There are few things more romantic than sharing the first kiss of the New Year with someone you love (or someone you really, really like), so it’s no surprise that dating sites see a boost in memberships just before the end of the year. According to LimeLife.com, dating sites like OKCupid, Match.com, and eHarmony experience a lift of about 10 – 15% in traffic in the last days of the year.

“New Year’s Eve is such a big deal because it’s a new beginning,” said Whitney Casey, a relationship expert for Match.com, who added that the site’s busiest time runs from the day after Christmas to Valentine’s Day.

We’d love to know what the results are of these membership hikes… do people find a date for New Years? Do they find love? Or does waiting till the last minute (just like procrastinating on anything) just end in disappointment?

According to TVLine, this video is a “leaked” clip of one character’s online dating video profile, and based on the clip, we can bet that this character is unbearably fun to watch. Check it out:

via virilemag

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this week is National Pet Peeves Week, which is funny because my pet peeves exist all damn year long. However, along with things like “people chewing loudly” and “one-uppers,” and “text messages with numbers in them,” people also have pet peeves about dating!

To celebrate this irksome holiday, dating site Zoosk asked 1500 of its members what some of their biggest pet peeves were, and shared them with the world via PR Newswire, so we could all make sure not to do (too many of) them on our next dates! From the press release:

Women say their #1 first date pet peeve is when their date is “smelly.”

• Women want you (and your breath) to smell nice! Single women ranked their top pet peeves on a first date as follows:
  • #1 pet peeve – when my date is smelly (45%)
  • #2 pet peeve – when my date is “too occupied with a cell phone” (22%)
  • #3 pet peeve – when my date is running late (13%)
  • #4 pet peeve – when my date talks about himself too much (5%)
  • #5 pet peeve – when my date peppers me with questions and treats the date like a job interview (5%)

Men say their #1 first date pet peeve is when a date is “too occupied with a cell phone.”

• Turn off the phone and put on deodorant! Single men ranked their top pet peeves on a first date as follows:
  • #1 pet peeve – when my date is “too occupied with a cell phone” (51%)
  • #2 pet peeve – when my date is smelly (21%)
  • #3 pet peeve – when my date is running late (10%)
  • #4 pet peeve – when my date peppers me with questions and treats the date like a job interview (7%)
  • #5 pet peeve – when my date is wearing too much makeup (7%)

Who knew there were so many things that bothered people? Well, honestly, probably everyone. But it’s interesting to see the differences between things that bug women on dates and things that get under the guys’ skins! It makes sense though, women do tend to be a bit more attached to their phones, and women are probably much more sensitive to their dates’ hygiene. PR Newswire shares more of singles’ pet peeves, and whether or not people can get past them!) at the source.

What do you think? Do you have any pet peeves that will make or break a date? Or are you more forgiving? Let us know in the comments!

img via brown.edu

Just like a Christmas dinner with family, it seems as though politics are off-limits in the online dating world too!

According to the GlobeandMail, a recent study that looked at a random sample of 2,944 online dating profiles found that people are more likely to admit they are overweight than mention their politics! Surprising, no? Although 17 percent of the daters called their body types “stocky” or having “a few extra pounds,” only 14 percent of the singles stated their political interests, and of those, a whopping 57 percent answered with the very humdrum “middle of the road.”

The percentage got even smaller when it came to women and the less educated. So, what’s the deal? Do people really not care about politics when it comes to finding a mate? Not so – as the study pointed to an early survey which showed that married couples share political opinions more than anything else except religion.

From the researchers:

“At some point in the dating process we somehow filter out people who do not share our political preferences,” one of the study authors said in a release.

“Our best guess is that in the short-run most people want to cast as wide a net as possible when dating. However, in the long-run shared political preferences become a critical foundation of lasting relationships, despite the fact that many Americans are not even interested in politics.”

