General News

Do you think that dating profile picture is too good to be true? A poster in our forum name Drannik (see Post) recommends using TinEye Image Search Engine. With TinEye you can upload an image or paste a url location of the page or image and the reverse image search engine will attempt to find and return similar images on the internet. If the image is found in a number of different location on the internet then it is a pretty good chance that the dating profile you are viewing is not the person in the picture.

The image search works very well. In tests, the image search return 96 results when it searched for images similar to this test Will Smith picture I used.

Results included the exact same image to cropped and larger versions of the picture. It even found manipulations of the image like this one with Oprah's face (I believe) photo shopped onto Will's head.

It even found images with different backgrounds, hair and clothes.

What TinEye does not do is return other images of Will Smith. It just returns the same image or modified version of it. Maybe we will see a facial recognition feature in the near future? TinEye works by using image identification technology rather than keywords, file names or water marks. Currently there are over 1 billion images in the search engines index catalogue

To try out this reverse image search engine, visit TinEye.

In April we looked at another federal lawsuit which claims eHarmony's matching system is not scientifically proven (see Story). The lawyers for the lawsuit (Lange & Koncius LLP) have now setup a website for people to get more information. You can find the website called eHarmony Class Action Litigation (eHarmonyClassAction.com). Thanks to the unofficial eHarmony Blog for this information.

In my opinion, from all of the information I have read about dating sites, eHarmony probably has put the most effort into their matching system. They have a number of doctors on staff at eHarmony Labs who are experts in their fields of study and whose purpose is to research and improve the matching system. eHarmony spends over $3 million a year at this. While, they haven't released much scientific proof or had many independent studies done (as far as I know), if any dating site can back up their matching system with scientific research, it is eHarmony.

For more on eHarmony Labs, read eHarmony's Love Lab

People Media announced a partnership with AOL Personals back in March to offer niche dating services to AOL's visitors (see AOL Personals and People Media Partner). Last Thursday at a dating industry conference called iDate 2009, they announced that they have launched 6 new niche dating sites for AOL and have also updated their existing sites with new matching and community features. The new upgrades include a smoother flowing registration process, more advance searching options and, new profile attributes and features.

Currently People Media has 27 niche dating sites which in total experience almost 4 million unique visitors per month. In April of this year, the People Media brand of dating sites had seen a 55 percent increase in traffic when compared to the same time last year. People Media's best known niche online dating sites are Black People Meet and Love and Seek.

For more information about this news, read the press release at PRWeb.

We talked briefly about matchTalk before in 2007 (see Story). I thought it was time for a closer look since I have seen a number of image ads lately on Match.com promoting the add-on service. The main idea behind matchTalk is to allow members to talk to each other on their own phones while keeping both phone numbers confidential. The service I believe is still powered by a well know VOIP and social messaging company called Jangl. Almost any phone can be used, including cell phones.

matchTalk works by generating a unique phone number for every member who signs up. Once you find a Match.com member who you like, you can request to add them to your matchTalk phonebook by a link on their profile. If they agree, you then can perform a matchTalk connection. You initiate the call to the person you are interested in from your matchTalk phonebook. Match.com acts like a dispatcher and then calls the person. An automated voice will then ask the person if they would like to receive the call from you. If the answer is yes, the call is then connected with you and your phone will ring. Once you answer, you both can talk knowing your real phone number is safe. If the person decides not to take your call or if the phone is not answered, you will be notified and you can try later.

Once a matchTalk member, you can contact any Match.com subscriber who agrees to your request. Someone who is not a matchTalk member can only receive calls and not initiate a mtachTalk connection. For the service to work you will need Caller ID (used only by matchTalk) and you will need to verify your phone number. The cost of the service is $4.99 for 3 months.

For more information on this dating site, read our review of Match.com.

Last year eHarmony.ca had a free communication weekend, on the Canada Day long weekend (see Story - it ran from Sat. June 28 to Tues. July 1). Some of you were wondering if there is a free weekend coming up this year for Canada Day. As July 1st, 2009 falls on a Wednesday, right in the middle of the week and we have had no official word yet, I have a feeling if there is one, it will be combined with eHarmony.com and the U.S. Independence Day holiday on the July 4th long weekend.

Check back with this story Canada, and we will update it as soon as we get more information about if and when there is a Free Communication Weekend.

Update #1: eHarmony Canada is indeed having a Free Communication Weekend. It starts July 2 and runs to July 5, 2009.

Update #2: For those of you looking for eHarmony.com (the US site ), the free weekend is on as well, check out this story for more information.

In the mean time, if you want some further insight on what makes this a popular dating site, read our review of eHarmony.

According to the Boston Globe young adults aged 18 to 22 are more likely to use dating sites than ever before. Some use dating sites because they are tired of the hook-up culture while others find it easier to meet people for dating than going to frat parties and bars. This group of young adults are also the first generation to grow up with social networking sites. They have probably already been using Facebook and/or MySpace for years and are familiar with how these types of sites work and how easy it is to search and find people. Dating sites like eHarmony are realizing the College age group is an untapped market for them. They recently lowered their minimum age for members from 21 to 18 (see Story).

Another popular dating site for singles in their twenties is Match.com. 13% of the over 5 million visitors of Match.com last month were from 18 to 24 years old (see Story). This means about 650 thousand College aged singles took a look at Match.com last month. There are also niche dating sites which cater directly to College or University students. A few are UniversityLoveConnection.com and StudentLove.com, with the latter allowing only students in school to join that have a email address using the .edu domain extension.

For the full story, read The Boston Globe and for more information on the dating sites mentioned in the article, check out eHarmony.com review and Match.com review.