Dating 2.0 at the Internet Dating Conference
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 Radio Show with Speed Date
Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert
Join Julie Spira on October 16, 2010 for a very special edition of Ask the Cyberdating Expert Radio Show broadcasting live from BlogWorld in Las Vegas.
This week’s guest is Dan Abelon, co-founder and president of SpeedDate.com.
Dan will share insight on mobile-based online dating which is fast becoming the preferred way to meet other singles. He will discuss the subtle nuances between traditional and mobile-based dating and offer tips on boosting your chance of meeting that special someone using your smartphone or iPad.
With over 10 million users, SpeedDate is the world’s first and largest real-time dating website. Its patented system allows singles to meet each other through three minute dates from the comfort of home using instant chat and video. SpeedDate.com allows singles to immediately determine if they have chemistry before taking time to meet in person.
In addition, Speed Date will give away one 6-month Premium membership to their to a Cyber-Dating Expert Facebook member at the end of the program. To be eligible to win, visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and make sure to “Like” our page.
Call in at 646-929-0012 at 2pm/ET, 11am/PT to learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.
The CyberDating Expert Top 10 Mobile Dating Apps
Cyber-Dating Expert
Just in time for Social Media Week we are proud to present our Top Ten favorite mobile dating applications at CyberDatingExpert.com
The year 2010 will go down in history for mobile dating becoming mainstream with many of the traditional online dating sites launching their apps. A Juniper research study estimates that mobile dating will be a 1.4 billion dollar industry by 2014. According to a Ground Truth report, the number of visitors to mobile dating sites increased this past summer by 92 percent from the first week in June to the last week in July. Here’s our list of some of the best mobile dating apps worth downloading.
1. Meet Moi - Meet Moi is a location-based mobile dating company which was formed in 2007. In August of 2010, they launched Meet Moi Now, their Android mobile app and became the first matchmaking service to integrate with Facebook. You can sign up for their basic service for free to create your profile, browse profiles, send winks, respond to received messages, and receive unlimited SMS alerts. They update your location in real-time. When a match is nearby, you get an alert on your phone.
2. Match Mobile - Match.com, who celebrated their 15th anniversary this year, launched Match Mobile in 2007. They added their iPhone app in 2009, and their mobile dating service is now also available on the Android, Blackberry and Palm platforms. Users can download Match.com apps to access the Match.com service. Match claims that close to 10% of their users access their site solely from a mobile device. Their mobile users are twice as engaged versus those who use Match on their desktop computers. Members can browse singles, send winks, and upload photos directly from their mobile phone to their profile. A subscription is required to send and receive emails.
3. Speed Date - SpeedDate.com launched their mobile app this year and has over 1.5 million unique iPhone installs. Over half of them join their service after their installation. Singles can finger-swipe through millions of profiles, choose who they would like to meet and then start conversations via email. Advanced filters allow users to narrow searches based on various criteria such as age and location. In addition, a unique tagging feature ensures all favorite member profiles are stored and easily accessible.
4. Zoosk - Zoosk’s iPhone dating application is the largest dating app in the U.S. It’s also popular in other countries such as Australia, France, Italy and Spain. Users are awarded coins when they download the iPhone app. Their service allows you to chat and flirt wherever you go and you’ll receive a mobile alert when someone flirts with you. Zoosk won the award for the best Mobile Dating Site at the Internet Dating Conference this year and has consistently been a #1 dating app in the iPhone Store with over 1 million downloads. All of the functionalities from their website are available on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Their GPS location tagging capabilities are a feature you’ll want to try out. They will be launching an Android app in the near future.
5. SKOUT - I’ve been following Skout since they laaunched the first-ever dating app for the iPhone in 2008. In July, 2010, they hit one million users. They have one of the most popular iPhone apps and operate like a flirting and hook-up GPS. Their iPhone app identifies singles in your immediate vicinity and gives you the opportunity to flirt and meet up with them. Though the app is free to use, members have the option of purchasing virtual gifts, premium memberships, or sending “wink bombs” which reach up to 500 potential sweethearts in your area at once.
