Next week will be an exciting time for online dating industry professionals. Many of us will gather in South Beach in Miami on January 19th – 21st  for the 8th annual Internet Dating Conference, known to many simply as iDate.

Once again I have been selected to speak about Dating 2.0: How to Create Brand Loyalty on the Web on January 20th at 3:30pm at the Miami Convention Center. I’ll be talking about the marriage of love and technology and how to develop your brand through the use of social media marketing. It’s an honor to be among the leading Internet industry executives and matchmakers including Mark Brooks, Publisher of Online Personals Watch;  Julie Ferman, Founder of Cupid’s Coach; Paul Falzone from eLove; Markus Frind, founder of Plenty of Fish; and Joel Simkhai from Grindr.

One of the hot topics led by Conference Organizer Marc Lesnick will be the session on free online dating sites and what they mean to the industry. Marc’s presentation will be held on January 21st at 2:00pm.

The Internet Dating Conference will be held concurrently with the Social Networking Conference where Mark Brooks will be presenting the 2010 Year in Review at both conferences. The topics of mobile dating and location based services will be of great interest to many of the attendees.

I’ll be on site with video updates and live tweeting from both conferences. For more information, visit internetdatingconference.com.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback. Are you currently a member of an online dating site? Do you use mobile dating applications? Do you think Facebook dating will become more popular?

Julie Spira is an online dating expert and author of the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online. Visit her at CyberDatingExpert.com. Follow Julie on Twitter @Julie Spira and like her at facebook.com/cyberdatingexpert

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

Listen to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show, where Sherri Langburt, founder of SingleEdition.com shared her mission of creating a lifestyle site to help singles in many areas of their lives.

Sherri, herself, is an online dating success story. After 10 years of online dating, she met her husband on JDate.

Single Edition provides dating and relationship advice from experts, along with suggestions for traveling solo, as well as health and beauty advice.

Find out Sherri’s secrets on why her online dating profile led to her marriage and hear her inspiration for singles looking for love online.

Listen to the program where you will hear more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

Join Cyber Dating Expert Julie Spira on Saturday July 24, 2010, as she welcomes Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Chief Relationship Expert at Perfect Match to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show.

Dr. Schwartz is the author of 15 relationship books, including Finding Your Perfect Match.  She co-developed the Duet® Total Compatibility System  for Perfect Match’s online dating site and has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, Dr. Phil, and Good Morning America.

We are honored to have her as our guest on Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show, where she will be providing her expert relationship advice and dating tips for singles looking for love online.

Call in with your relationship questions on Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 2pm/ET, 12pm/CT, 11am/PT at 646-929-0012 to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Listen to Cyber-dating Expert on Blog Talk Radio

I just read an interesting article in The New York Times that I must share with you.  The article  mentions newly launched sites Cheekd.com which had its debut in May, as well as FlipMeDating.com.

As members of both of these sites, you can spot a hottie, drop him a flirty calling card, and he can respond or not. It’s instant, you can be in the moment, and connections have resulted from these new simple techniques. According to the Times, Cheek’d members pay $25 for a monthly subscription which includes 50 calling cards. Recipients do not pay a fee.

Think about the lost opportunities you have missed out on. Perhaps you met an interesting guy on the airplane, and never followed up with your infatuation. He’s now gone. If you had a few flirty calling cards in your purse, you just might be going steady now. It’s a terrific ice-breaker and a great way to augment your existing online dating account.

So now, I’ll take a poll and welcome your comments. For $25, would you like to go out in the world armed and prepared if you spot a guy or gal who captures your eye? How would you feel if you’ve been Cheek’d by a woman or a man in a restaurant? Would you follow up online to learn more about this mystery man or woman?

I look forward to hearing more about the use of the modern day calling card as we continue to date in a Web 2.0 World.

Click here to read full article: The New Dating Tools: A Card and a Wink on The New York Times>>>

Ravit Abelman, Omnidate and Julie Spira, Cyber-Dating Expert at iDate

Twice a year the online dating industry gathers in the U.S. to discuss the latest trends in Internet dating. The conference, called iDate, was held last week in Beverly Hills at the SLS Hotel concurrently with the Social Networking Conference. The event started with a 3 hour presentation by Google followed by the evening party at the Stone Rose Lounge hosted by Elitemate.

