The Hottest Trends In Online Dating

NETWORK WORLD -- Feb 7 -- No one knows online dating better than Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. Brooks is a modern-day Cyrano -- he's a consultant to many of the Web's largest online dating sites as well as traditional matchmaking services. Network World interviewed Brooks about the hottest trends in online dating.

Q:How many online dating services are there?
MB: Hitwise has estimated there are 800-plus. I think that's about right for the U.S. A lot of them are affiliate sites that are driving traffic to the main dating sites.

Q: How has online dating affected traditional matchmaking services?
MB: Internet dating has warmed an entire generation of users to the prospect of getting help in dating and paying for that help.

Q: What new technologies are you are seeing in online dating?
MB: One of the biggest innovations is avatar-based instant messaging. One site that's pioneering the use of avatars is OmniDate.com. Another emerging technology is iovation, which helps online dating sites battle fraud. With iovation's Reputation Manager, one dating site can flag a person as abusive and throw them out and then let other sites in the online dating community know about it.

Q: How has online dating technology changed in recent years?
MB: Actually, online dating is in about the same place that it has been in for the last three years. One of the things I'd like to see is more technology being applied to personality profiling. In this area there are four companies worth mentioning: Perfectmatch.com; eHarmony.com; Chemistry.com; and True.com.

Q: Have social networkings like Facebook and MySpace cut into online dating traffic?
MB: The numbers show that less people are coming to Internet dating sites. According to ComScore the number of people who came to Internet dating sites in December 2007 was down 10% over the prior year. But I don't think it's the end of online dating. I think the lookilous have gone away.

Q:What are the hottest trends in online dating?
MB: One is the rise in Baby Boomers and also rise of free dating sites, such as Plentyoffish.com, DateHookup.com, OkCupid.com, Matchdoctor.com, Bookofmatches.com, Smooch.com and CrazyBlindDate.com.

Q: What do you see as the future of online dating?
MB: It's difficult to enter the market and be a large generic dating site at this stage. The only thing you can build today is a niche dating site, and even niches are hard to build. That's why we're seeing the rise of a bunch of companies that offer white-label dating services. One of these companies is Whitelabeldating.com.
FULL ARTICLE @ NEWORK WORLD

Comments

[Fernando Ardenghi]

"One of the things I'd like to see is more technology being applied to personality profiling."

more technology?
What does it exactly mean? Innovations?

Innovations for the Online Dating Industry ......... will definitively come from new discoveries on Theories of Romantic Relationships Development.

* It seems that what is important in attracting people to one another may not be important in making couples happy.

* Temporal patterns of relationship variables may indeed play a significant role between prospective mates -> Last stage of temporal patterns: if only high level on personality* similarity* between mates is the core of relationship stability and satisfaction == Dyadic Success for 26_and_more_years_old_persons interested in serious dating.

personality*: measured with the 16PF5 normative test in different languages (no other actual online dating site is using it!)
similarity*: calculated using quantum math equations

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
ardenghifer@gmail.com

[James Houran]

Mark,

You forgot to mention the pioneering tests offered on PlentyofFish. What's so enticing about Markus' stuff is that the feedback reports reveal "hidden preference patterns" that the testing algorithms detected in questionnaire data.

Then, the reports actually "coach" you in how to use those hidden patterns to better connect with a romantic prospect -- either in what questions to ask, behaviors to do or not do and couple activities to try. More than DNA-based or biodata-based approaches for attempting to assess "chemistry," this is the cutting edge in profiling technology -- giving coaching action plans in feedback reports that derive from the unique response patterns (not aggregate scores) of test takers.

No other compatibility tools I know of have combined date/relationship coaching with the cutting in edge in compatibility testing. This profiling technology is akin to "targeted advertising" for romantic prospects.

Thx,

James Houran, Ph.D.
Online Dating Magazine

[Sam Stone (onlinedatingpro.com)]

interesting, looks like social networking sites are taking a bite out of online dating sites' income. i wonder when we'll see them retaliate with their own facebook like applications....

[Martin Bysh]

I would thank you for the plug, but it's Smooch.com ;)