Online Dating

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.

CNN's Living section has a good article on dating and sex for singles 50 years or older. The author talks about how a lot of senior singles are looking more for companionship than marriage at this age. Sometimes sex may or may not be an option for the person. More than 35% of Americans, over 50 are single. These singles have been either separated, divorced, widowed or never even been married. Among with interesting statistics a number of senior related web sites are mentioned as being popular with people over 50. These include travel programs, volunteer programs, sports programs and online dating and social networking sites. Several of the sites mentioned are reviewed on our site, including, Match.com, SeniorFriendFinder.com and eHarmony.com. You can also check out our own Dating Over 50 category for more senior related dating services.

Read the article Sex and dating after 50 at CNN.

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.

Marketing Charts summarizes the new Mediamark Research reports that have been just released. According to the statistics, online dating is still alive and well with almost 2.5 million adult Americans who took part in dating online in the last 30 days. Men slightly edged out Woman by 8%. If you want all the numbers without reading the article they included an easy to read table.

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.