We at DatePro guess that another reason behind peoples’ shyness is that (as the researchers noted) Americans tend to be less knowledgeable about politics, and don’t want to run the risk of getting into a debate about a subject they are pretty ignorant about. Sure, you might call yourself a liberal or a die-hard republican, but you may not really know the implications behind that if you happened to be on a date with a political science major.

What do you think? Do you mention your politics on dating sites? Or do you think that politics are something to be brought up later in life? Why do you think people steer clear of their politics at first? Let us know in the comments!

Anyway, her article raises an interesting question that is shockingly under-analyzed: what role does Facebook play in modern relationships? We’ve already discussed the fact that it can be the demise of a relationship and that it is now cited in 33% of divorce case hearings, but on the other hand, can it be the grounds for a new relationship?

Tobi’s article talks about the pleasantries of sharing your relationship openly through photos and public postings on peoples’ walls, and the ease of chatting and messaging while in the midst of a busy lifestyle. However, the relationship she uses as an example is between two Christian young adults who met at a music festival and then communicated via Facebook until moving near each other and then getting married two months later. This, of course, is not how most secular relationships work out. People want to know they are sexually compatible and usually live together for months before tying the knot. In such cases as that, carrying on a relationship via Facebook might not be the best way to forge a bond.

We would say that although Facebook permeates every corner of our lives these days, starting a relationships via the social networking site might not give couples the opportunity to create the real in-person bond that a relationships needs. How does online dating differ? Its main purpose is to create offline connections. One could potentially carry on a relationship on Facebook for months just by interacting via commenting and chatting (and that’s where the married folk get in trouble).

What do you think? Is Facebook a viable platform to meet and court a new mate? Or should new relationships take place face-to-face?

In Jenni’s words:

Much like hacking together robots out of cell phones and vacuum cleaners, Tim applies open source and hacker philosophy to marriage as he puts together unexpected pieces in order to build his new life.  LOVE HACKING is a contemporary love story where Mormons and Hindus come together in a journey of faith, technology, and marriage.

Sounds pretty interesting, huh? Check out the preview below, and if you are compelled to, go to her Kickstarter page and donate to help!

We were recently intrigued by an article about a young man named J.T. Tran, an Asian Yale student who began running seminars to help shy Asian kids learn how to pick up women. Specifically, “white and other non-asian women.” According to the article, he charges $1500 dollars for the seminars… over a grand for a lecture lead by a guy who claimed one of his inspirations was the horrible show “The Pick Up Artist”? Yikes.

It lead us to wonder how many young guys truly believe that all you need is lessons from a self-absorbed d-bag to learn how to hit it off with women… if these guys genuinely believe that “seduction” can be taught.

It seems that yes, they do, because we just learned today that Apple is offering a new app in their store called “TigerMe,” which offers dating tips, seduction advice, and other information for the awkward dude who just can’t seem to master the art of talking to a female. The app, which has everything from step-by-step flirting guides to first date quizzes, will set its user back a hefty $50, which leads us to believe that this whole “Pick Up Artist” trend, like every other, is just a skeezy attempt to take advantage of men who have everything to lose.

As a woman, I can say that I would LOVE for some step-by-step manual to come along that would teach all the sweet, shy guys out there how to talk to women. But honestly, I don’t think that can or ever will exist. Men, like young tigers (if we’re going with that theme), need to be pushed out and forced to figure it out on their own, not given cookie-cutter advice that basically tells them to turn themselves into jerks.

If you try the TigerMe app, let us know how it goes! Did it work? Do you feel more confident around women or was it a joke? Prove us wrong or prove us right!

via menmarried

In a revealing post at TechCrunch, author Sarah Lacy tells the story of Ibrahim Boakye, a young man in Lagos, Nigeria, and others like him, who have taken to scamming lonely American men out of money by pretending to be women on dating sites.

The article discusses Ibrahim’s innate knack for anything mechanical: fixing appliances, putting together computers, and coding, for example. As the internet began to flourish in his region of Africa, Ibrahim was swept up in the nation’s “419 letter scam” generation and became one of the best coders in the business known as the “Yahoo boys.” Once internet companies made it more difficult for 419 scammers, by restricting mass e-mails, for example, the Yahoo boys had to find a new way to continue the cash flow they had become accustomed to:  thus came online dating scams.

