Dating Services

It seems like a fair number of the major dating services have been updating there services recently. The latest dating site to do this is, Lavalife. Along with new features, Lavalife has also received a facelift. Though not a major interface overhaul, Lavalife did make their site cleaner looking and easier to navigate.

The major new features which Lavalife added include:

• While you are Instant Messaging with a single, it is now easier to view profile information on the person. This was complained about before and I am glad Lavalife listen to their members.
• The photo gallery now allows you to share up to 30 photos with the ability to assign the pictures to one or more of Lavalife's 3 communities (dating, relationship and intimate encounters).
• Members are now also allowed to upload high quality videos (up to 6).

According to Hitwise (Oct. 2007) Lavalife is the top Canadian dating site and is one of the top ten worldwide. You can read our Lavalife Review and user submitted reviews or go directly too Lavalife.com for more information on this dating service.

MillionaireMatch.com added a new feature recently which allows Gold Members to verify their display photo as authentic. The profile and summary in the search results would be marked with a photo verified logo once the proper verification documents had been submitted. This is an excellent feature which other large dating services should implement (only a few have so far) since it decreases the possibilities of fake profiles.

This feature combined with the Certified Millionaire Logo makes MillionaireMatch.com a trusted site among singles looking for a wealthy mate.

ChristianCafe.com now allows members to recommend a profile you find to either other ChristianCafe.com members or a non member friend through email. A great idea, especially for friends using the same dating site. There is great fun to be had in pointing out the really great (or really bad!) profiles to friends so you can talk about them later. The only thing I would have added to this feature is the ability to include a quick note with the profile explaining to the person you are sending it too, why you are doing it or what stuck out about this particular profile.

Date.com has just released their first version of a dating toolbar. This interactive toolbar lets Date.com members find dates whenever they are connected to the internet. It allows singles to appear online at Date.com even when they are visiting other websites. When a member on Date.com attempts to contact you, your Toolbar will let you know right away. Features of the Date.com Toolbar includes:

• Receive emails and Interest Alerts.
• Send and receive instant messages.
• Direct access to online chatting.
• Search profiles.
• Favorites list access.
• Statistics on members online and the number of times your profile has been viewed.
• Advice and news headlines from Date.info
• Searching the web, provided by Yahoo.

Creating a toolbar for a dating service is an excellent idea. It allows members to be accessed instantly even when they are not actively using the site at the moment. This increases there chance of meeting someone new. Most singles when they use a dating service are probably online only an hour or two at any one time. They then are off doing other things on the computer like emailing friends and family or just surfing websites. Now this "other" internet time and not just when they have logged into Date.com can be used to be alerted to requests for instant messaging, etc.

Date.com's Toolbar is available to both free and paid members of Date.com. For more information about this dating service, read our review of Date.com.

Looks like the weekend I reviewed ChristianCafe.com they had updated their Instant Messaging software.

I never used ChristianCafe.com old 'Quick Messaging' system, but their new one works well and also adds audio and video support for paying members. Reading there blog, it looks like there have been several updates over the last month to the dating service, which is good news for the Cafe's members.

Oops, I missed this one, sorry UK Daters! According to Netimpreative, yesterday (Sept. 24) was National Dating Day. To celebrate this, DatingDirect.com setup a booth at Waterloo Station, under the clock. This location is apparently a famous place for daters to meet in the UK. This clear booth had Celebrities, single models and DatingDirect.com members inside. The idea is singles who saw the booth can then login to DatingDirect.com to enter in a competition to win a date with anyone in they saw in the booth.

The target audience for this publicity campaign was for male and female singles aged 25 to 35. Will it work? Who knows, I just feel sorry for the people in the booth!