General News

Over at geeksdreamgirl.com, I see scores of people whose online dating experience suffers because they're uncomfortable with the writing process. Maybe they don't know how to toot their own horn without sounding arrogant, or maybe writing just isn't their forte. Unfortunately, in a text-based Internet, writing is the skill that can make or break a date and for some people, due to location or other factors, the Internet is their best or only choice.

I saw an old episode of Full House the other day, where the father, using an old dating service, is forced to watch videotapes of prospective dates. It got me weighing the pros and cons of video profiles.

While it's not as good as meeting in person there's no pheromones, or even the overly cloying perfume that might turn you off a video has several advantages over a text-based profile:

• You can see the person in action, so-to-speak, rather than a doctored photo.
• You can hear the natural cadence of their voice, rather than a stilted essay.
• You might get to see them smile. Men often choose their serious picture because they think it's better, when really most people look better with their natural smile.
• The length of the profile could be more natural. After speaking for ten minutes to a camera (and watching it back), they'll finally learn that sharing their life story is excessive.

Of course, there are also major downsides. A dating profile is kind of like a job application you want to make the best impression possible. Many people, including yours truly, lock up at the sight of a video camera and act completely unnatural, which is much more disastrous than a typo.

This is also a case where technology can be your enemy: it's easy enough to make a video today that it's really tempting to make something at 2am and throw it up immediately. It's also tempting to try to do something cool to make yourself stand out, which is almost always a mistake.

There are video dating sites out there, and maybe for those who do better on camera than on paper, that's the best option. But the sites with the largest pools are still primarily text-based, and perhaps, for people like me, that's a blessing. Regardless of the medium, take your time crafting your profile, and make sure you're sending the right message.

In a publicity stunt, the adultery website AshleyMadison.com sent Tiger Woods a contract which offered him $5 million for "advertisement, endorsement, sale and promotion" of their dating site.

At this point in time, Tiger Woods now has a fourth alleged mistress which would make him an ideal front man for the infidelity dating site. I have a feeling, that this $1 billion dollar sports figure wouldn't even consider such an offer. 😉

Seriously though, Ashley Madison didn't let this marketing opportunity that Tiger Woods presented them go to waste. They offered Tiger Woods a contract that they knew, he would refuse. By connected themselves with the hottest news topic of the week, month and maybe even the year, AshleyMadison.com received plenty of free international press.

For more on the story, visit the New York Daily News.

Update: (2009-12-08) - Tiger Woods now has 10 alleged mistresses.

In late October Zoosk was celebrating 40 million members (see Story) and had already received $10.5 million in funding over the last year or so. On December 3rd they announced that they had secured an additional $30 Million in Series D Funding. This round of funding was led by the oldest venture capital firm in the United States, Bessemer Venture Partners. David Cowan, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners will be joining Zoosk's Board of Directors as part of the deal.

Zoosk was launched 2 years ago in December of 2007 by Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr (who are now the co-CEOs). They plan to use the additional dollars to continue to build and expand the dating service. Money will also be spent on both online and offline marketing campaigns to increase Zoosk's exposure. Plus, there are rumors of expanding Zoosk to new platforms on the mobile front, including an iPhone App.

For more on the story you can read the press release. To find out more about this social dating community, read our review of Zoosk.

I visited Date.com this morning and notice one major change right away. They now allow you to login to their dating site using one of 12 different 3rd party accounts you may have. This means it will be easier for new members to create a profile, as information may get pulled from these 3rd party accounts. Some of the accounts you can now associate with your Date.com account includes Google, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, AOL, OpenID and Windows Live ID.

What I was hoping to see, but I didn't, was more integration with some of the Social Networks. It would be nice to see the friends of some of these Date.com members on Social Networks, endorse their single friend.

I also came across Date.com's parent companies (Avalanche, LCC) website, I hadn't found it before this, since no direct link was available on their dating sites. You can find Avalanche's website here.

The only dating sites that I can think of right now that allows members to log into of their dating site with a 3rd party account, is Match.com and Zoosk. Though, Match.com only allows Windows Live ID accounts.

To find out more about this dating site, read our review of Date.com.

You have tried the free membership at Catholicmatch.com and you liked what they offer but, you want a better deal when you subscribe as a paying member. Try entering this coupon code on the membership upgrade page at Catholic Match.

Coupon Code: CMDATE

With this promotion you will receive an additional 15% off of any membership plan. This offer expires on June 30, 2010.

For more information on this Religious dating service you can visit our review for CatholicMatch.com.

I heard on the radio today that loneliness is contagious, and like a bad cold you can spread it around.

I wasn't sure if I believed this or not and after a quick search on Google, I found this recent article at The Globe and Mail.

After studying 12,000 people, researches from 3 Universities (Harvard, Chicago and California) concluded:

that lonely respondents “infected” remaining friends with their loneliness before the relationships crumbled, perpetuating a cycle of isolation.

Believe it or not if you are lonely you can affect people (spread your loneliness) up to 3 degrees of separation. At one degree of separation, 52 percent of people have a greater chance of being lonely if they are directly connected to someone who is. At two degrees of separation the chances of you being lonely drops to 25 percent and at three degrees, it is 15 percent. At 4 degrees of separation the effect disappears.