with Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Gary Kremen

You might have your favorite online dating site, but did you know the Internet dating industry actually has their own awards ceremony, similar to the Academy Awards?

iDate Conference organizer Marc Lesnick emceed the 3^rd Annual iDate Awards ceremony along with Mark Brooks from Online Personals Watch. It was an honor and privilege to also be a presenter at the event held in Miami Beach on January 24, 2012.

The Internet Dating Executive Alliance and dating site members and users had the opportunity to vote.for their favorites in 12 categories.

OkCupid walked away with 3 iDate awards, received by Sam Yagan, CEO and co-founder of the site. Gary Kremen, known for creating online dating back in 1993 by being the original creator of Match.com received a well-deserved special Lifetime Achievement Award. Gary was a Keynote speaker earlier in the day,

The complete list of winners are….

Best Dating Site – OkCupid

Best Dating Site Design – OkCupid

Best Dating Software Provider – White Label Dating

Best Mobile Dating App – Grindr

Best Dating Coach – Evan Marc Katz

Most Innovative Company – OkCupid

Best New Technology – Grindr

Best Up-And-Coming Dating Site – How About We

Best Marketing Campaign – Match.com

Best Affiliate Program – FriendFinder

Best Payment System – Paymentwall.com

Best Matchmaker – Julie Ferman, Cupids Coach/eLove

We’ll be posting video highlights from the conference with the latest in online dating safety, mobile dating, and letting you know about some of the new niche sites that might help while looking for love online.

Julie Spira is an online dating expert and founder of CyberDatingExpert.com. Follow Julie on Twitter @JulieSpira for dating advice and on Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert

For those of you who are dating and are wondering if being a single parent will affect your love life, there’s good news for you. Match.com released their biggest singles study ever and the findings showed that not only do single parents go out on more dates than singles without kids, but more single parents (21%) are actively dating as compared to those without kids (16%).

The “Single in America” study led by Dr. Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist and chief scientific advisor for Match.com® and Chemistry.com® focused on key myths about singles. Dr. Fisher stated, “I am fascinated to learn that men are just as eager to marry and have children, and more eager to compromise in a relationship.

Some of the key myths in the study included:

Myth: Young singles today are promiscuous.
Fact: More people in the 21-34 age group say they have never had sex. To be precise, 24% of men and 23% of women ages 21-34 are virgins.

Myth: I love you implies a serious commitment.
Fact: 31% of singles believe that “I love you” means “I want you in my life” and 30% believe it means “I care about you.” Only 14% think it means “I want to spend the rest of my life with you” and 19% that “I want to have a committed relationship with you.”

Myth: Unemployed means unlucky in love.
Fact: 50% of singles would be open to dating someone unemployed if they found the person interesting.

Myth: Hook-ups never turn into relationships.
Fact: 36% of singles are open to a casual hook-up in the near future; and 54% of singles have had a one-night stand. 35% of singles have had a one-night stand that turned into a long term partnership.

Dr. Fisher appeared on Good Morning America where she stated, “The single most interesting thing in the study is that 35% of men and women who had initially met someone they found not attractive, eventually later fell passionately in love with them.”

So how does this news affect online daters? Dr. Fisher said that singles are more willing to date outside their faith and ethnicity and the age gap between couples has widened. My advice for singles looking for love online, widen your search parameters on your online dating profile and be more open to the possibilities. Accept that second date and see if the relationship can develop.

Are you a single parent? Are you finding dating challenging or are you making the time and effort to have a love life? Comments are welcome.

For more details of the study, visit http://blog.match.com/singles-study/

It’s a happy day for free online dating site OkCupid, who was acquired today by Match.com for $50 million in cash, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

OkCupid, led by Sam Yagan has become the darling for online daters due to the ease of use and no cost entry fee.

How will this affect you as a member of both sites? Probably not at all. According to a press release, Greg Blatt, CEO of IAC, who owns Match.com, Chemistry.com, Singlesnet, People Media, and Yahoo! Personals, “OkCupid has been a real innovator in our space, and the dating environment they’ve created struck a chord with a younger demographic.” Blatt believes OkCupid is the best site in its competitive set.

OkCupid was the recipient of four awards at the Internet Dating Conference in January, including Best Dating Site, Best Dating Site Design, Most Innovative Company, and Best Up and Coming Dating Site.

Sam Yagan from OkCupid was featured guest on Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show’s season premiere last year. To listen to the program, click here

My personal opinion? I recommend both sites regularly to my coaching clients. I think they’re in good company.

Are you a member of both OkCupid and Match? Comments are welcome and please do like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

To remember 2010, we are pleased to share the best and highest rated show segments on Ask the Cyberdating Expert Radio Show during the calendar year.

All I can say is WOW! It’s been an amazing year filled with dating advice to help you while looking for love online. Over 37,000 loyal fans listened to the program, where we talked about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Here’s our Top 10 list for the year for your listening pleasure.

1. The Frisky - Amelia McDonnell-Parry, editor-in-chief

2. Cupid’s Coach – Julie Ferman, founder

3. Liar Liar List – Beth Greenfield, founder

4. David Wygant - Dating Expert

5. Your Tango – Tom Miller, General Manager and columnist, Tomfoolery

6. OkCupid – Sam Yagan, CEO

7. Match.com – Whitney Casey, Relationship Insider

8. Senior People Meet – Dr. Terri L. Ohrbuch, The Love Doctor

9. People Media – Josh Meyers

10. Weopia – Dave Wilkie

The 2010 year also included well respected relationship authors and dating experts Andrea Syrtash, Lori Gottlieb, Dr. Carole Lieberman, Alix Strauss, Marie Forleo, Tina Tessina, Debra Berndt, Kristen McGuinness, Paige Parker, Dr. Diana Kirschner, Deb and Liv from Flirtexting, Cougar Expert Lucia, Carrie Seim, and Don’t Date Him Girl’s Tasha Cuningham.

