General News

It is amazing at how many downloadable applications the iPhone has. As the TV commercials from Apple suggest, there are Apps for almost anything and that includes people who date online or off. Here are 5 iPhone Apps that FreeDating.co.uk reviewed which offers you the tools to organize, research, and escape from your dates:

• The Girlfriend Keeper - Keeps track of the hotness of your relationship based on your contact frequency. Also will automatically send out texts or emails to keep your girl friend happy.
• My Little Black Book - Keeps track of your dates contact information and photos. Allows your rate the date and include additional notes.
• Date Check - Allows you to run background checks of dates. Includes criminal convictions, property and home details, interests and living situations.
• Date Escape - Gives you excuses to get out of bad dates or situations.
• Excuse Me - Like Date Escape except it will initiate a pretend phone call in a certain number of seconds or minutes. Your phone will ring and when you "answer it", a fake voice of a man or woman will be heard to increase the realism of the phone call.

Find out more about this iPhone Apps by reading 5 Dating Apps For People With No Shame.

In mid March, Match.com announced a partnership with Yahoo!7 in Australia. Match.com will be the exclusive dating partner to Yahoo's Australian news and search portal as well as Yahoo!Xtra for New Zealand. You can now reach the new partnered dating service by visiting Yahoo!7 Dating or by clicking on the "Dating" menu item available on the Yahoo!7 home page.

Currently on the Yahoo!7 Dating page visitors have access to both the old dating service and the new Match.com partnered service. The original Yahoo!7 Dating will close it' doors in June, 2010.

As I type this article Compatible Partners is having a 4 day free communication weekend. It started today (March 18th, 2010) and will run to Sunday March 21st, 2010. During this promotion, new and existing members will be able to try out most of the features of the dating site Compatible Partners for no cost. This includes reviewing of matches as well as communicating with members.

This is the 3rd FCW we have tracked for Compatible Partners. The last event was held on the Valentine's Day weekend (see Story) and proved to be a hit with members. if you want to try a dating site for gay singles which matches you with members based on your personality and years of research you should give Compatible Partners a try.

For more information on this dating service for singles looking for same-sex partners, please read our review of Compatible Partners.

Note: FastTracking the guided communication process and viewing of members photos are only available to paid members during this event.

According to Date Daily, Mate1.com has launched their 1st annual video contest called "Inglourious Daters". All interested participants need to do, to enter this contest is, make a video about their online dating experiences.

There are a total of 7 prizes:

• 1 Grand Prize of $1000
• First place ($500) and second place ($200) in 3 categories. The categories are "Most Romantic", "Most Popular/Viral" , and "Funniest".

A panel of Mate1.com dating experts will decide the winning videos from the contestants entries based on their viral strengths and entertainment value. The contest will run from March 10, 2010 to June 20, 2010 and is open to people 18 years of age and over.

You can find out more information and rules about this contest on Mate1's Facebook page found here. For more information on the dating site itself, read our review of Mate1.com.

eHarmony will be having a 4 day free communication weekend (FCW) starting this Thursday March 18th, 2010 through to Sunday March 21st, 2010. This promotion will be available on both the United States and Canadian eHarmony dating sites.

These free weekends are a great time to join eHarmony to try out the service. As a member during a free communication weekend you will get to review all your matches and communicate with them at no cost. This enables you to try out most features of the site for free, including the guided communication process and emailing, and all without a credit card. These weekends are notoriously busy for eHarmony so they are great way to quickly meet some new singles in your area who are interested in a long term relationship.

This will be the 24th eHarmony free communication weekend with the last event occurring on Valentine's Day (see Story). During this promotion FastTrack and viewing members photos are not available to free members.

Check out our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular matchmaking service.

Facebook is estimated to have earned $635 million in 2009 and is expected to earn $1.1 billion in 2010 (see Story). Most of Facebook's revenue comes from performance advertising on their site and by selling virtual gifts.

A lot of companies rely in part on Facebook with some relying solely on Facebook as either a platform for their service, or as their marketing tool. The Guardian wondered aloud how much this whole economy is worth. They conservatively estimate it at several billion, but they also ask an important question. Can the Facebook economy continue to be viable, or is it a bubble that may burst sooner than we think.

In my opinion Facebook has done remarkably well. While they haven't been big earners in the past, they certainly have become a big part of a lot of people's lives. Facebook is popular with everyone from teens to business professionals and it's most important feature is, it allows people to make real connections. As long as people continue to do this, Facebook will prosper. Plus, with companies like Microsoft backing them, their continued desire to improve their technology, and with the popularity of services they offer to other websites like Facebook Connect, I am sure Facebook will be around for many years to come.

For information on a dating service which is part of the Facebook economy, read our review of Zoosk.