Spark Networks, owner of several popular religious dating sites such as JDate and Christian Mingle, announced the launch of the new Believe.com website, described as a faith-based lifestyle destination designed to serve the Christian community.

The idea for the new site came after a poll of Christian Mingle members was taken. An overwhelming 86% felt that "they needed additional support to help in their daily walk with God," but 74% were not aware of any digital destinations to help them do this. The new makeover to Believe.com is the company's answer to this problem.

"A tremendous amount of research and outreach to the community helped us determine the most important issues, trends and topics for today's online faith-based consumers," said Ashley Reccord, Christian Community Manager at Spark Networks. "Unlike any other content destination, Believe.com offers today's Christians a platform to engage, learn and pray in their everyday lives."

Believe.com is meant to be as interactive as possible with its members. Its features include a section called "Contributor's Corner" where users can engage with content that highlights messages, articles, and sermons from renowned Christian leaders and best-selling authors such as Jefferson Bethke, Sharon Jaynes, Jerry Jenkins and Mandy Hale. "Sunday Sermon" provides a video platform that enables people to view sermons they missed or to find new church leaders they wouldn't otherwise have heard about. "Ask a Pastor" allows members to ask questions about their faith and challenges they have in relationships, work, and other areas of life and receive faith-based feedback.

The most popular feature on Believe.com is called "Pray it Forward," which is a central place for people to share prayers for friends and family so they can engage a larger Christian community in the power of prayer.

The new site is making itself available over social media as well, with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus platforms where people can leave messages, post inspirational quotes, and interact with each other.

"With the experience of building an unprecedented audience on Christian Mingle, Spark Networks has become a recognized leader in the Christian marketplace," said Ted Gartner, Partner at Grace Hill Media, an advertising partner. "It's exciting to see the new Believe.com respond to the market demand for a modern, multi-platform Christian lifestyle site."

To celebrate its launch, Believe.com declared the month of October as "Pray it Forward" month. They encouraged Christians everywhere to come together at anytime and anywhere to pray online (via the Believe.com website or through the mobile phone app). Members were also encouraged to promote and post prayers via social media using the hashtag #prayitforward and the Twitter handle @Believe.

If you haven't heard of TED (and what off-the-grid deserted island have you been living on, if you haven't?), TED is a global set of conferences owned by a private nonprofit foundation dedicated to showcasing "ideas worth spreading." Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Bill Gates, countless Nobel Prize winners, and artists of all kinds.

Amy Webb, author of Data, A Love Story: How I Gamed Online Dating to Meet My Match, took to the TED stage to tell the story of how she hacked online dating. After a bad date left her at a restaurant with a $1300 bill, she decided to game the online dating system by creating an algorithm of her own. Using dating sites as databases, she came up with 72 data points designed to identify her ideal partner. She prioritize the 72 points and devised a scoring system:

• 700 points and she'd send an e-mail
• 900 points and she'd go on a date
• 1500 points and she would consider a relationship

What she was attempting to quantify with serendipity. Most people take the "expect it when you least expect it" approach to love, but that wasn't enough for Amy Webb. She wanted to know the exact probability of finding her Mr. Right, and she knew her passion for data and numbers was the way to do it.

Of course, it wouldn't be a story if it was always smooth sailing. Webb began her online dating journey by copying lines from her resume and posting them into her online dating profile. I'm sure you can guess how that turned out: not well. The dating site's algorithm paired her with terrible matches that led to even worse dates. Some would give up then, but not Amy Webb.

She began collecting data points during her awful dates. She tracked things like awkward sexual remarks, bad vocabulary, and the number of times her dates attempted to high-five her. After gathering the data, she crunched the numbers and started making correlations.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was that the algorithms on online dating sites weren't actually failing. They were doing exactly what they were designed to do: take user-generated information and match it with other user-generated information. The problem with Webb was that she'd put bad information - her resume - into the algorithm in the first place. "The real problem here," she explained to her TED audience, "is that while the algorithms work just fine, you and I don't."

What was her solution? The answer will amaze you...

