Online dating sites have always tried to offer unique and interesting ways to match up potential mates. From personality traits and characteristics to hobbies and activities, there’s no shortage of supposedly “guaranteed” approaches to helping you find your life partner.

Now there’s something new in the world of online dating that might seem really strange – genetic profiling. Yes, genetic profiling. Sounds like something out of CSI, right?

The really interesting thing is that there is some scientific evidence to support the idea that your genes have some role to play in how compatible you are with another person. It seems there is a particular group of human genes called human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) that relate to your body’s immune functions, but they also seem to produce certain attraction-related responses in some cases.

This response was tested by – get ready for this – by conducting an experiment where women sniffed the sweaty t-shirts of men. Researchers found that women tended to prefer the scent of t-shirts from men whose HLAs were very different from their own. Additional research has been done over the last couple of years that seems to confirm there is at least some correlation between couples with different HLAs and their long term relationship satisfaction.

One company, called GenePartner, has started to offer testing to decipher your HLAs in the hope that someday the results from these kinds of tests will be incorporated into mainstream online dating websites. I wouldn’t recommend running out and spending your hard earned money on such a test right away, but it’s worth tucking away in the back of your mind as something to keep an eye on in the months and years to come!

News & Views Genetics, Hobbies, Personality, Profiling, Women

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