The future of online dating services — do we dare ponder?

While doing some research on online dating services I came across a statistic that stated that Hitwise has estimated there are 800-plus dating services in the U.S. A lot of them are affiliate sites that are driving traffic to the main dating sites but over all the number is in that range for total sites available. 

With that many sites what are some of the newer technologies that are going to help the better sites stand out from the rest? 

With all of the video and friend based free sites out there what do internet based dating sites have to do to stand apart in order to make it?

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One trend is the free online dating services sites that have been popping up. Years past you always had to pay a fee whether the agency was a store front or online.  Now there are quite a few sites that are free to their users but charge for advertising space in order to make money. 

That bodes well for their members because that makes these online dating services more task specific and stand out among all of those free friend based sites.  Because they are online dating services they also help a person to find a love match rather than just a friend.

In an online interview with Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com he stated that some of the newer technologies that are being used with regards to online dating services include the use of avatar-based instant messaging.  Another emerging technology is iovation, which helps online dating sites battle fraud. With iovation’s Reputation Manager, a dating site can mark a person as being abusive and throw them out of the site.  In addition, they can then notify other online dating services about this person and keep them from abusing another site.

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As someone who is an avid fan of instant messaging I can completely see where IM could be a very useful tool for online dating services.  Allowing its members to communicate in such a safe and easy way is good for building relationships and clientele. 

Another amazing factor is that targeting the correct demographic you are looking for is also no longer an obstacle.  Whether you are looking to date an Asian man of a certain age or you are venturing on dating African women, the ways in which you can search for these groups is just astounding.

Another development is the expectation that niche sites for specific interests will continue to grow. One example of these types of sites is bbwpersonalsplus (MoretoLove.com), a site dedicated to plus size dating.  Groups that center around specific interests or preferences are sure to proliferate.

People can “hook up” while on the dating service if they have seen each others profiles and find they are on at the same time.  Easy to use, productive and cutting edge technologies are becoming available for the online dating services space. 

It seems like “2.0” is a suffix we can use for anything! here comes Online Dating 2.0!

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