LavaLife Promotion Code

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online dating service LavaLife is providing a discount to readers of Online Dating Magazine (the Online Dating Industry Journal is owned by Online Dating Magazine). The exclusive code allows new members to buy one month and get one month free. For instructions and the code, visit Online Dating Magazine's LavaLife Promotions Page.

Chemistry Versus Compatibility in Online Dating Matching Systems

(Online Dating Industry Journal) In this week's Office Hours with Dr. Jim column (at Online Dating Magazine), Dr. James Houran discusses chemistry versus compatibility in online dating matching systems. Here's a blurb from the column:

"My own research using advanced scaling techniques derived from modern test theory, as well as the literature with which I am aware, all points to a cognitive view of romantic compatibility, which stresses partners’ dynamic reinterpretation of their social, emotion and sexual realities. In past publications and academic conferences, I have defined it as 'a holistic pattern of shared beliefs and values, mutually beneficial similarities and differences across personality traits, demographic preferences, and a cognitive set that motivates and sustains both erotic and companionate love in each partner'..."

Click here to read the entire article.

Dating Service Uses Rape Story to Plug Service

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Dating service TeamDating.com is using the story of a woman raped by someone she met online to plug their service. In the Comments section of the story, the service writes:

"This problem continues to plague the concept of online dating. This is very unfortunate, and should not happen. This is one of the reasons I am so passionate about Teamdating.com, because the group based approach allows for you and your friend to be together and meet another group, so there is safety in numbers. My thoughts are with this poor victim."

Joe's Comments
There are times and places to promote your online dating service and times and places that you shouldn't promote it. IMHO.

Internet Dating - Man Marries Man He Thought was a Woman

Here's a strange one for you. A German farmer with a busy lifestyle took the recommendation of a friend and started Internet dating to find the love of his life. He found a woman that he fell in love with and married. Only on his wedding night did he find out the woman was really a man.

Click here to read this odd story.

Trish McDermott Bio - VP of Love at Engage.com

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A bio of Trish McDermott, VP of Love at engage.com, has been posted on Online Dating Magazine's "Online Dating Industry" section. The industry section is a place to give industry insiders and online daters a closer look at the online dating industry.

You can read Trish McDermott's bio by clicking here.

Joe's Comments
Trish McDermott has been one of the most active people in the online dating industry since the Internet became mainstream in the 1990s. She's really good at creating interesting stories that the media and Webmasters love. Match.com used to be really good at this until McDermott joined Engage.com. Now Engage.com is putting out the interesting stories like its "Every Single Vote" survey and "State of the Date" report. McDermott is well respected in the industry and I give her kudos for doing an excellent job.

Suneet Wadhwa Bio - Engage.com Founder

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online Dating Magazine has posted a bio of engage.com founder Suneet Wadhwa in its Online Dating Industry section. Click here to read the bio.

Joe's Comments
Congratulations to Suneet Wadhwa for his wedding (someone he met through friends) last December!

If there is a particular online dating industry professional you'd like to see Online Dating Magazine do a bio on, then please send your suggestion (or self nomination) to jtracy@onlinedatingmagazine.com.

Miley Cyrus Adds to Online Dating Stigma

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Popular pop teen sensation Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) put to rest a rumor that she was using online dating to try and find a boyfriend. On a radio show hosted by American Idol's host Ryan Seacrest, she said the following to end all speculation:

"I'm not that desperate yet"


Joe's Comments

Every week I read an article where someone in the online dating industry is saying that the online dating stigma is "gone". As we've discussed here in the past, that is far from true. See Related Links.

Related Links
More Online Dating Stigma in the Media
Online Dating Stigma is NOT Gone

Engage.com to Unveil New Features

(Online Dating Industry Journal) engage.com will unveil several new features next month that will focus on allowing members to be more social while providing additional tools to let members "play matchmaker". Engage.com is different from most online dating services in that it uses friends of members to help determine who goes on dates with who.

Related Links
Engage.com Turns on its Publicity Machine

Pitt and Clooney in Movie Featuring Internet Dating

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The new upcoming Coen's movie, Burn After Reading, is a movie with a plot combining the CIA, fitness, and Internet dating. The movie features Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, and George Clooney. In the movie, Clooney plays the role of a CIA spy who meets another central character, McDormand, via an online dating service.

Burn After Reading is currently scheduled for release on September 12, 2008.

Headquarters Curse?

From an editorial in the New York Sun about a financial curse hitting companies that movie into new headquarters in New York:

"Take IAC Interactive, a company chaired by Barry Diller whose businesses include Ticketmaster, the online dating site match.com, evite, and LendingTree. Last summer, the company moved into fancy, Frank Gehry-designed headquarters at West 18th Street and 11th Avenue, a building subsidized by the federal taxpayers with $80 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bond financing from the New York City Industrial Development Agency. Over the past year, IAC's stock price has plummeted 50%, more than twice the decline in either the NASDAQ or the Standard & Poor's 500 Index."