Hookups

When you're online dating, sometimes it can be hard to tell what a potential match's relationship goals might be. Is she looking for a fling, or something more substantial? Many people don't reveal their true intentions in a dating profile, but they do provide some clues.

New research by The University of Texas found that when a woman is looking for a fling, she tends to talk about herself in her profile. But if she focuses on the traits she desires in a man, she's likely looking for something more serious.

For the study, researchers asked single women to record video profiles for an online dating site. After the video was recorded the women were asked questions about their relationship goals. They discovered that women who talked about the kind of partner they wanted were more selective, whereas the women advertising themselves were just looking to have fun.

Following are a few more tips to help you recognize what her relationship intentions are:

She's completed a profile. Most women who are serious spend a lot of time answering questions and writing profile descriptions, compared to those who aren't. The more thoughtful she is in her approach and the more she shares what she wants, the more likely she is looking for a relationship. If she leaves a lot of blank spaces, chances are she's not so committed.

She's responsive. Many people set up online dating profiles just to scroll through pictures and see who's out there. If you notice she hasn't checked in for a week, or she responded to your emails and then abruptly stopped, then chances are she's not really invested in finding a new relationship (or she already found someone else). However, if she's engaging you in digital conversation, respond in a timely manner. It means she's interested.

She pays for the site. Yes, there is a difference between daters who sign up for the free sites compared with those who are willing to shell out some dough. When you pay for online dating, you tend to be more serious, because let's face it - it's easy to meet people for free. (This is especially true for women---they get all kinds of emails when they sign up for free dating sites.) But if you want to meet a quality match who is also willing to pay (a.k.a. find a real relationship), then you're best bet is to pay for it.

Everything is moving more mobile these days, but mobile dating is still plagued by one big problem: it's hookup central.

Location-based dating is clearly designed to lead to a meeting, but with that comes a swarm of users who aren't looking for anything more than a quick fling. On a Web-based dating site, users are searching for a totally different experience, one based on meeting vetted, strictly filtered dates that they get to know on the site before arranging future plans to meet in person.

The challenge that now faces the dating industry is to blend the immediacy of mobile with the success of online dating. "There's no effective app for hetero hookups," says Sam Yagan, one of OkCupid's four founders, in an article on Forbes.com. "Grindr is very popular in the gay space for males. But there isn't really a Grindr for straight people."

Still, Yagan thinks there's a future for mobile dating. He thinks the next incarnation of mobile dating will mean using a variety of dating apps: "One may be a I-just-want-to-have-a-beer-with-somebody-new-tonight app. Or I-want-to-look-for-Mr.-Right. Or I-want-to-look-for-Mr.-Right-right-now."

Another possibility for the future of mobile is the social graph. Tinder, a bright new star on the mobile dating scene, is breaking new ground for social dating. Tinder users sign in using their Facebook accounts and indicate their interest in a potential date by swiping to the left or right of their screen. With the recently introduced Matchmaker feature, users can now make introductions between any of their Facebook friends, whether or not they're already using the app.

Sean Rad, co-founder and CEO of Tinder, argues that what's important isn't the future of online dating - it's the future of dating in general. As people - especially young people - become more accustomed to interfacing with the world through their phones, dating will need to evolve into a new experience.

Rad thinks the key will be to move in the opposite direction of online dating. Once upon a time online dating was hailed for offering access to a significantly wider pool of potential dates than traditional dating. But the downside to that, Rad explains, is that online daters also end up experiencing a great deal more rejection.

Rad sees the future of dating as something very different. A smaller pool may solve some of the problems, but the rest is up to you. "Science can only go so far," he says. "You are the best arbiter." Mobile has a place in that future, and perhaps that place is righting the wrongs that online dating has created.

When I began venturing out into the untamed wilderness of online dating, Plenty Of Fish was one of the first dating sites I came across. Off I went to explore, but almost as soon as I signed on to POF, I was ready to sign off.

I know I'm far from alone when I say that POF seemed like the wasteland of online dating. It felt like all I could find was men looking for instant hookups, many of whom were more than twice my age. POF was many things, but none of them was the dating experience I was looking for.

