Not long ago, the once-unstoppable Netflix had fallen to only $50 a share. It was a low point in the history of a company billed as the future of film and television, but the lull didn't last. Netflix quadrupled in value over the last seven months and is now back on top, trading at more than $217 a share.

The rise and fall of Netflix is the stuff of legends. "I've never had a stock quadruple in seven months - to my recollection, any way - in my 15 years of managing money," said Whitney Tilson, founder and Managing Partner of Kase Capital. "Back in October, I said, 'I think Netflix this decade is going to be like Amazon last decade - a stock that can just continue to grow and grow with enormous upside optionality.'"

So if Netflix is the new Amazon, then who is the new Netflix?

Spark Networks is ready to step up to the plate. You may not have heard of Spark Networks, but you definitely know the company's two most famous offspring: Christian Mingle and JDate.

Like Netflix before it, Spark Networks is an Internet-based company with nearly unlimited potential. But instead of expending energy to realize all of that potential right away, both Netflix and Sparks chose to channel current profits from an existing lucrative business into a future growth opportunity.

The major difference between Spark Networks and Netflix is size. Spark Networks is a significantly smaller company than Netflix, and though JDate has been around for over a decade and brings in a great deal of money for the company, the Jewish dating site's growth has stopped. Christian Mingle is nearly identical to JDate and targets a much larger market (30 times larger, in fact), but it is not yet profitable.

Tilson is confident that bigger and better things are in store for the company. "Christian Mingle - if you think it's addressing a market 30 times the size of JDate, has upside, you know, that could make this stock a multi-bagger," he says. "It's a pretty exciting growth story." In the last quarter, revenue grew 45% year-over-year, putting Christian Mingle and Spark Networks on a rapid growth trajectory. Add that to the success of JDate, and Tilson expects stock to double.

The question is: what's in the future for the company? The answer depends on who you ask.

Some think Facebook, which recently acquired a new social dating app, could mean the end of Spark Networks. Tilson isn't so sure. He thinks the future of Spark Networks lies with IAC, the company that owns Match.com.

"I think IAC is the most logical buyer for Spark, and it would be a tiny bite-sized acquisition," he says. He considers Facebook. Yahoo, and Google close seconds to purchase Spark Networks and usher in the next era of the company..

To find out more about these 2 dating sites you can read our review of JDate and Christian Mingle.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" is solid advice for most every situation, but it rings especially true online. Anyone who has ventured into the untamed Wild West of online dating knows that it comes with certain risks.

Chief among them is the possibility of being ripped off by an unscrupulous Internet scammer. Your rational side knows it's a possibility, but for the most part it's a fear that's relegated to the deeper, darker recesses of your mind. A far as you're concerned, getting scammed is something that happens to other people in the cautionary tales told on the local news. It's not going to happen to you, right?

Odds are in your favor, but it never hurts to be prepared. SeekingArrangement.com recently posted a report called The Face of Fraud to help online daters separate the catches from the catfish. The site reviewed the profiles of 60,000 banned accounts, and discovered that fake profiles tend to have a few things in common. Here are 7 signs you might be looking at the profile of a scam artist:

Zoosk's dazzling rise to fame is the stuff of online dating legends. Over the last five years, Zoosk has evolved into a leader in the industry, and this year it celebrated a major milestone.

On May 22, 2013, Zoosk announced a company record: revenue exceeded $40 million in the first quarter of the year. That's not a bad way to celebrate the half-decade mark...

And that's not all Zoosk has achieved this year. The first quarter of 2013 also saw these breakthroughs for the popular dating site:

• Zoosk experienced a 116% increase in monthly total unique visitors compared to the same period last year.
• The number of monthly active users for Zoosk's mobile products increased more than 200% year-over-year.

Zoosk believes its success can be chalked up to its unique approach to matchmaking and a strong focus on the mobile market. The site set itself apart with its Behavioral Matchmaking engine, which learns users' preferences by observing their behavior on the site. It continuously improves subsequent matching suggestions as it more thoroughly profiles a user, resulting in increasingly better matches and higher levels of engagement with other singles.

The Behavioral Matchmaking engine is driven by three discovery tools:

• Zoosk's Scientific Matchmaking service, a daily introduction to a potential match
• Carousel, a rapid-fire round of profile pictures
• Search functionality that sorts through the millions of profiles on the site

On the mobile front, Zoosk created a variety of mobile applications to meet users' increasing demands for dating on-the-go. The applications are all optimized versions of the site's experience that are frequently updated to provide better and more sophisticated service. Applications are available for Apple devices on iTunes and for Android in the Google Play store.

