Matchmaking Service

Chemistry.com, a subsidiary of Match.com’s parent company IAC (NASDAQ: IACI), announced the results of a study by their chief scientific advisor Dr. Helen Fisher. Her study was able to show a connection between increased sexual activity and successful problem-solving, increased confidence and greater teamwork. While that may all sound like common sense, Dr. Fisher was able to explain the chemistry of the phenomenon.

Here are the results of Dr. Fisher’s study:

• Problem-solving - When humans have sex, there is a release of the chemical dopamine, and dopamine increases human creativity. Dr. Fisher concludes that those who have more sex would therefore have more creativity, allowing them to come up with new ideas to help them solve problems.
• Teamwork - After having sex, men and women recieve a chemical boost of oxytocin and vasopressin, these chemicals increase trust, calm, and attachment. With the increased levels of oxytocin and vasopressin, humans having more sex are also more likely to feel cooperative and agreeable, these traits are important in any business environment.
• Confidence - Human sexual activity also increases testosterone. The testosterone chemical increases competence, self-confidence and well-being. In larger doses, testosterone also triggers feelings of competitiveness, which is an important trait in the workplace.

Dr. Helen Fisher also stated:

“In addition to being great exercise and a stress reliever, sex triggers the release of a number of valuable brain chemicals. From improved problem-solving as a result of heightened dopamine levels, to enhanced teamwork skills due to a flood of oxytocin — there are a number of positive benefits which can improve performance in the workplace.”

The implications of this survey are numerous. Firstly, it gives dating websites such as chemistry.com an impetus, as they can now inform potential customers that there is a financial benefit to having a romantic relationship. Secondly, employers have yet another reason to focus on hiring individuals in a stable romantic relationship. Thirdly,  the chemical explanation behind the long known fact that sexual activity has positive effects on individuals’ working behavior has been revealed.

This was the result of the Doctor’s intensive survey involving 40,000 people. Roughly 56 percent were women and the average age of survey participants was 37 years old.

Match.com decided to acquire People Media, which runs such websites as BlackPeopleMeet.com, SingleParentMeet.com, SeniorPeopleMeet.com, BBPeopleMeet.com and LDSPlanet.com, with over 250,000 paying subscribers. Their 2008 EBITDA was $11.6 million dollars.

The Chief Executive Officer at Match.com, Greg Blatt stated:

“It’s clear that some people are drawn to online communities defined by their own demographic characteristics, and , and his team have done a tremendous job of developing and operating those communities. We believe People Media’s momentum will continue, and that the combination of Match.com and People Media can accelerate each business’ current growth trends in a variety of ways, including through the sharing of product development and online marketing expertise and the ability to market a broader array of services to the combined customer base, thereby improving customer acquisition economics for both companies.”

Josh Meyers, Chief Executive at People Media, announced:

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Match.com,”"People Media is already the leader in targeted dating, and by combining with Match.com we will accelerate our growth and cement our market leadership position in this segment.”

IAC, the parent company of Match.com, will pay $80 million to acquire People Media and their respective websites. It would take well over 7 years to earn that back, at the current EBITDA of $11 million. This assumes taxes don’t get worse, and that business continues to grow rather than shrink.

Decided to revamp this dating website, redesigning, adding new features, and will be covering a wider variety of issues in the internet dating services industry. Look for more of the latest dating news, matchmaking website issues, relationship advice, and anything else relevant to internet matchmaking.

Also hoping to allow more user input on the various dating services. It can be tough to institute user reviews and the like due to both spammers, as well as corporate spies planting favorable reviews for themselves. I’ll be working on a better system to evaluate the responses before trying it out again.

Match.com has begun to add sections onto it’s site, where it quite literally speculates, “Match.com estimates it has inspired millions of relationships. Millions of members. Hundreds of thousands of new relationships.” Even the biggest online matchmaking service sites only put out numbers like “30-40 marriages a year” or something small like that, so with that in mind, Match.com has gone out on a leap. Perhaps it is finally time that a matchmaking service has done so, as many people ARE getting married from online dating services, and don’t report it. Actually a majority of online daters probably don’t report their marriage that resulted from an online matchmaking service, dare I say, very few do. This is not because they are ungrateful, but simply because they either forgot, or just didn’t think it was all that important. Or perhaps they didn’t want to be dragged onto some TV infomercial (in case that’s one of you out there, don’t hesitate they do pay those people quite a bit of money, I imagine), back on topic though, Match is becoming the first to guestimate the actual impact the matchmaking website is having on creating relationships. It’s probably only a matter of time before we can expect others to follow suit.

