Online Dating Industry Journal

The Science Behind eHarmony

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Every day, eHarmony Labs is researching body language of people while doing research into what makes them click with members of the opposite sex. eHarmony's goal is to help find that "spark" that leads to great relationships and work it into their relationship dating service.

A couple of months ago, Good Morning America cameras were the first to be allowed into eHarmony Labs to see what the team was doing to increase the effectiveness of eHarmony's compatibility test and algorithm for true love.

Click here to see the video.

Joe's Comment
eHarmony was always the most successful dating service that I personally used. I consistently met people where there was a mutual attraction and a lot in common. I didn't always find that with other services. But Online Dating Magazine readers have a strongly mixed feeling of eHarmony. Many complain about billing practices, some about lack of matches, and some about receiving no matches at all. So like with any service, your mileage may vary.

Deceipt by Online Daters on the Rise

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A year ago, a study published in the Proceedings of Computer/Human Interaction journal found that the majority of online daters lie about at least one thing in their online dating profile. For women, more than 60% lied about their weight. For men, more than 50% lied about their height. The research suggested that the lies were "strategic" (in order to get dates).

As online daters become more comfortable with lying online, the length they go to in order to deceive others is also growing.

New services that touch up  photos are reporting that one of the growing segments of their clientèle are online daters who have the services remove moles, freckles, whiten teeth, and even remove "love handles" or weight from a photo. The photo is then posted online as a true representation of the person.

Several months ago, the New York Times took the street, via their Freakanomics column, to ask people what they would lie about on their online dating profile. The answers ranged from the obvious (age, weight) to the not-so-obvious (intentions, profession). It seems some people are more honest to a reporter than to someone they might eventually marry.

As people become more comfortable with lying online, the deception methods are likely to become more bold. 

Joe's Comments
The industry needs to come together to help discourage this practice. It only contributes to the negative online dating stigma. The importance of honesty needs to be stressed to online daters. Do we really live in a world where the majority of people think it is OK to outright lie and deceive others? I sure hope not.

Flirting Hard and Looks Important Online

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A survey commissioned by online speed dating site WooMe has found that most adults think flirting online is more difficult than flirting offline. The survey also found that the most important factor in online dating is how the other person looks.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive among 2,363 adults, 800 whom were single. Here are some of the key findings:

- 72% of adults who use the Internet say it is more difficult to flirt online than it is offline because you don't have that instant in-person interaction important to flirting (body language, chemistry, etc.)

- 61% say looks are most important when it comes to online dating. Only 17% thought the person having a great sense of humor was most important.

- Only 31% of online daters update the photo on their profile regularly.

Joe's Comments
When WooMe put out a press release about the survey, they kept trying to refer to themselves as a "live introductions platform" versus the more simplified and correct term, "online speed dating service".  It's interesting to see some companies try to create new terminology for an already established venue that they fit into. A "live introductions platform" sounds like a wooden stage set up in a bar on a Tuesday during Karaoke night that patrons can jump (or stumble) onto while introducing themselves to other patrons in an attempt to win a free drink. :-)

In regards to the survey, I was a little surprised by people saying it is easier to flirt offline than online. The reason why is because I think the online environment empowers more people to flirt who might not do so offline (i.e. shy people). I would think that it would be easier to flirt online, however more difficult to gauge the results of the flirting than it would be offline.

Study Addresses Failure of Online Dating Services

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A study titled "Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates" is addressing some of the major failures with online dating services, particularly when it comes to attributes people want to search for versus attributes the online dating service targets in profiles.

From the study:

"We suggest that the failure of online dating sites to live up to user expectations is due in part to a fundamental gap between the kinds of information people both want and need to determine whether someone is a good romantic match and the kind of information available on online dating profiles... Most online dating sites use a 'shopping' interface like that used by other commercial sites, in which people are classified much like any commodity, by different searchable attributes (e.g., height, weight, income), which can be filtered in any way the shopper desires (see Bellman, Johnson, Lohse, & Mandel, 2006). Because determining whether or not one likes someone romantically requires subjective knowledge about experiential attributes such as rapport or sense of humor, it is perhaps not surprising that online daters might be disappointed when they are forced to screen potential partners using objective searchable attributes such as income and religion..."

The research paper, which you can read here, was conducted by Jeana H. Frost, Zoe Chance, Michael I. Norton, and Dan Ariely.

Gays Visit Online Dating Sites More than Heterosexuals

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Harris Interactive recently did a study to measure the online habits of gays and lesbians compared to the habits of heterosexuals. Many areas were analyzed including interests in blogs, online usage, and visits to social networking and dating sites.