This year I was a speaker and presenter on Web 2.0 Dating: Using Social Media to Create Brand Loyalty.

I spoke about Twitter marriage proposals and celebrity breakups and how Facebook has become the third largest country in the world. Social media is successfully keeping users engaged and informed with meaningful updates, dating advice, and well-deserved bragging rights of their success stories.

One of the examples of dating 2.0 I spoke about was, social dating site Zoosk. Zoosk has done an excellent job in creating brand loyalty through social media. When they reached their 1 millionth “fan” on Facebook, they celebrated by creating a video called What is a Milion to thank those who now like their page. They posted it on the Zoosk blog, on their Facebook page where over 200 fans commented and over 600 said they liked it.  They posted their video on their YouTube channel for Zoosk TV, where they have over 4500 views for this one celebratory video.

Other examples I presented included online dating newcomer, Brainiac Dating. Their Facebook page features profiles and photos of singles looking for love online. Several online dating sites use social media to engage their fans. eHarmony‘s Facebook page gives advice to daters. A sample update of theirs is, “Picnics make great casual dates, especially in the summer. What are some good picnic ideas?” Lavalife has a contest on their page where you can vote for the Top 10 singles. Match.com congratulates their success couple of the week, and JDate include their success stories on their pages.

I provided a list of online dating sites on Twitter. Sample tweets from online dating sites included eHarmony_Jack: “Are you in love or are you infatuated?”  Match “How do you break up with someone you met online? 25% of Happen readers said on the telephone.” OkCupid: “Speaking of faced and attractiveness..has the recession made you more beautiful?”

iDate 2010 - The Final Debate at the Internet Dating Conference

I participated in the conference highlight, The Final Debate, along with Elitemate’s CEO Victor Daniel, Mark Brooks from Online Personals Watch, Karinna Kittles-Karsten from Sacred Love, Tai Lopez from Niche Enterprises, Violet Lim from Lunch Actually, and Frederick Vallaeys from Google adwords.

Mobile dating was clearly a hot topic at the conference. Thank you to Marc Lesnick, head of the Internet Dating Conference and Mark Brooks from Courtland Brooks for the opportunity to speak at this well-respected event about Dating 2.0 and Social Media.

The next two Internet Dating Conference events will be held in Paris, France on September 15-17, 2010 and in Miami, Florida on January 19-21, 2011. If you missed my presentation and would like to hear more, contact me at CyberDatingExpert.com/contact or Social Media and More.

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

Join Cyber-Dating Expert Julie Spira as she welcomes Whitney Casey, Relationship Insider to Match.com for the Summer Season Premiere of Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show.

You’ve probably seen Whitney on CNN, the CBS Early Show, or Good Morning America. Perhaps you’ve read her book, The Man Plan. Get your questions ready and email them to us if you like. We’ll also have an interactive chat on Facebook during the broadcast.

Call in on Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 2pm/ET, 12noon/CT, 11am/PT at 646-929-0012 for dating advice and to learn more about online dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Listen to internet radio with Cyber-dating Expert on Blog Talk Radio

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

Listen to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show where Lawrence Chernin, founder of Brainiac Dating talked to us about why it’s sexy to be smart.

You’ll hear about the features of their online dating site along with finding out which of your favorite celebrities have reached brainiac status (hint: Geena Davis, Natalie Portman, and Matt Damon, to name a few).

You can join now for free and try out their site as well as take advantage of their special offer of $19.95/year good through July 4, 2010.

Find out what are the most popular quizzes and forum topics. Listen in for dating advice and to learn about more about dating, love, and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Listen to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show where my guest, Kate Bilenki – Director of Love at PlentyofFish.com talked about how POF became the largest online dating site in the world.

POF is a free site, but you can hear how you can increase your chance of finding a relationship by 230% over the other internet dating profiles with their serious membership program.

Kate and I provided some dating tips to help you become more successful on Plenty of Fish. Find out which fish personality is the most popular. Is it the barracuda, angel fish, octopus or swordfish?

Listen to the show to find out more about dating, love, and romance in a Web 2.0 world.