Related Article: Amy Webb Tells TED How She Hacked Online Dating (Part II)

Maybe you're not a gamer, but a new study by Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab brings up an interesting conundrum. Researchers found that online avatars (our own virtual representations) could cause us to take on certain personas in the real world. Specifically, sexy avatars are making women objectify themselves in real life.

Researchers immersed 86 participants into a virtual reality world, giving some sexualized avatars (dressed suggestively in short dresses, high heels, and tight shirts) and others conservative, neutral avatars (wearing jeans, jackets, and tennis shoes). When asked about the gaming experience afterwards, the women with sexualized avatars were more likely to talk about their bodies. More than that, if they found themselves physically identifying/ resembling their avatars, they were more likely to believe sexist myths like women are manipulative.

Women with sexualized avatars actually started to see themselves as objects, rather than as human, during the course of the study.

While this study was specific to the relationship between women and avatars in the virtual gaming world, it made me wonder how our online images in general affect our real-life personas, especially in online dating. If you create a profile to project a certain image to potential dates, do you start thinking of yourself in a different way in real life?

Or to take it one step further, think about your social media profiles - Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Do you sometimes post comments or report a specific status to cast yourself in a certain light? For instance, do you post comments about the parties you attend or who you're meeting as opposed to saying "watching television in my pajamas and eating mac and cheese." If you post pictures of yourself in sexy dresses at bars, do you think of yourself differently than if you just post pictures of yourself hiking in your sweats and running shoes?

It's an interesting subject to consider. We are more than what we do in our day to day lives, we are also our online images. Many people we interact with online we don't see that often. Our image of ourselves can be crafted, and in turn make us think that who we are online is really who we are.

So what does this mean for online dating? We all want to present our best selves, so we pick photos that we think make us look sexy or powerful or confident, and we craft profiles to emphasize how we're sexy or confident or successful. This can make a first "real life" meeting nerve-wracking, because you will be compared to your online persona.

One thing is for sure, the virtual world is shaping all of us.

Smart online daters are concerned about their privacy no matter what online dating site they use, but those less familiar with Internet privacy issues might assume that major dating sites like Match.com and eHarmony.com are safer than their free counterparts. Does "free" automatically mean unsafe? Does "paid" automatically mean secure?

EFF, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization dedicated to defending your rights in the digital world, conducted an investigation into the privacy and security practices of major online dating sites to see just how well they're safeguarding your privacy. Two of the sites they tested, Plenty of Fish and OKCupid, are the Web's most notorious free dating services. How well did they stack up against the paid competition?

Neither Plenty of Fish nor OkCupid uses HTTPS by default. For the less tech-savvy among you, HTTPS is standard Web encryption used to secure websites (often those that allow financial transactions). Without HTTPS, users can be vulnerable to eavesdroppers when they use shared networks like those found in coffee shops or libraries.

EFF also found that neither Plenty of Fish nor OkCupid is free of mixed content, meaning that even if certain elements of the site are generally secured with HTTPS, other portions of its content are served over an insecure connection. Again, it may be possible for an eavesdropper to see the images on a page or other content when the page is not properly secured.

EFF also tested whether Plenty of Fish and OkCupid use secure cookies. A "cookie" contains authentication information that helps the site recognize you and allows for easy access to information in your account. It's cookies that allow you to return to a site and be logged in without having to reenter your password. If the cookies are not secure, an attacker can trick your browser and use your cookies to take over your session with the site.

The last thing EFF tested was whether or not the site deleted your data after your account was closed. Both Plenty of Fish and OkCupid were vague about the details. After looking at the sites' privacy policies and terms of service, EFF could not find a clear description of what happens to a user's data after deleting their account.

Plenty Of Fish says "We keep your information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes and to meet any legal requirements," but who knows what that really means? OkCupid says they "may still retain certain information associated with your account for analytical purposes and recordkeeping integrity," as well as for a host of other things.

Things look pretty bad for Plenty of Fish and OkCupid when it's all laid out like that, but how do they compare to other dating sites? Stay tuned to find out...

