This week’s Cyber Love Story of the Week is one where I’m proud to share, as I’ve known Tammye for over a year. Find out how an online flirt, initiated by Tammye, followed by her cancelling the date, eventually led to a marriage proposal. Here’s the story of Tammye and Scott.

He Said:

I had been dating online for about a year. If there was no connection, I just moved on. Most profiles and pictures were a lie and I was ready to give up on the entire process. I have never been one to go to bars, so dating online was my only real option. I had put a 25 mile limit on my search radius. Somehow Tammye came up within that search. She sent me a flirt. Tammye was 25.9 miles away, although she was just outside my criteria, I was impressed by her profile. She was articulate and I liked that. I answered the flirt. We set up plans to meet for coffee. Tammye cancelled [I still swear that she said due to a spider bite on her face]. That was my final straw … I was done. I was frustrated with the whole online dating thing, but Tammye and I remained Facebook friends. I watched her posts and the events she attended, she captured my attention. In one of her posts, she mentioned Italian food, I told her about a great spot for real Sicilian lasagna, and Tammye said “All you have to do is ask”. The date was set, June 15^th at 6:30pm. She was late, one of my pet peeves. I ordered for her.  She texted me when she arrived in the parking lot and I went out to meet her. As I waited to greet her, in my mind I saw her float above the ground, wearing a long white dress [come to find out it was a short black & white polka dot one] it was as if I had known her all my life.

I knew the moment I saw her I had found the one, I proposed on December 30, 2010. She said ‘Yes’ ~ three times. I never want to be without her. We have everything in common. She is my life mate.

She Said:

In December of 2009, out of sheer frustration, I joined an online dating site. I had just set up my Facebook account and one of their sister sites was Zoosk. I was dutiful and filled out the questionnaire, trying to be thorough yet interesting. Just let me say, you have to go through a lot of frogs before you find you find your prince. Having deleted my way through a few dozen or so gentlemen, and I use that term loosely, there was only one man that stood out, Scott. I was very hesitant, but we made plans to meet for coffee. Call it a mid-life crisis, but at the time I was determined to experience all those things that I didn’t have time for or money for in the past. I had recently taken up Kick boxing lessons, and a few days prior to our meeting, I took a punch to the eye. A swollen, black-purple-and-blue eyeball never makes a good first impression, so I cancelled. Scott and I never rescheduled the coffee meet up, however we remained Facebook friends for 6 months. In May of 2010, having found out it was my birthday, Scott invited me to dinner. We made plans to meet once again. This time the date was kept. We have been inseparable ever since. He means absolutely everything to me.

Scott and I just celebrated our one year anniversary; we are engaged and will be wed in March 2012. You really can find love online!

Congratulations to Tammye and Scott, our Cyber Love Story of the Week.

Do you have an online dating story to share?

Julie Spira is the author of the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online. Visit CyberDatingExpert.com for online dating advice and to share your online dating stories. Follow Julie on twitter @JulieSpira and at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert

You may have a high IQ and a smile that makes guys hearts melt, but what happens when your attachment to your mobile phone ranks higher on the totem pole than your date? As July marks National Cell Phone Courtesy Month, it’s time to pause and take notice on how discourteous we’ve become as we continue to spend the majority of our time attached to our smart phones.

According to the International Telecommunications Union, there are an estimated 5.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide and the number is growing. In addition, 6.1 trillion SMS messages were sent in 2010. It’s no wonder with these numbers that cell phone etiquette, or in reality netiquette is on the decline.

So how does this enormous mobile phone usage affect matters of the heart?

In a recent survey on the relationship between cell phones and dating, social dating community Zoosk found out their members were extremely frustrated as they constantly competed with cell phones on a date. In short, daters are regularly breaking the rules of netiquette in a variety of ways with glancing at their cell phones during a date leading the list.

Alex Mehr, co-founder and co-CEO of Zoosk said,  ”We are surprised to hear that flagrantly reckless cell phone behavior has driven one third of singles to actually get up and excuse themselves from a date altogether. It’s our hope that singles follow proper cell phone etiquette to ensure that a mobile faux pas doesn’t ‘cell’ their date short.”

I’m personally not surprised in the least by their findings, as I’ve gone on record as saying, “Your mobile phone isn’t an accessory.” I believe that unless you’re expecting a call from the President of the United States or a kidney transplant, your should leave it in your purse or pocket while on a date.

So without further digital adieu, here are some of the results of Zoosk survey.

• 1/3 of singles say they left a date early, because the other person was too absorbed with their cell phone
• 86% of singles say, constantly glancing at a cell phone is the  most offensive mobile-related  behavior, worse than sending a text
• 51% of singles think taking a call on a date is offensive
• 25% of female Zooskers have dumped their guy in a text message, as compared to 15% of the men
• Only 25% of singles didn’t mind when their date was distracted by their cell phone
• 73% of singles do like hearing their date’s voice on their voicemail

At the end of the digital day, leave a voicemail message for your sweetheart and make sure they remain higher on the totem pole than your mobile device.

