General News

It seems the economic recession hasn’t slowed down many singles’ search for love, especially when it comes to online dating.

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, a report by Web tracker comScore Inc. showed that online dating nationwide increased 15% from May 2009 to May 2010, but in the Bay area (which includes San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland) it increased 22% over the same period of time.

Andrew Lipsman, senior director of industry analysis at comScore, claims the emergence of free dating sites like PlentyofFish.com and Zoosk as well as the tech-saavy residents of the area have contributed to the growth.

Paid dating websites like eHarmony, Perfectmatch, and Match.com say that they haven’t noticed any major shifts in the region, but hard economic times don’t stop people from looking for more serious relationships. eHarmony and Match also found that the average dater in the Bay area skewed older than the rest of the country. The average age for a dater in San Francisco on Match.com is 38.

The Bay area region is sometimes called “The Valley of No Dolls” because of the larger numbers of single male software engineers and other tech-saavy types compared to the number of single women. However, Match.com, Perfectmatch and eHarmony agree that there seem to be more women online dating. Perfectmatch claims 53% of its Bay area members are women, compared to 51% for the rest of the country.

For more information on the dating sites mentioned in this article, please read our Match.com review, eHarmony review or our Perfectmatch.com review.

One of UKs largest online dating sites, DatingDirect.com, has over 5 million members now. I notice the other day when I was updating the snapshot for our review of DatingDIrect that they have a new statistic posted on their homepage (at least it is new to me). According to DatingDirect, on average 5,224 conversations between singles in the United Kingdom happen every day on their dating service. A conversation is defined as emails between two members or, two members using the instant messenger to communicate. Taking this statistic a step further this means almost 10,500 people receive some sort of message every day from another member of DatingDirect.

With all of these DatingDirect.com members communicating with each other, this seems like the right dating site to join if you are single and living in the UK. For more information on this online dating site, you can read our review of DatingDirect.com.

If you're unemployed and afraid this will negatively affect your dating life, times have changed. A new study from online dating site Zoosk shows that unemployed men are more dateable than ever.

According to Zoosk, 60% of its female members surveyed said they would date a man who is unemployed, compared to 52% in 2009. Also, 90% of men said they would date an unemployed woman.

And when it comes to picking up the check, chivalry isn't dead. A staggering 85.9% of men said they would pay the bill on a date, despite 52% claiming a date costs more in 2010 than it did in 2009. Perhaps this is because women are letting men foot more of the bill...57% of women said they spend less on dates now than in 2009.

Another interesting trend found in the study was that an overwhelming majority of daters don't need to be wined and dined. 92% of singles are now open to free dates compared to only 85% in 2009. Also, 70% said they do not consider money an important factor when choosing a mate.

It seems the recession has taught us that despite our own economic concerns, money isn't a main focus for singles. Lucky for us, love trumps money.

The study was conducted in August 2010 via an online poll, which fielded 1,858 responses from singles in the U.S.

For more information on the dating site which provided this poll, read our review of Zoosk.com.

Wow, there has been a lot of eHarmony news lately. Here is some more dealing with the marketing and media side of the business.

Industry insiders are reporting that eHarmony has reached out to a number of media agencies including Omnicom Group, WPP, Publicis Groupe and Interpublic Group of Cos. It looks like they are shopping around with their rather large marketing account. According to Kantar Media, eHarmony "spent a total of $85.4 million in domestic measured media in 2009".

For more on the story, read Advertising Age. To find out other details about this dating site you can check out our eHarmony review.

eHarmony has launched a new country specific dating site. It is called eHarmony Brazil and you can find it here. We noticed that the site was live last Friday, August 20. This dating site is in Portuguese, Brazil's official language.

Currently there is no cost to join and every member will receive a 90 day free full membership. So if you are single and live in Brazil why not give the site a shot. Sure membership will be small at the moment but this is sure to grow due to the free memberships offer.

eHarmony's last dating site to open its doors was for the United Kingdom in July of 2008. During this time there were also rumours of a Chinese version of eHarmony in the works, but I haven't heard any recent news about the project (or if it even still exists).

To find out more about this dating site, you can check out our eHarmony review.

When last we talked, we reviewed the findings of OKCupid's photo experiment called "Don't Be Ugly By Accident." We laughed, we cried, we were told that iPhone users supposedly have more sex than people who use phones of other brands.

But now it's time to examine the study with a more critical eye, to figure out what the data actually means. Do the results really have practical uses, or is OKCupid just telling us that we all need makeovers?

The first conclusion the experts at OKCupid draw is that the "type and brand of camera you use has a huge effect on how good you look in your pictures." In general, they found that more complex cameras, such as those that have interchangeable lenses, took better photos than simple point-and-shoot cameras. Camera phones took the photos that were deemed the worst.

Analysis: If you're like me, you read that and thought "Did we really need a study to tell us that? Isn't that obvious? Of course a better, more expensive camera is going to take superior pictures!" But astute readers will notice that, while the quality of the camera will almost always affect the quality of the pictures it takes, that's not the whole story. High quality cameras, like the Panasonic Micro 3/4s mentioned in the article, are most likely owned by professionals (or, at the very least, people who have studied and have a strong interest in photography), so it should come as no surprise that the photos taken by them are usually considered better than other pictures.

I have already mentioned the article's next, and most striking, conclusion: that iPhone users have more sex than other people. But is that really true?

Analysis: iPhone users might have more active sex lives than other mobile phone users, but OKCupid's study doesn't prove it. The graphs included in the article measure the average number of sexual partners users of iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry devices have had by age thirty - but "a high number of sexual partners" is not the same thing as "having more sex."

The study's third finding, that using a flash ages the picture's subject, can probably be filed away under "O" for "Obvious." It shouldn't surprise anyone that people look younger under lower, more forgiving light that hides wrinkles and blemishes, and older under harsh, direct light.

The last two results of OKCupid's study are "that the best pictures have a very shallow depth of field," and "there are peak times of day to take a good picture." The article even includes of couple of graphs, examples, and an image from Wikipedia to prove the point.

Analysis: Both things are very likely true, but once again, we have to consider who is taking the pictures. In most cases, the people who understand the technical details and terms of photography, like depth of field, aperture, and how to use natural lighting to the greatest effect, are professionals and photography enthusiasts. It is common sense that pictures taken by experts will turn out better than other photos.

Overall, while the experiment leads to a few interesting observations, most should be taken with a grain of salt or two, and the study's most useful advice can be found at the end of the article: "In conclusion, the data strongly suggest that if you're single, you (or someone you know) should learn a little bit about photography. Technique can make or break your photograph, and the right decisions can get you more dates."

To find out more about this free dating site, read our review of OkCupid.