6. eHarmony – Just in time for their 10th anniversary celebration, eHarmony recently launched their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch service this summer. The app was listed in the Top Ten Free Apps in the App Store and they’ve had over 100,000 downloads. Members can view matches, receive match updates, upload photos from their iPhone, and communicate with their matches.
7. Are You Interested – AreYouInterested.com from Snap Interactive is an online dating site, mobile dating application, and Facebook app for single men and women with over 13 million members. Their service integrates their iPhone and Facebook applications together so you can browse photos of singles in your area and click on who you like. Their buzz feed shows you what people are up to in real time.
8. Grindr – Just this week, Grindr, the world’s largest all-male mobile location-based networking service, announced that it has reached more than one million subscribers. On a daily basis, Grindr has about 250,000 active users who log on approximately eight times per day. The average Grindr user spends an average of 1.3 hours each day using the app. These numbers are huge. On a weekly basis, they have about 400,000 users. This amounts to about 600,000 users per month. Grindr is available on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. They have plans to expand their service on the Blackberry in the near future.
9. Flirtomatic – Mobile social network Flirtomatic is known as the world’s number one flirting company. Based in the UK, they have over 3 million global members. The good news for U.S. mobile daters, is their membership in the states recently surpassed 1 million users. You can set up your profile in about 20 seconds. Their service allows members to search, chat, send rapid messages, rate members and find user generated content about flirting and dating. Flirtomatic has its own virtual currency called “Flirt Points” that members can use to buy premium services, such as virtual goods. Their service is available on the iPhone and Android platforms.
10. Four Square – I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention location based social networking site Four Square. They aren’t a dating app, but we love them anyway and it’s surely fun to check in. You’ll need to be friends with other members on the service to see who’s around when you check in. If you’ve had a crush for a while on someone and you see they’re at the local coffee shop or at the same venue, you can use this as a chance to say hello and get to them better in real life. Available on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Palm.
Honorable Mentions
JDate Mobile - Launched this year, JDate Mobile allows their members to receive real-time mobile alerts notifying them when they receive new messages, when another member views their profile, adds them to their hot list and more for free. JDate Mobile features are 100% available for free to their subscribers. Available on the iPhone and Android. Non-paying members of JDate can download the app for free, but have limited access to JDate Mobile.
Christian Cafe - With over 400 new sign ups daily, Christian Cafe is now available for iPhone users. Their iPhone mobile dating app is fully integrated with their website and singles can sign up for a free trial, create a basic dating profile, search, see who is online in your area and communicate via email and winks. They are presently in development with their Android app.
Do you have a favorite mobile dating app that you’d like to share with us? We’d like to hear from you.
For a printable version, please click here>>>
iDate 2010 Update – The Internet Dating Conference
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.
Zoosk TV Interview with Online Dating Expert Julie Spira – Part Two
In Part Two of my Interview series by Social Dating site Zoosk, I share my tips for creating your irresistible online dating profile and talk about the future of mobile dating.
Click here for Zoosk Interview, Part One>>>
Get Your Cyber-Dating Expert iPhone App
We’ve been counting the days and hours at Cyber-Dating Expert Headquarters for the approval and release of our iPhone appfrom Apple. Today, we received the good news from Mobile Roadie. Our app was added today for iPhone users around the world to enjoy.
With our iPhone and Android apps, users can now share their online dating stories, listen to live streaming of Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show and even get the chance to read sample chapters from the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online.
Download the app now for dating advice in a Web 2.0 World.
**If you are interested in getting your own mobile app, go to MobileRoadie.com/ref/SMAM. Put SMAM as the referral code and receive 10% off your initial fee.
Welcome to the Cyber-Dating Expert Android App
It’s with great excitement and enthusiasm to announce the Android mobile app for Cyber-Dating Expert.
If you have a Droid phone, click here to download the app for free.