According to Lacy, the elaborate dating schemes usually hone in on single men looking for mail-order brides or married fathers looking for a fling on the side. The Yahoo boys carry on relationships with men they meet on dating sites, up to 6 or 7 at a time, and once the man trusts them enough, begin asking for money. It’s a difficult job, say the scammers, not nearly as quick and easy at the 419 scams of the past. The relationships they forge with these men last months, and the men genuinely fall for the “women” that the Yahoo boys concoct. So what’s the point of this story? Two words: BE. CAREFUL. It’s often implied that those that fall for online dating scams are dumb, lonely, desperate goons. But as the Yahoo boys and scammers like them hone their craft (i.e. hiring models to pose for photos and video), it will undoubtedly become more and more difficult to decipher who is real and who is fake on the internet.

Check these signs if you believe someone you are talking  to on the internet may be scammer, and remember, always go with your gut feeling… if it feels to good to be true, it probably is!

In the recent weeks, Google and Apple have been under intense scrutiny over rumors that their phones have been tracking exactly where their users go. People are supremely concerned that their privacy (in a world where that is fairly limited) has come under attack, this time not by the government, but by the phones they adore so much. According to both companies, there is nothing to worry about, but it is a convenient time to bring up how this relates to online dating…

With location based services such as Meetic and MeetMoi, users are specifically lowering the walls of privacy that online dating has always sought to keep up. The companies’ business plan is simple – help people who frequent the same places meet, and hopefully spark a connection. Most of these companies claim that mobile date services are used far more to “flirt” than to find long term relationships. Like the extremely popular Grindr app, which locates nearby gays and allows them to chat and/or meet up,  it seems as if it’s only a matter of time before these services become mainstream in the straight community.

However, are these services posing a danger to unsuspecting users? Possibly – with the recent sexual assault on a woman by a date she met on Match.com, location-based services are taking measures to ensure that their services don’t make that same situation possible. One app, called FlirtMaps, only hones in on a one-kilometer radius, unless a user decides to reveal their exact coordinates. Other companies are considering only showing where men are on the app, and then allowing women to reveal themselves once they feel comfortable.

The idea is fun, sexy, and progressive, but we hope location-based mobile dating services take into account the weirdos out there, and let’s be honest- there are a lot of them.

Via Bloomberg

via whoanelly-knelson

This is the first time that I’ve wanted a one line post: YES. YES, A MILLION TIMES YES.

But I will elaborate. According to OnlineDatingInsider, the company Amivox wants to capitalize on the tech-age of break ups. About “Shout,” their break up app, they say,

We think that people who break up via SMS are coward and weak.

After a relationship, the least you can do is to communicate clearly and with a loud voice the reason why you are breaking up. Don’t hide behind a lame text message…

Now, with Amivox, you can break up many times a week with a loud and clear voice! All you need to do is to get our Android app, record your voice message and send it to your (former) partner as a Shout.

Right away, your partner will receive a call with your caller id, and your Break Up message will be played upon answer.

And what’s even better: after the message has been played, your partner can speak back a message that you will receive as a call. This way, it will be much easier for you to take your partner’s “go to hell” response.

First of all – a bit of research showed that yes- the company is based in the Scandinavian region, which explains why the grammar sounds a little off.

However, we don’t really understand how a shouted, uninterruptable message is any different than a text. Especially with how easy it would be to just delete or not answer “your partner’s ‘go to hell.’” We’re pretty sure that based on David Evans’ tone over at ODI that he shares our opinion on the matter, but that doesn’t stop us from being surprised that a legitimate company out of three countries overseas would come up with such an atrocious idea.

Looks like it’s true – the age of great ideas really is coming to an end. Yikes.

What do you think? Is there a difference between getting broken up with via text and getting dumped in a voicemail?