Do you have any mobile dating pet peeves? Comments and thoughts are welcome

Julie Spira is an online dating expert and coach and creates irresistible profiles for singles on the dating scene. She’s the author of the bestseller, The Perils of Cyber-Dating. Visit her at CyberDatingExpert.com, like her at facebook.com/cyberdatingexpert and follow her on twitter @JulieSpira

We’ve become so attached to our SmartPhones, but has text messaging actually replaced calling and hearing the human voice? According to a Zoosk Holiday poll of 1000 singles in the U.S., the answer is yes.

43%  say that text messaging indeed has become their preferred form of communication. 27% of Singles polled said they still prefer the more traditional phone call, while 14% of singles prefer to communicate via Facebook. Twitter got a thumbs down with 0% preferring to communicate in 140 characters or less.

As Zooskers looked ahead to 2011, the good news is that love will be very much in style. 77% of the singles polled said they had a good feeling they would meet that someone special in the coming year. Chances are they will meet while looking for love online.

What’s the sexiest gadget to catch up on your reading? I was pleased to see the answer was a traditionally published book. Over half of the singles polled preferred an actual book over the Kindle, iPad, Nook, or Sony Reader.

How sexy is your Smartphone? 34% of those polled said the iPhone still ranks as number one, but Android is close behind. Blackberry came in at number 3.

Visit social dating site Zoosk for complete results of their survey with the best and worst trends during 2010. As always we wish you lots of love and happiness this holiday season. If you need some handholding with your dating, we help singles create their Irresistible online dating profiles.

Our friends at social dating site Zoosk have created a new scientific matching system called, ZSMS.

If you’re already a member of Zoosk, you’ve probably noticed they are sending Scientific Matches already to your InBox. It’s a great way for your to see who you might have romantic chemistry with, but you need to respond quickly as your ZSMS match will expire in 24-hours.

I encourage you to follow up with these leads and see what the possibilities are. Who knows? You might end up featured in our Cyber Love Story of the Week.

For details on how ZSMS and scientific matching works, check out their video below.

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>>>

My friends over at social dating community Zoosk surveyed their members this month to learn more about the relationship between money and dating during the present economic climate. The good news for men is, if you’re unemployed, more women will want to date you than a year ago.

According to the study, 60% of women said they’d date someone unemployed. Compared to 52% in 2009, women are now adjusting their expectations in the available dating pool.

The study also revealed that 90% of men said they’d date someone unemployed. Is it still only about looks for men?

So how are these online daters spending their money? The Zoosk study says that 90% of men say they usually pick up the tab on a date. It also appears men are spending more money on the average date than they did a year ago.The women on the other hand, are spending less than they did a year ago.

More singles are taking advantage of free activities than a year ago.

Should you tell your date you are unemployed? According to Zooskers, the answer is yes. 83% of men and 93% of women agree that if you’re out of work, you should reveal it right away.

Has the economy affected the ways that you date? Are you attending more free events? Let us know your thoughts. Comments are always appreciated.

Julie Spira is an online dating expert and dating coach. She is the author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online. Visit her at CyberDatingExpert.com

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.

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>>>

Writing about dating, love and romance in a Web 2.0 World is a passion of mine. Giving hope to singles with an email address that they can successful find love online has become my mission and calling. Experiencing the real time web through social networking, mobile apps, facebook apps, and reconnecting with high school sweethearts and long lost friends while meeting new ones IRL has changed the world we live in, mostly for the good.

When my friends at  Zoosk asked me to be their first dating expert to be featured in ZooskTV’s new interview series, I was more than flattered. The Zoosk team came to my home, and I had the opportunity to meet my virtual friends and talk about one of my favorite subjects, how to use the real time web to find love and friendship online.

ZOOSK now has over 1 million fans on their Facebook Page and their social dating app is used by over 50 million people around the world.

View the video for dating and relationship advice and some personal thoughts of my own. Comments are always welcome. Thank you Zoosk for helping me spread my message to your vast universe of members.

ZooskTV Interviews Online Dating Expert Julie Spira

Visit the Zoosk blog for more>>>

Zoosk, the world’s largest social dating community, just released their Single’s Survival Guide to Holiday Dating.

The FREE Guide includes tips from myself along with two other relationship experts, gift giving ideas, online dating holiday trends, and more dating tips for the holiday season.

Their study showed that the majority of singles wanted to couple-up during the holidays and were looking for a long-term relationship.

Their survey found:

• This holiday season, 63% of singles are looking for long-term true love, 33% of singles are just looking for a holiday party date and 4% feel it’s too stressful to date during the holidays.
• Surprisingly, 19% of men say they would invite a woman to their office holiday party as a first date. Only 10% of women are this daring.
• The most desired gift is a hug or a kiss.

For more information, download your free guide at http://www.zoosk.com/survivalguide.php.