General News

Ever wonder what makes people compatible? Well, a recent study by eHarmony and the Oxford Internet Institute says that there's no place like home for people seeking true compatibility.

eHarmony considered the results of over 1,000 UK couples in the survey, considering responses to questions about culture and preferences for relationships. The results indicated that certain cultures shared similar beliefs and were thus more likely to result in more successful cross-cultural relationships. Some examples would be striking similarities between UK and U.S. cultures as well as relationships between residents of South American countries such as Argentina and Spain or Mexico and Brazil. Contrarily, people from strikingly different cultures such as Mexico and Japan or China and India are said to have less opportunity for relationship success.

While the final results of the joint study between eHarmony and the Oxford Internet Institute have not been published in their entirety, the initial results offer some food for thought in the world of online dating. Perhaps you never considered dating someone with a different cultural background than yours. Well, now's the time to add those criteria to your search! Here are two things to consider when conducting your online dating search for a mate from a different culture:

Religious Background: Understand your commitment to your personal religious beliefs when you initiate your online dating efforts. This will help you as you choose profiles to review. For example: staunch Christians may not share enough in common with someone from an East Indian background due to the prevalence of Hinduism in that culture.

Cultural Rituals: Do you celebrate Christmas? Is Mardi Gras a huge event for your family? Do you observe the Chinese New Year? Don't be afraid to open up a dialogue with a new date about landmark events that light up their calendar and feel free to share those of you own.

For more on the story read the official eHarmony Blog and to find out more about the dating site mentioned in this article, check out our eHarmony review.

IAC saw revenue before amortization grow 5 percent in quarter 4 of 2009 to $367.2 million, when compared to the same quarter last year. For just the Match.com properties, quarter 4 2009 saw revenue drop 6 percent to $83.3 million (from $88.1 in 2008). Revenue declines reflected the sale of Match Europe to Meetic and were partially offset by the purchase of PeopleMedia. If you exclude both of these properties, revenue actually grew 5 percent for Match.com.

IAC also noted that smartphone downloads increased more than 5 fold accross all businesses. This is a merging market for online dating which Match.com has targeted by releasing 4 Applications with another 1 to be released soon. With these 5 smartphone applications Match.com has 90 percent of the worlds phones covered (see Story).

Here is the complete IAC Q4 2009 Report. For more information on the dating sites owned by IAC, read our Match.com review and Chemistry review.

Related Story: Match.com Third Quarter 2009 Financials

I found an interesting statistic. Apparently in 2009, there was 2,660 consumer complaints nationwide in the United States against dating services (both online and off). In 2005 there was only 824 and in 2004 only 126. Considering that there are about 40 million singles that used dating sites and social networks to meet new people last year, this number doesn't seem overly high. I realize that the increase from 2004 to 2009 is big but I think there is a reason for that too (besides the dating sites themselves). I am not sure exactly how businesses get put into the BBB databases and for the record I couldn't find a lot of them back in 2008 (see Story) but, how many dating companies existed in the BBB database in 2004 and then in 2009? Is it the same or are there twice as many companies? If it is more, chances are you will have more complaints. When I reviewed a few BBB reports, I see that Match.com only became an Accredited Business of the Better Business Bureau in 2006. PerfectMatch came on board just last year. I have a feeling that a part of the rise of complaints is due to the fact many of these dating service companies were never being tracked until just a few years ago.

Dating sites can also be hard to find in the BBB database, especially if it is owned by a company with a different name. Sometimes you can only find complaints about a certain dating site if you visit their parent company. Though, since my 2008 report it does seem that the Bette Business Bureau website has seen a few improvements. It was much easier to find a number of dating sites now since the search for the BBB seems to take into account websites own by the company. With this in mind I was still not able to find several medium size dating sites in the BBB database (US or Canada) and one of the largest dating sites, PlentyofFish.com. If these dating sites were included, we would certainly see more complaints.

When people release statistics like this I wish they would give us a comparison. It would be nice to know how many people used the products or services in the industry when compared to the complaints. This way I could see that this "blank" percentage of people were not happy. Plus, if I had other industry numbers, I could then see how it stacks up with the dating industry to get a better idea if 2,660 complaints is a lot, or not much to worry about.

I want to make it clear here, I am not saying that the rise of complaints is solely a reporting issue. I do think most dating sites have a lot more room for improvement on not only the features they offer, but on how they treat their customers.

For more information read WISBusiness.com.

Great, according to the Hollywood Reporter the TV show from last summer, "Dating in the Dark", is getting another kick at the can. ABC has ordered 6 episodes for a second season which will probably air this June. Last year the show aired after the Bachelorette on Monday's with decent numbers.

Just when I thought TV was getting better...

Neu.de, one of Germany's largest dating sites has recently partnered with Match.com. On February 9, 2010 Match.com in Germany (de.match.com) will have their database of members merged with Neu.de. Match.com will also then start returning matches from both dating sites to their members. Neu.de customer service will also be taking on the role of customer support for Match.com in Germany.

Need to know more about Match.com in Germany? According to their homepage 80 percent of their members are looking for a long-term relationship. 45 percent of members are women and 70 percent have never been married. 56 percent of all members are also over the age of 30.

Most of this information was Google translated from OpenPr.

Compatible Partners is having a free communication weekend (FCW) this Valentine's Day which we almost missed. It starts today, Thursday February 11, 2010 and runs to Monday February 15, 2010. This full 5 day promotion allows new and existing members to try out Compatible Partners to see if this online dating site is the right fit for you, and all without a Credit Card. You will be able to review your same-sex matches as well as communicate for them at no cost. The only things for which we are aware of that are not included, is the ability to FastTrack the communication process and viewing members photos.

This is the second FCW we have tracked for Compatible Partners with the last one starting at the end of December (see Story).

For more information on this matchmaking service for gay singles, please read our Compatible Partners review.