General News

BusinessWeek did a rather week comparison of Free VS Paid dating in North America. Mainly, they listed all the benefits of free dating but none of the problems. They backed their arguments up with quotes from free dating site owners but none from the paid ones. Of course the quotes from owners are mainly plugs for their services. There was also a heading in the article called Free Is the Right Price in a Recession which discussed how free dating sites experienced traffic growth during the economic downturn but, nothing was mentioned of traffic to paid dating sites. You don't have to look far on the internet to see paid services are experiencing growth as well (See Story).

To find out more advantages and disadvantages, see our new dating reviews category called Free Dating Sites & Apps.

I just moved the poll called Important Quality of a Dating Profile off our home page. Every new poll I do, I place on the homepage for a few months and then remove it and close it for voting before I add a new poll. This time I think I will still leave it open for voting and see where it is with new votes in a few months.

What did we discover was the most important quality in a dating profile? Well according to the votes, a members Interests comes out on top with 40 percent of the 262 votes. Next came Body Type at 29 percent, followed by Age with 16 percent of the votes. Education and Income was last with less than 10 percent of the vote for each.

I was surprised by the results of this poll. I was expecting Body Type to be voted the most important quality since in the media, body image is portrayed as very important in all sorts of situations.

In late January, True.con announced that they have added video chatting to their dating service with 26 different chat rooms.

At a given time, a member may find over 1,000 people chatting, flirting and having fun. The feature not only allows chatters to view up to 10 webcam broadcasts simultaneously, but also allows any two people into a private chat together.

True.com's new group video chat room allows members to enjoy a party like atmosphere since you can view and talk with up to 10 people at once, while the private one on one chat allows for subscribers to go on virtual dates. Online dates allows singles to see how they interact with each other in real time before they commit to taking their relationship off line.

For the full story read True.com's press release.

It seems that the British are not a trustworthy lot when it comes to their partners. Not only are internet histories being monitored but social networking sites are too. 70 percent of Britain's use the internet to spy on their partner. Most check at least once a month on sites like Twitter and Facebook to view comments and pictures. Some also want to see if their partner has any ex boy or girl friends flagged as friends on Facebook. 68 percent also admit to checking private emails.

For the full story visit news: lite and for British dating services visit our UK dating category.

On January 29, 2009 Date.com become free for the estimated 15 million online dating users in India. This means any local Hindu single may use the service just like a paid member, allowing them to save their Rupee's for an actual date.

Date.com has been planning to expand into non-English speaking markets for a while now. It looks like they want to get a foot in the door in India by offering a free service, were online matrimonial sites are very popular. Date.com is currently available in 4 languages but by 2010 they plan on adding 15 more (see Story).

Read more about this free service for Indian singles at Date.com by reading this press release, or check out our Date.com review for more information on this popular online dating site.

Since last Fridays story called Chemistry.com's Chief Scientific Advisor is on ABC's 20/20 Tonight we have learned that Dr. Helen Fisher and Chemistry.com will be featured on other popular network TV shows like USA Today, ABC’s The View, CNN and GMA Weekend. if you missed the 20/20 special then you can check it out online at ABC News. Dr. Fisher was on Good Morning America as well last Monday, discussing her book which examines true love.

As Valentine's Day approaches you will see Dr. Fisher and Chemistry.com more and more in both print and video. This include Feb. 11 in USA Today, Feb. 12 on The View and on her busiest day, Friday February the 13th, where she has 30 interviews scheduled on morning shows across the country.