General News

Match.com's Whitney Casey was on The Early Show Saturday Edition sharing some insiders secrets of what relationship experts find makes for a good online dating profile that will help you get notice and to avoid moves which will turn potential matches off.

First impressions count in online dating so your profile picture needs to be good. It should show your face clearly and smiling. Natural photos are best (instead of a head shoot from your local photographer). Black and white photos and photos cropped from others are not recommended.

Casey suggests to answer the who, what, when, where and why in your profile questions along with anything you feel strongly about like smoking or for example, you only date guys who are taller than you. Above all Casey says to be honest in your profile. Think of it as a type of resume.

For a video of this segment on The Early Show, visit CBS News and to find out more about this dating site, read our Match.com review.

Looks like this post is a week late. From September 20 until the 26 in 2009 it was National Singles Week. In the 1980s, the Buckeye Singles Council of Ohio started this observance which falls on the third full week of September. It was started to

... acknowledge that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed.

Here are some recent interesting facts and statistics on singles in America:

• There are now 95.9 million unmarried people in the U.S. who are 18 years or older. This makes up 43 percent of all adults. (from 2008)
• 53 percent of these singles are women
• 61 percent of these singles never have been married before. 24 percent have been divorced and a further 15 percent were widowed.
• Seniors (65+) account for 15.8 million of adult singles which 16 percent having never been married.
• 11.6 million of adult singles are parents living with their children, 9.8 million are women.

For the full fact sheet on the Unmarried and Single Americans Week, visit the U.S. Census Bureau.

The popular magazine Wired, has written an article on the tragedy of Craigslist and how a site which almost a fifth of American adults visit every month has become such a mess. The showcase of Craigslist's problems is of course their personals category. Unfortunately the majority of personal ads are either fake or scams with some estimates as high as 84% (see Story). A large number of these personal ads are written by sex workers which has landed Craigslist in legal troubles and being called one of the largest sources of prostitution in America (see Story). The news stories about the "Craigslist Killers" also have not helped matters either for the internet classifieds company (see Story). Other categories on the site have similar problems with fake ads, including the jobs and apartment hunting categories.

A major part of Craigslist success is that it is mostly free, this is also part of the problem as anyone can post an ad with very little editorial review. Most of Craigslist money is made through apartment listings and some job ads. Lately the personals category, Adult Services went paid to in part pay for editors to review any ads in this section before being posted. Craigslist is a privately held company owned by Craig Newmark. No real information has been released about their financials but a few firms have estimated that Craigslist's paid ads revenue could reach $100 million for this year.

For the full article and to find out how it all began for Craigslist, read Wired. To find out more about Craigslist personals dating category read our review.

We last looked at OkCupid's A-List membership when it was first launched in mid August (see Story). It is 22 days later and they still have T-Shits to give out to the first 1000 membership upgrades. If OkCupid is close to meeting 1000 paid users then they are averaging roughly 40 paid members a day which IMO are not exactly stellar numbers. I also notice there are no men's sizes left and only 3 of the 4 women's colors left. This shows that there are most likely a lot more men paid users than women. I wonder what the free membership gender split is on OkCupid? Quantcast estimates it at 56% male and 44% female for last month.

To find out more about this dating service which allows you to make your own dating tests, read our OkCupid.com review.

It has been confirmed for eHarmony here in the US and Canada that they will be having a Free Communication Weekend, starting this Friday (September 4, 2009) until Monday (September 7, 2009). In Canada this will be their Labour Day Holiday long weekend.

As the name suggests, eHarmony Free Communication Weekends mean all members can review and communicate with all matches for no cost. These promotional weekends have become extremely popular for eHarmony, so expect a flurry of matches if you decide to signup. If you have been thinking about trying this internet dating service for a while now, this weekend, is the time to try! Remember, no credit card is required.

By our count this is Free Communication Weekend number 19 for eHarmony. The last one was held in July on the Independence / Canada Day weekend in July (see Story).

Read our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular online matchmaking service.

According to eHarmony's official blog, The Newlywed Game is looking for couples of all ages who may be interested in being on the show, which appears on The Game Show Network. Taping of this season of the show would happen in September and October of 2009.

This new iteration of The Newlywed Game is sponsored by eHarmony and is hosted by Carnie Wilson. The show allows couples to compete against each other by being asked questions on how well they know their spouse. This is the second season of the show with the first being aired back in April, 2009 (see Story).

For more information and for you and your spouse to be considered as contestants please email: thenewlywedgame@embassyrow.com to apply. The Game Show Network would like you to include the following information in your email:

• Names and ages (you and your spouse).
• Your City/State and phone number wwith area code.
• Email Address.
• Your Wedding Date, and a photo.
• If you met on eHarmony.

All participants of the show must be 18 years of age or older and married 2 years or less by October 9th, 2009.

For more information on the dating site, read our eHarmony review.