This terrible economy doesn’t seem to be getting better very fast. Chrysler and General Motors have gone bankrupt, housing prices are rebounding slowly (if at all), and the ranks of the unemployed continue to swell by huge numbers each month. With all of this bad news around us, who has the enthusiasm to bother with dating?

Yes, things are tough, but one of the worst things you can do is to totally give up on dating altogether. Just because you’re facing financial challenges does not mean you are any less interested in finding a partner whose companionship you enjoy. The trick is figuring out the dating scene when everything around you seems to be falling apart.

Here are some tips and suggestions for dating in a terrible economy:

1. Broaden your preferences. It used to be that no self-respecting woman would consider dating a man who didn’t have a job, and a large number of men took the same approach. Today, however, you’re more likely than ever to find potential matches with people who are out of work for one reason or another. If you want to stay in the dating scene you need to consider broadening your preferences a bit so you don’t automatically exclude someone whose current situation is not ideal.

2. Get out and meet people. Let’s face it, online dating services can be pretty expensive, and that’s a cost your budget might not be able to handle anymore. The solution is to get out into your community more so you can meet people in the traditional way. Volunteer at a charity, take a class at the community center, or simply go for a walk each day along the same route. You’ll be amazed at how many opportunities to meet new people will come your way!

3. Stick with low cost activities. It’s okay to let the person you’re interested in know you would prefer to do low cost activities, so don’t be shy. If you can’t afford to go out to dinner, for example, suggest packing a couple of sandwiches and meeting at the park for lunch. Put on your thinking cap and be creative to find the best low cost activities to enjoy!

Dating Essentials Economy, Job, Meet People, Money, Volunteering

In just a couple of short decades, online dating services have transformed dramatically. What were once places where “losers” went to find love are now considered an integral part of the modern dating process. Along the way, of course, a number of online dating service companies have made a tremendous amount of money.

Now, however, there is a serious threat to these services on the horizon. With the rise in social networking sites like Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and the like, more and more people are looking for ways to search those huge databases of singles for their perfect match. And since social networking sites are generally free, a safe and secure dating module created for such sites could very well be the “killer app” that puts a dent in the profits of paid online dating services.

And if that dating application were free? Well, that might just be enough to put many of the smaller online dating services out of business completely. The larger services like Match.com, eHarmony.com, Lavalife, and Cupid.com would likely find a way to still compete, but I suspect they would have to make some significant changes to stay in the game. This might come in the form of adjusting their fees, adding more value to their services, or some other “killer app” of their own that hasn’t been developed yet.

Which approach would be better? Are you more likely to find a match via paid online dating services or via one of the extremely popular social networking sites? Nobody knows for sure quite yet because the “killer app” for dating on social networking sites hasn’t been developed yet. The one thing that’s for sure, though, is that the online dating scene is poised to see some huge changes in the next few years. It’s going to be an exciting ride!

News & Views Facebook, Killer App, MySpace, Social Networking

If you have done any looking at potential dating sites lately, you’re probably feeling a bit overwhelmed. There are so many of them out there (an estimated several thousand, according to some experts) that it can be extremely difficult to decide which one (or ones) you should pay to join.

Leave it to the online community to recognize this problem and come up with a simple solution! The latest trend in online dating is the rise of so-called “dating portals”, also sometimes called “dating aggregators”. These innovative sites are cutting right through the problem of choosing the right online dating service by allowing users to search for matches across multiple dating services. It’s much like the familiar airline travel services such as CheapFlights.com, Priceline.com, and Kayak.com, where you can search a single site and find multiple travel options to consider.

Rubixx.com, for example, pulls profiles from many of the top dating sites when you conduct a search. If you find a potentially interesting match you then click through to the site from which the profile comes. Of course, you have to pay the fee to join that site and access the full profile, but the general concept here is a huge change for online dating. It may just be a very successful way for you to search more profiles, find more matches, and only pay to access those online services where your potential matches are also signed up.

Is this the future of online dating? Chances are the answer is “yes”, so keep an eye on this trend if you want to stay on the cutting edge!

News & Views Dating Aggregators, Portals, Rubixx.com