We featured online dating sites and dating advice sites including Cosmopolitan – Ky Henderson, eLove – Paul Falzone,  eHarmony – Dr. Gian Gonzaga,  The Wing Girls – Jet and Star, Brainiac Dating – Lawrence Chernin,  Cupidtino – Mel Sampat, Perfect Match – Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Speed Date – Dan Abelon, Single Edition – Sherri Langburt, True – Herb Vest, Scientific Match – Eric Holzle, Opposites Connect – Larry Wilson, Meetcha – Jeff Taylor, and SKOUT Mobile Dating – Christian Wiklund.

A special mention goes to this year’s launch of the new digital dating cards with Lori Cheek from Cheekd and Rachel DeAlto from FlipMe Dating. It was an honor to feature Harvard Professor Michael I. Norton on the subject of virtual dating.

All of the programs can be heard at blogtalkradio.com/cyberdatingexpert

We’ll resume again in 2011 and look forward to hearing more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Show segments:

1. The Frisky

2. Cupid’s Coach

3. Liar Liar List

4. David Wygant

5. YourTango

6. OkCupid

7. Match.com

8. Senior People Meet

9. People Media

10. Weopia

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

Wow! All I can say is what an amazing show we had today for the Summer Season Premiere of Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show.

Match.com’s Relationship Insider Whitney Casey came armed full of dating advice for online dating success including:

• How often you should change your headline
• What to wear on your first online date
• Why men love the scent of vanilla perfume over lilac and gardenias
• How to introduce your children if you are a single parent
• Why it’s important to state your intention if you’re looking for a serious relationship or a casual relationship
• Off limits subjects such as money, politics, religion

We talked about lowering your expectations, why it’s a good idea for women should initiate contact or a wink and more.

Listen to the show to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

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

It’s with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I announce the summer lineup of guests for Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show.

Helping singles fall in love this summer, our season premiere will feature Match.com’s Relationship Insider, Whitney Casey on June 26, 2010.

Casey is an Emmy Award-Winning television personality, CNN-journalist and author of “The Man Plan.” Her dating advice has appeared on The CBS Early Show, The Today Show, FOX News, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and MTV.

“In our fast paced lives, we use the Internet to find out music, clothes and vacations,” says Casey. She adds, “It only makes sense that we should also look for love on our laptops.”

Match.com’s recent relationship study showed that one out of five relationships begins online. With over 40 million singles visiting online dating sites, dating and mating on the web has become more than twice as popular as meeting in bars, social events, or places of worship.

In an effort to speed up the search to find their perfect matches,  the summer 2010 line-up of guests for “Ask the Cyber Dating Expert Radio Show” will include Tina Tessina – author of “The Unofficial Guide to Dating,” Dr. Pepper Schwartz – Chief Relationship Expert at Perfect Match, Debra Berndt – author of “Let Love In” and Sherri Langburt – founder of Single Edition.

For a complete schedule of guests, visit http://cyberdatingexpert.com/radio-show.

Click here for full press release>>>

Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert

Listen to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show, where my guest Josh Meyers, CEO of People Media talked about the success of their niche online dating sites.

People Media runs over 20 Internet dating sites focusing on Black People Meet, Religious People Meet, and Hard to Define People Meet. Some of their popular sites include Single Parent Meet, Black People Meet, and  Senior People Meet. They were acquired last year by Match.com.

We gave dating advice for singles looking for love online including the details from their recent DataDating poll, Spring Training Tip for Singles: Don’t Crowd the Plate When You Step Up to Bat.  According to Meyers, “Professional baseball players use Spring Training to get in shape and tune up their game before they hit the field on Opening Day.” With spring season in the air, some of these tips apply to online daters.

• When at bat: Ask questions and listen well
• Play it safe: Do not go past first base
• Warm-up: Plan conversation-starters
• Avoid curve balls: Focus on the positive

Listen to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.

Singles can sign up for free at PeopleMedia.com to set up their profile. The membership rates range from $14.95/month to $9.99/month for a six-month membership.

Last week, Match.com celebrated their 15th anniversary with a research study showing that one out of six marriages were a result of couples meeting through an online dating site. While I was in New York, Carrie Seim interviewed me for her piece on the subject.

Her article, “The New Best Way to Meet Your Husband” came out this week on Betty Confidential. Non-believers are now flocking to online dating sites and it appears those who would have never thought about trying online dating are enjoying their bragging rights.

The New Best Way to Meet Your Husband

Survey says your best bet for finding Mr. Right is … online!

-Carrie Seim

Julie Spira, author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online, ventured forth on 250 online dates, earning several marriage proposals – and a husband – in the process. She says she’s not at all surprised by the Match marriage results:

“Not a day goes by that I don’t hear a story about someone who has met his or her spouse online,” she says. “Hoping that you might meet someone while out at a club or social event could have a high price tag and you most likely will come home empty-handed. There comes a time in your life when your friends aren’t fixing you up anymore. Online dating has become an efficient way for busy singles to meet their spouses – it’s truly a numbers game.”

Click here for full article on Betty Confidential>>>