Online Dating

Earlier this month Spark Networks released their first quarter earnings for 2010. Revenue in this quarter overall dropped 12 percent to 10.5 million when compared to the same period last year. When compared to the last quarter in 2009, revenue dropped 5 percent. Net income for this quarter was $929,000. This is a 3 times increase over the same period last quarter of $311,000. Average paying subscribers for the whole company was 169,833. This is an increase of 1 percent when compared to quarter 1 of 2009.

Spark Networks dating sites that fall under the Jewish Networks banner (made up mostly of JDate) had revenue of $7.1 million. This is a decrease of 7 percent when compared to quarter 1, 2009. Some good news is found here because subscribers did increase 10 percent too 93,235. The last time JDate had this many subscribers was back at the end of 2007.

The other important division for Spark Networks is their Other Affinity Networks (the MingleMatch sites). For this quarter they earned $3 million which is a 10 percent decrease when compared to the same quarter last year. Subscribers were up though, by 6 percent to 68,124.

For the full 2010 Q1 release visit Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks Fourth Quarter 2009 Financials

David over at the Online Dating Insider found a study of online dating called "Scripts for Online Dating: A Model and Theory of Online Romantic Relationship Initiation". This 298 page paper was authored by Bridget L. Long. She is a student at Bowling Green State University and the paper was one of her requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. I have only skimmed the paper at the moment but the study examined the online dating processes from both the standpoints of the services themselves, and members. Bridget used the dating sites Match.com, eHarmony and Plenty of Fish in her research.

To download the study, visit the OhioLink ETD page.

This Thursday May 20th, 2010 TangoWire will be offering their popular Virtual Dating (vDate) for free on all of their dating sites. On the last free Virtual Dating Event (see Story) they experienced over 30 times more singles using the feature. Virtual Dating offers members a better way to get to know each other before meeting in real life.

Harvard and MIT researchers recently proved that online dating service members reacted more positively toward individuals after Virtual Dating experiences compared to simply reading profiles or exchanging emails and chatting. Virtual Dating also led to more face to face meetings and more second dates, due in part to the increased comfort level for both parties.

Virtual dating allows interaction between members with 3D avatars. Members can pick the location (restaurant, beach, museum, etc...) and then communicate directly with each other. Members can also listen to music and play games on their virtual date.

The last free vDate experience was at the beginning of April (see Story). To find out some more about this event, read the press release.

For more information on this dating site and to find out more about Virtual Dating, read our TangoWire review.

OkCupid's blog post about picture myths was very popular. To capitalize on this OkCupid has released an experimental widget that will generate a report for you based on votes from members of OkCupid. All you need to do is upload a couple of photos. Once completed you will then need to help out and analyze other people's photo submissions (or how else will someone analyze yours? Pay it Forward!). After a little while a detailed report will be made available showing which photo was considered the best for a dating site.

In your report you get to see how many people voted and a list of 16 personality types of how people voted in a bar graph for each photo. This allows you to find out, for example, if Artists, Christians, Divas or Jocks either loved your photo or preferred a different one you uploaded. It also lists in the bar graph the age range and gender of the people who voted to give you a better idea if your pictures appealed to a younger or older audience.

MyBestFace looks to be sort of a smarter version of a picture rating website like Hot or Not .

To try My Best Face, visit this page and to find out about this dating site, check out our review of OkCupid.

Handwriting expert, Mike Kahlowsky knows that everyone's handwriting is unique and from a sample he says he can tell a lot about your personality and who you are. Mike started WriteMatch.com back in 1999. It is a:

... Handwriting Analysis Profiling Company specializing in Personality, Compatibility and Corporate Based Assessments.

The website though is geared towards matching singles together, the "E-Harmony for handwriting". When someone signs up to the service it will show you how to analyze your own writing. Based on this assessment and questions you answer about your writing, WriteMatch.com will then match you with other members of the site.

While I think handwriting analysis can work (to a point) I also feel it probably can't tell you all that much more about yourself than you already know. I do not see it becoming a successful tool which can be used for matching. It also is not needed; asking the person questions about themselves will reveal much more information than reviewing your handwriting.

For more on this story, read CBS12.

It looks like the domain name Dating.com was sold yesterday at auction on DomainFest for $1.75 million US. The domain was sold by Oversee.net to an unknown buyer. Currently the Dating.com domain hosts a World Dating Partners while label dating site. I wonder what the new owner plans on doing with the domain? I am going to assume they have plans to launch a dating service since that type of website potentially could generate the most profits. With the money the buyers spent on the domain it looks like the new owner plans to invest a fair bit of money in the new service. It should be interesting to see what they come up with.

For more on the story read TechCrunch.