With the new Cyber-Dating Expert mobile application, you will be able to read two free chapters of The Perils of Cyber-Dating, receive dating advice, listen live to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show, and receive expert online dating tips and advice. Don’t forget to share your personal online dating stories to get featured in the Cyber Love Story of the Week and the Peril of the Week.
We’re excited to share our new app with you and welcome your feedback.
Click here to download the dating expert application
Welcome to dating in a Web 2.0 World.
Welcome to New York – Dating Advice in a Web 2.0 World
I’m filled with excitement as I prepare for the first-ever dating panel at the 140 Characters Conference in New York, which will be held at the 92nd Street Y. Conference organizer and creator Jeff Pulver has been working around the clock to make this the best social media event ever. There will be over 180 people speaking in 76 sessions on one stage.
On the flight from Los Angeles to New York, I had the chance to read part of Andrea Syrtash’s new book, He’s Just Not Your Type (And That’s A Good Thing) (Rodale) due out next week. Andrea will be a panelist in Wednesday, April 20th at 11:30am and will be signing copies of her book in the Schmooze Lounge from 12:00pm – 1:00pm in advance of it’s release, so don’t miss it. She’ll also be the featured guest on Saturday on Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show at 1:00pm/Eastern Time.
I’m looking forward to seeing my co-panelist Tom Miller, General Manager of Your Tango. Our panel: Experiencing: Love, Dating and Romance in the Real-Time web is scheduled for 8:45am on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. I promise you it will be worth getting up early for. I’ll be talking about the changes in online dating since I created my first Internet dating profile 16 years ago and the effects of the real-time web in how we date and relate. I’ll toss in some dating advice, success couples, and where I believe we are heading with mobile dating and more.
After our panel, I will be signing copies of my book The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online in the Schmooze Lounge from 10:00am-10:45am. I hope to see you there!
Other authors who will be signing copies of their books include: John Kremer, Hank Wasiak, Melinda Emerson, Jonathan Maberry, Michael Tasner.
For a complete schedule of times visit the 140 Conference site.
If you can’t make it to the event, it will be streamed live on UStream at http://www.ustream.tv/nyc140conf. The hashtag for the event is #140conf.
The excitement will continue past the 140 Conference. On Thursday, I will be a guest on WPIX TV, channel 11 in New York in a segment with Tamsen Fadal. I will be talking about Cyber Dating Safety at 6:45am. I hope you tune in to watch.
On Thursday, several of the 140 Conference speakers will be attending the Broadway performance of Kelsey Grammer, now starring as Georges in the revival of La Cage aux Folles and we’ll be going back stage afterwards.
If this isn’t enough excitement, I’ll be back in New York again in May for Book Expo America where I will be speaking at the New York Public Library on May 25, 2010 and signing books at BEA -10 on May 26, 2010.
If you haven’t signed up yet for the 140 Conference, visit their site for tickets. Two-day passes are SOLD OUT, but you can still attend on Tuesday. For media inquiries visit CyberDatingExpert.com/contact
SKOUT Mobile Dating on Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show
Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert
Listen to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show where we talked about the hot topic of Mobile Dating with SKOUT’s CEO, Christian Wiklund.
SKOUT originally started as a social networking application and became the first iPhone social dating application. Marie Claire magazine named SKOUT their favorite iPhone dating application.
Find out who the mobile dating users are and how over 50% of iPhone dating users met their sweethearts using location based dating services.
Learn more about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World.
Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show Featuring SKOUT
Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert
Join Cyber-Dating Expert, Julie Spira as she welcomes Christian Wiklund, CEO of SKOUT to Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert Radio Show.
SKOUT is a social dating service which allows you to browse singles, flirt, chat, and meet in real life. Their location based service is growing in popularity as mobile and GPS based services are expanding worldwide.
Find out more about real-time mobile dating on Saturday, February 20, 2010. Call in at 646–929-0012 to find out more about dating, love & romance in a Web 2.0 World.
Facebook
GooglePlus
Twitter
LinkedIn