Zoosk's commitment to mobile has paid off. It consistently ranks as the #1 dating app for the iPhone and iPad, and in Google Play the Zoosk app has been downloaded more than five million times.

"We wanted to bring a no-compromise approach to small screen dating for users on-the-go," said Shayan Zadeh, Zoosk CEO and co-founder. "So instead of designing our mobile product as an extension of our website, we built a brand new experience from the ground up. This mobile-centric design plus our Behavioral Matchmaking engine equals a powerful formula that is driving user adoption."

Congratulations to Zoosk on their stellar start to 2013. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store...

For more on this dating site you can read our review about Zoosk.

I just got an "Upgrade your POF Account" email. After reading it I was only a little surprised to find even more free features of POF for paid members only.

These features includes reading date feedback, hottest girls that reply, and viewing extended profiles. Features that are new and for upgraded members only include standing out in all searches (highlighted) and seeing who viewed your profile after you voted yes or maybe on.

The last time we found Plenty of Fish removing free member features was in December of 2012 and this was for knowing when a user was last online (very important when using a dating site).

I wonder what is next on the chopping block? Does anyone have any guesses?

There's yet another dating app that's taking advantage of the power of Facebook. And why not? With all the connective power the social network has, why wouldn't companies capitalize on it to help people find love?

"You Should Totally Meet" is an app that helps you play cupid among your Facebook friends, introducing them to each other to see if they hit it off. (I guess you could say it's like setting two of your friends up on a blind date, but in a cool-because-it's-digital kind of way).

So, if you've been dying to set up your single friend Sally, you can be her wing-woman and set up a profile through the app. It allows you to list reasons why you think Sally would be so amazing to date. Then your other Facebook friends can agree or disagree with your assessment.

When the profile is complete, you can scroll through your list of friends and see if there's anyone you want to introduce Sally to, and then let them take it from there. As in real life, there's either a connection or there's not.

I met my husband through a mutual friend on Facebook, so I'm all about tapping into your network to see what can happen. But really, let's call this app for what it is - you're setting your friend Sally up, and you are playing cupid here, not some dating website. So you better be sure to run it by her before she starts getting emails and friend requests from people she doesn't know.

As cool as this app sounds, I wouldn't replace online dating with it. Although the company claims that it's a less awkward, more organic dating experience than meeting a stranger for coffee, it's also limited to your friend's circle of friends.

It's good to keep your options open when it comes to meeting people. Online dating, mobile dating, and plain old-fashioned ways like approaching the cute guy at your local bar are effective ways to meet more people, especially those outside of your network that you'd otherwise never come across.

Of course, online dating means meeting people without any mutual friends to help vouch for them. And sometimes in dating we like to know what we're getting. References are good, because they put us more at ease. We like to hear that Sally is a cool girl before we meet.

So, try it out. But don't drop your online dating membership.

You've met a great woman through an online dating site, and you've been seeing her for a few weeks. You haven't discussed your relationship or anyone else you're dating, but you always have a good time together and have become closer. You want to stop dating other people and have already taken down your online profile. But you've noticed hers is still active.

Do you ask her to take it down, or do you keep silent and hope that she'll do it herself if she's interested in you?

This can be a tough question, as most people signed up for online dating sites go out with several people and keep their profiles active. It really depends on where you're at in the relationship.

And admittedly, talking about your relationship status when you've only been dating a little while is a hard thing to do. There's a good chance you're not on the same page, so why ruin a good thing?

The problem is, if you are interested in someone, talking about it is the best (and only) way to move forward.

Let's say you've discussed trying exclusivity with each other. In this case, it's fair game to ask each other to take down your online dating profiles. You've agreed to be exclusive.

But if you haven't had a discussion about exclusivity, then both of you are entitled to keep actively dating on the site until you are both ready to move forward. In fact, it's good to keep your options open instead of counting on something that may fizzle out in a few weeks' time. Until you're ready to have that discussion, you should keep your profile active on the site and not take it down prematurely.

If you've been seeing each other a few weeks and you want to move forward but she doesn't, what do you do? It's important to note here that she might not be ready for a relationship. Or, she might want to keep her options open because she isn't sure about you. Either way, you don't want to take your profile down and see her exclusively when she isn't doing the same. It will cause heartbreak in the future, because you both have different expectations.

Let's say she's more interested in being exclusive than you are. She took down her profile after your third date, hoping you'd want to move forward, too. But if you still want to meet new people, her actions shouldn't deter you. When you're dating non-exclusively, you're not beholden to anyone. You should be dating multiple people at a time, just to see what it is you do and don't want - until you're ready to move forward with one person.

Bottom line: Communication is important as you get further along in the dating process. Keep dating others until you have agreed to exclusivity.