On May 20, 2013, POF Founder and CEO Markus Frind sent out an email that could change the face of the site forever. He is giving POF a makeover, one that he hopes will steer the site away from hookups and towards daters who are looking for real relationships.

Frind recently shared his vision for a new Plenty of Fish in an interview with Elizabeth Denham of the Huffington Post. "We wanted to generate more relationships among women, and men for that matter," he said, "and the best way to do that was eliminate this kind of behavior."

The list of proposed changes includes:

• Automatically deleting first contact between users that contains sexual references
• Banning contact between users with more than a 14-year age difference
• Eliminating the "Intimate Encounters" category of dating

Frind has also implemented a photo policy that applies solely to male users on the site. "We blocked the ability of men to send photos to women because men were misbehaving in some photos," he explains. Women, however, can still send photos to men.

One reason for the focus on hookups could be POF users' move to mobile. POF went from 20% mobile to 70% mobile in a year and a half, a change that Frind believes is strongly responsible for the increase in hookups on the site. "It just makes you use it differently," he says of mobile dating. "It generates a different kind of perception, a different kind of feel."

On a site that reigned supreme because of the hookup culture it supported, the changes Frind has made are bound to make a big impact. He claims he's already seen dramatic differences in the way users write their profiles, and says he received 150,000 emails within 12 hours of announcing the changes, the majority of which were overwhelmingly supportive.

For more information on this free dating site you can read our POF.com review.

Craigslist has had major problems in the past with their adult services section (see Story). On September 4th they temporarily suspended all sex ads on Craigslist (see Story). On September 15th:

Craigslist told the House Judiciary Committee today that it had closed its sex ads section forever.

The reason for Craigslist backing down on having an adult services section is the mounting bad press from the media and pressure from a number of state attorney generals. Closing this section down is estimated to cost Craigslist $44 million per year. The company held nearly 70% of all sex ad revenue which totaled $63 million.

This leaves a giant hole in the sex ad industry in which I am sure Craigslist competitors will fight over to fill. I expect to see a lot more affair dating site and sugar daddy dating site advertising coming to a website near you.

To find out about this classifieds site, please read our review of Craigslist.

Classified Intelligence Report disclosed today that they have estimated for 2010 that Craigslist will generate $122 million in gross revenue with profits ranging from $88 to $99 million. This works out to about $4 million per employee. Last year (2009) revenue was estimated to be $100 million and back in 2003 revenue was estimated at $7 million for Craigslist. According to the report, half of their revenue in 2010 will come from recruitment advertising while 30 percent comes from the Adult Services listings and a further 17 percent coming from apartment ads in New York City.

In 2009 Craigslist was accused of being a large source for prostitution. In a bid to appease lawmakers Craigslist renamed their "Erotic Services" category to "Adult Services" and upped the fee per listing to $10 (it was $5). Craigslist also agreed to manual approve each listing. When the Erotic Services category was around Craigslist donated the proceeds from these listings to undisclosed charities. Since the name change, Craigslist has stopped this practice.

Find out more at AimGroup.com and for further details about this classifieds website, read our review of Craigslist.

Edward Butler, a senior analyst at IBISWorld, used Australian Bureau of Statistics data and industry surveys to review and crunch data on the global sex services industry. He determined that the $1.2 billion industry has seen a 6 percent ($74 million) decline since the global financial crisis started. Brothels, tobacco and alcohol are usually recession proof but that doesn't appear to be the case this time.

Some analysis like Butler think that the popularity of adult dating sites have taken business from the sex industry. Adult dating sites make it easier for consenting adults to be frank about what they want and need in terms of sex. It has never been cheaper for like-minded individuals to organise casual liaisons with the rise of adult and casual dating services.

About 1.5 million men and women now have accounts in Australia with sites such popular dating sites as RSVP, Match.com and eHarmony. Most of these singles are not looking for casual sex and are intent on finding a partner for a long term relationship. Adult FriendFinder, one of the more popular casual sex dating sites reports on having just over 892 thousand profile listings from Australia.

For more on the story, read The Sydney Morning Herald.