Studies have shown that tech-savvy users who are applying technology to enhance their long distance relationships, last longer. That is to say, a long distance couple that use, say a video phone, stay together longer, than a couple who use just a telephone, or a couple who use a phone last longer than those who just send e-mail. Those who frequently send e-mail, last longer than those who just send occasional snail mail. The internet has allowed for more meaningful relationships between people seperated by thousands of miles or oceans apart. Technology has helped online dating and matchmaking services bridge the gap between people miles away, bringing cultures and people together in a meaningful way.

There are bonuses and disadvantages to just about everything.

The most significant advantages of using an online matchmaking service are:

• Convenience.

There really is no more convenient way to find a new dating partner, unless you have your own personal matchmaker.

Then for the hidden matchmaking service bonus:

• Mental connection

The only thing you have to go by when dating online, often times, will be a sometimes exaggerated picture, so physical looks is not a huge factor to start with. This means the time you do spend talking before meeting, is time learning each other’s personality. Keep in mind, many things in the online dating world may be exaggerations or even fibs.  As long as you remember that, you can get a good idea of their mind. Now for the biggest drawback:

• Physical connection

This is why it is imperative to meet before any significant attachment is built up. Even if your minds link up perfectly, if there is no chemistry it can be a tough relationship. So online dating, if used to merely screen dates for the right personality, can be a great way of meeting new, fun, people. Then if you connect physically, you’ve just found your perfect match! In all seriousness, for many guys, in person looks are everything, but when that aspect is hidden, we actually find it easier to link up. For good looking people, this could mean someone liking you for more than your body. A great analogy is a rich man who doesn’t want to share the fact that he is rich, because then he cannot know if his potential dates like him or just his money.

Let’s face it: most people either exaggerate their profiles for online dating, or in some cases the opposite and hide their truly good characteristics. Don’t let that discourage you! Just keep in mind that the picture might be very-very well taken, or a really good looking person is diminished by less good looking ones that take great pictures! Of course, appearance isn’t everything, but it’s amazing how some people take amazing pictures that make them look better than they really are and some take pictures that make them look much worse than they are. Joking aside, if you just take a bit of a skeptic eye to each profile, online dating is a great experience. First, don’t get too attached too early, and don’t just scope out for one date, look at many different potential dates, and give them all a try, until you find one that interests you.

With the right attitude, the right bit of skepticism until trust is earned, online dating can be a great tool to help you find new love in your life.

A recent TV news magazine show recently reported a survey of what men want in a woman. The answers were divided between beauty (48%), brains (36%) and a combination of both (16%).

Maybe not surprising, but interesting to note is that very few picked the combination. Guess it’s good to be one or the other! Of course it depends how the survey was conducted, but I don’t think it should be a surprise that most men picked beauty, while a sizeable minority declared brains to be more important.

According to the National Sex Survey, only 1% of married women said they had an affair in the past year compared to 8% of cohabiting women. Among men, 4% are unfaithful husbands vs. 16% who cohabit. That means the risk is nearly 4 times as much for cohabiting men, and 8 times as much for cohabiting women, than for their married counterparts.

Which is odd, considering marriage is just a piece of paper. After all, marriage is merely a ceremony that represents sex, the union of two people. So indeed cohabiting individuals are “married” in the sense that they have joined flesh, but yet are in denial of any real commitment to which they have to hold to. And so, infidelity is more common as is separation.

Yet the breakup of cohabiting individuals is just as painful as divorce, it is like ripping that flesh apart from each other.

This is why it’s important to line out your marriage stance with your partner, whether or not you need a lavish ceremony, the moment you begin “living” together, and join flesh, you have all the same pains and joys of marriage, just without a legal agreement to stay commited to one another that society can help enforce.

It’s good to find out the marriage stance of a potential mate, to avoid one who is not ready for the ceremony, yet ready for the thing it represents, without any of the commitment.

Knowing when to quit. You see, if you are feeling frustrated to the point of desiring to be with someone else, the honorable thing to do is to break up, leave the other person. Communicate the frustration with your mate. Cheating is usually the result of cowardice, an unwillingness to express that frustration or anger with the other person.

Part of the problem lies with our current societal norm of casual sex. Marriage, after all, is merely a ceremony that represents sex, the joining of two people. The piece of paper means nothing. What it symbolizes is commitment to each other after joining together. Since sex is commonplace, dating ITSELF has become marriage. A vast majority of American daters instantly expect an exclusive relationship from the moment they start dating. This is why most people don’t even see the point in marriage, because they have unknowingly already made that commitment to stay with each other from day one.

Is there a remedy at this point and time for America? Perhaps not, but what we can learn from this societal mistake is that commitment has been marginalized by the pressure sex has placed on daters to instantly be commited, without the level of bonding that should usually occur before the joining of two people takes place.