I was browsing around a website earlier today and the page I was on contained a link to some video. While the video I was hoping to see was downloading, an advertisement started playing. It was an ad for Ashley Madison, the online dating service for married people. I’m not one who’s easily shocked, but for some reason I thought this ad was just a wee bit over the top.
What are you’re thoughts?
Mac
The wicked winter weather has not been kind to retailers and restaurants over the past few weeks. When the weather gets as nasty as it’s been, people are inclined to stay inside and stay cozy.
One industry that’s seen a boom over the past few weeks has been online dating sites. If you haven’t seen the news, Great Britain was slammed with snow and icy weather last week which has made it difficult for many Brits to get back and forth to work. For many of those single Brits, their time spent housebound has led to a huge increase in online dating.
According to a BBC article, UK singles are hitting two large British dating sites in record numbers. Without wanting to plagiarize, I want to quote directly from that article:
“Mysinglefriend.com says visitors to its website soared by 55% on Tuesday alone, with its busiest time coming at 1500 rather than the traditional 2200.
Meanwhile rival site Singles365.com says its visitor numbers grew 27% across Tuesday and Wednesday compared with a year ago.”
Great news for these two sites, with heavy traffic coming in the middle of the afternoon (1500) as opposed to the traditional surge that’s seen late in the evening (2200). The only downside to this surge is of these UK Singles are stuck inside their own homes, so it could be awhile before they get to meet up on that first date with their desired match.
That’s it for today, stay warm,
Mac
Here’s an article from the Washington Post that got me thinking a bit. I’m not sure if I actually grasp the entire concept, but it just goes to show how accepting the younger public is starting to become about meeting people through non-traditional methods.
Online dating site Skout conducted a survey of their existing members to see how accepting their members would be in meeting up with people they found through their mobile application, which runs as an application off of the iPhone. They surveyed 1000 members between the ages of 20-30 and the results were quite eye-opening.
51 percent of the consumers surveyed have met another single person in the Real World that they initiated contact with on their iPhone. Also, almost 70 percent of the respondents indicated that they felt comfortable meeting up with someone they found using their smart phone at some point in the future.
With all the concerns about the safety factors involved in meeting other singles online, these Skout members seem almost cavalier in their approach to meeting other singles.
One point that can’t be ignored from this article is the growing dependence we continue to place on our mobile phone, especially in the under 30 crowd. It’s used for everything, and many sites are going to need to find a way to cater to this growing segment of the dating community.
Would you be interested in meeting someone you found using a mobile application that alerts you to possible matches in your area , or would you still feel more comfortable relying on the “traditional” method of going online and doing a little more research?
I’m curious to know your thoughts on this one?
Mac