A majority (57%) of gay adult men online declare they are a member of a social networking web site, compared to 37% of heterosexual men. Also, two out of five (42%) gay and lesbian adults have visited an online social community or network in the last month, compared with roughly a third (32%) of heterosexuals. Just over one-quarter (26%) of gay adult men reported visiting an online dating service in the last month, compared to 9% of heterosexual male adults.

The survey was conducted with 2,733 adults of which 326 were gay or lesbian.

True Survey - Money Matters Little in Dating Game

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Online dating service True.com has released a survey about how singles feel on the subject of love of money. The survey found that singles would choose love over money and also found that less than 1% of females expect to pay for the first date.

Singles also agreed that it doesn't matter whether the man or woman makes more money in an relationship. Couples also overwhelmingly said that they would stay in a relationship where their partner had major financial debt or had declared bankruptcy.

The conclusion: Couples would choose love over money.

Click here to see the full survey.

Joe's Comments
The irony here is that financial problems are one of the major causes of divorce.

Swedish Single Females Prefer Older Males

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Swedish women prefer older men, according to a survey done by meetic.se, a Swedish online dating service. The survey results were published by The Local, a Swedish publication that presents news in English.

According to the article:

"The tendency to go for older men is most apparent among younger Swedish women (18-24), with one in three finding men over thirty the most attractive."

There were 5,661 European singles surveyed for the study. Click here to read the article.

Joe's Comments
There's a reason site's like AgeMatch are growing in popularity. It's a good bet that you'll see a lot of older men now signing up for Meetic's service!

Survey of Married People in the UK

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The Oxford Internet Institute ad the University of Oxford did  a study of 2401 married individuals and 929 couples in the UK about their Internet habits. As it relates to online dating, the following was revealed in the study:

6% of married Internet users first met their partner online. They were most likely to have met through an online dating site (34%), chat room (19%) or instant messaging site (18%).

The couples that first met online were more likely to have an age gap of greater than six years (gap > 6yrs for 39% of the ‘met-online’ couples’; gap > 6yrs for 24% of the ‘met-offline’ couples).

Survey respondents said they would be ‘unhappy’ about their partner doing the following online with somebody else: falling in love (97%); having cyber-sex (94%); disclosing intimate details (92%); communicating relationship troubles to others (89%); sharing personal information about the other partner (88%); flirting (85%).

Joe's Comments
What wasn't told to us in the methodology of the research was the age of those surveyed and the length of time they were married.  If people were married more than 15 years, then the questions about meeting on the Internet wouldn't apply to them and thus would not give us a true sampling of Internet habits when it comes to meeting your partner.

Research - Online Dating Screen Names Important

(Online Dating Industry Journal) You've just signed up for an online dating service and one of the first questions you're asked is "what would you like your screen name to be?" Some people labor over this question and others don't give it a second thought. Still others use their current feelings (i.e. lonelyheart).

Does your screen name really matter? According to new research by Dr Monica Whitty (author of two online dating books and many dating studies) it does matter.

The UK Times has published an article titled "Revealed: Secrets of Choosing an Online Dating Name" in which her research shows the importance of having a fun and flirty name.

From the article:

"...New research has found those looking for love online should take care what screen name they use to maximise their digital appeal.

Playful and flirtatious names such as “fun2bwith” or “i’msweet” were ranked top by both men and women daters as those they would most like to contact.

Physical descriptors such as “cutie” or “blueeyes” were close behind..."

Click here to read the entire article.

Hairy Soap Bad for Men

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Men who have hairy soap, old sponge, or dirty washcloth in their shower kill their chances of getting action with women, according to a survey done by LavaLife and AXE. According to the survey, more than 90% of women said spotting any of those items in a guy's shower would "kill a guy’s chance of skin on skin action."

In addition, the survey reports that 95% of women believe a man is more irresistible to them when he uses a shower gel that moisturizes and scrubs to smooth his skin.

“Lavalife and AXE joined together to develop a survey that would give men insights into how superior skin care could mean more sexy skin on skin contact, and the results from women were very clear,” said Lavalife’s Editor-in-Chief Kim Hughes. “This survey will help men learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to their personal hygiene, and clearly shows how important it is to making themselves irresistible to women.”

In the area of grooming, women prefer well-groomed "conscientious" guys by 66%. Out of the women surveyed, only 7% said they liked "hairy bad boys".

The survey was conducted with more than 800 women.