf has been CEO of eHarmony for almost 5 years and has worked for the company for over 11 years. On January 19th it was announced that he is stepping down from the position. While being CEO of eHarmony, Mr. Waldorf saw the company grow globally and have continued success in the online dating industry.

Mr. Waldorf will be replaced by Greg Steiner who is eHarmony's president and chief operating officer. This placement is just temporary until the Board of Directors can find a permanent replacement.

For more on this story you can read the press release. To find further information about this dating site please check out our review of eHarmony.