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A majority of users believe their use of personals sites helps them to find
a better match. Some 31 percent of American adults say they know someone who
has used a dating website and 15 percent of American adults -- about 30
million people -- say they know someone who has been in a long-term
relationship or married someone he or she met online (Source: Pew Internet
Research).
"People know what they're looking for in a significant other. Sites targeted
toward specific affinity groups provide an ideal forum for singles looking
to meet like-minded individuals," says Greg Liberman, president and chief
operating officer of Spark Networks, Inc. "We expect to see continued
segmentation of this market to satisfy the varied and ever-changing tastes
of today's daters."
In fact, 58 percent of JDate (the premier online community for Jewish
singles) members polled say the most important criteria for a life partner
is to have similar lifestyle preferences and values, while 35 percent cite
physical chemistry, four percent declare shared goals, and only three
percent admit professional stability.
This year also saw a significant push toward offline extension events, with
online daters looking to extend their experience beyond the browser. In
order to meet user demand, JDate held 55 offline events in 2007, including a
trip to Cancun, bungee jumping and skydiving excursions, and weekend wine
tastings. An additional 200 speed dating events in partnership with
HurryDateR.com were also orchestrated, totaling more than five times the
amount of events offered in 2006.
Another online dating trend of 2007 was an increased subscriber base of
single parents. On any given day in the United States, about 397,000 people
who are the single parent of a child in their household have used online
dating within the last 30 days (Source: Mediamark). This statistic, coupled
with the fact that single parents represent more than 44 percent of
ChristianMingle's member base, spurred Spark Networks, Inc. to create
SingleParentsMingleR.com, a site exclusively dedicated to this emerging
demographic.
Looking ahead to 2008, online daters can expect to get luckier in love by
further personalizing their profiles, video blogging and podcasting, using
mobile dating applications on their cell phones, and taking advantage of
community-building features, according to a recent 2008 forecast report
released by Spark Networks.
"User-generated content will continue to play a large role in the online
dating sphere," says Liberman. "JDate, for example, has created an exclusive
channel on YouTube called JDate Video, which will feature video profiles and
other member generated content."
Just as sites like BlackSingles.com and ChristianMingle.com launched their
mobile counterparts this year, more dating sites will follow suit in 2008.
Daters can expect to have complete and total access to member profiles and
social networking features, thereby increasing their chances of meeting Mr.
or Ms. Right. In fact, the number of users utilizing mobile chat and dating
services is expected to rise from 40 million in 2007 to 260 million by 2012
(Source: Jupiter Research).
Based on the success of community-centric features on dating sites
(JDate.com received nearly 800,000 posts on its message board in 2007), a
greater emphasis on interactive features will also be a focus in 2008.
Online personals sites will continue to build out these capabilities, as
online journals, message boards, and instant messaging continue to be the
fastest, most convenient ways to communicate and build relationships.
Finally, as marketers continue to utilize online communities as an effective
source of word-of-mouth advertising, advertisers will seek content-safe,
niche environments to provide a more targeted, inexpensive and effective
alternative to mass market websites.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0336011.htm
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