Are online daters picky about physical appearances? OkCupid thinks so. The company recently launched a VIP service for members where by paying an extra fee, they can choose their preferences for a date's body type.

While OkCupid has garnered some criticism for this bold move, there is plenty of evidence that online daters do care a lot about physical appearances. Pictures play an important role in the filtering process for many daters. The majority view pictures first to see whether or not they want to reach out to a potential date.

"The truth about humanity that maybe people don't want to admit is that an important part of physical and sexual attraction is superficial," Sam Yagan, CEO of OkCupid and also of Match.com told TODAY.com. "If you ask someone, 'Why did you get married?' You'll hear, 'Oh, he makes me laugh' and all that stuff. And that's all true. I'm sure he does make you laugh. You also think he's hot."

The VIP service allows users to choose their preferred body type, whether it's "thin," "athletic," overweight," or even "used up," and are matched accordingly. According to Yagan, he's just saving people the time. "People have strong preferences on body type," he says.

There is a case to be made for those who support the VIP service. Most online dating sites encourage people to post photos for a reason - they want to see what their dates looks like before they send an email or even pick up the phone. There is not really a difference with OkCupid's members, except that they can pay for the priveledge of keeping certain people out of their match list.

Critics maintain that people look deeper than physical appearances when they are hoping to find a relationship and not just a date or hook-up. Sites like eHarmony argue that these types of filters prevent people from meeting who otherwise might be attracted to less superficial factors - such as each other's interests, political viewpoints, or even educational background.

Plus, the filter is subjective. One man might consider himself "athletic" when others see him as "average," skewing the results. A woman might not want to admit she's overweight and therefore lie to avoid being filtered out of searches. Many online daters have already been burned by dates not looking like their pictures. While OkCupid's filters are meant to help the situation, it may cause even more daters to lie about their appearance.

Although OkCupid hasn't released numbers on how many members have joined the VIP service, they admit there's been a lot of interest.

Watch out, IAC - Markus Frind may be coming for your crown!

For a long time, IAC (InterActiveCorp) has been the undisputed ruler of online dating. IAC's businesses include Singlesnet.com. SinglePeopleMeet.com, OurTime.com, OkCupid.com, and, last but certainly not least, Match.com. Add it all together, plus IAC's numerous successful ventures outside of the dating industry, and you've got a seriously unstoppable force.

Markus Frind, CEO of Plenty Of Fish, recently attempted to score another piece of the kingdom for himself and push IAC an inch more off its throne. True Beginnings, the Texas-based owner of True.com, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012 and is attempting to sell its assets. Frind was poised to gobble the site up, but Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has protested the sale.

Citing privacy concerns, Abbott objected in federal bankruptcy court to the sale of True.com's 43 million member database. "At a time when privacy is an issue of grave concern to so many," he said in a press release, "we are taking legal action to prevent an online dating service from selling more than 2 million Texans' personal information without their consent."

True Beginnings told the court they planned to notify users by email that their personal information would be sold, but Abbott contends that the company must obtain each customer's approval individually first. "The proper course is for True.com and its bankruptcy trustee to seek the customers' permission before selling their private information to a third party," he explained, "and that's exactly what our legal action asks the bankruptcy court to require before the case proceeds."

When signing up for True.com, users are told that their personal data - including phone numbers, passwords, financial billing info, and browsing history - cannot be transferred without their consent. However, Abbot notes, ambiguous language found in the site's privacy policy quietly adds that members' personal information held in the company's database would be treated as a transferable asset in the event the company was acquired by a third-party buyer.

Unsurprisingly, Frind is not pleased with the development. "Who in their right mind is going to buy a dating site with 43 million members if you are not allowed access to those members?" he wrote in a blog post. "This would be like buying twitter but you don't get access to twitters users unless they agree to the sale."

Under the current transfer process, True.com member data will be transferred automatically unless the customer takes direct steps to opt-out. Abbot is instead arguing that customers should opt-in and directly express approval for the transfer of their personal information. Whichever way this goes, it's bound to set a precedent for all future dating site sales.