This should come as no surprise at all to anyone who has spent even a little bit of time online visiting social networking sites and online dating sites. The information posted on these sites is rapidly becoming a primary source of evidence used by divorce lawyers in their filings of client divorce papers.

The reason is simple, of course. Cheaters, unhappy spouses, and others looking for “alternatives” to their current relationship make up a large percentage of people using these kinds of sites, which means they are putting themselves out there for others to find and meet. As long a their activities remain a secret from their partner, it’s not a problem; but once that partner gets a whiff of something suspicious it only takes a quick and easy search to start finding online evidence of misdeeds.

Lawyers are well aware of this, too, and more and more of them are including online searches as a standard part of their services when it comes to divorce filings. In fact, according to one of the leading professional legal associations up to 81% of divorce lawyers use some form of online research to specifically look for this kind of evidence in order to use it to benefit their clients. Facebook.com was the site most often cited as a great source of this kind of evidence, followed closely by MySpace.com and Twitter.com.

So what’s the lesson here? If you’re cheating, fair warning: anything you have out there is going to be found. And if you’re the partner being cheated on? Better check with your lawyer to make sure he or she is going to include this kind of search as part of their professional services.

Divorce Cheating, Divorce, Lawyers, Searches, Social Networking

The Academy Awards have come and gone for another year, and as always the Oscars created all sorts of buzz and publicity. But what you might not realize is that the world of online dating had an important role to play in this year’s Oscar telecast. Well, okay, actually it’s more accurate to say that online dating didn’t play an important role in this year’s Oscar telecast.

It all has to do with the online dating site AshleyMadison.com and a commercial they wanted to run during the Oscar show. In case you haven’t heard of AshleyMadison.com, it is perhaps the most famous online dating services specially targeted at people who want to engage in extra-marital activities. It’s all about cheating. And this year for the first time ever AshleyMadison.com tried to run a television commercial during the Academy Awards television show.

The key word here is “tried”; the producers of the Oscars telecast turned down the ad as being inappropriate for Hollywood’s biggest night of the year. Why? Because it depicts infidelity and promotes AshleyMadison.com as a resource for those who want to engage in infidelity. Of course, the folks at AshleyMadison.com are quick to point out that Hollywood is hardly a place of virtue when it comes to monogamy and marital fidelity so it doesn’t make sense to them that their admittedly steamy but not vulgar ad has been declined.

What do you think? Is this a case of hypocrisy in action? Or is it an acceptable decision intended to keep the Academy Awards telecast appropriate for all ages to view?

News & Views Ashley Madison, Cheating, Infidelity

I’ve written before about the dating site AshleyMadison.com, where people can search for and connect with others like themselves who are looking to cheat on a spouse, long-term boyfriend/girlfriend, or significant other.

While the morality of such a site is questionable, what is not questionable is just how much money they are making by providing this kind of service. According to the company’s most recent financial reporting, it now has 4.6 million members around the world and is pulling in revenue well above tens of millions of dollars each year. And all of this without much, if any, traditional advertising! Imagine how much more they would make if they had access to normal marketing and advertising channels.

The surging popularity (and profitability) of AshleyMadison.com has been created in part because the conservative Christian movement has mobilized against the site and what it stands for. The more these kinds of groups protest the website, the more publicity it gets and the more members it attracts. The irony of this is not lost on those who have a financial interest in AshleyMadison.com; they are quite open about embracing conservative protests and using them as a way to attract more attention and market to potential members.

Ironic, isn’t it? I guess this is a good illustration of the old cliché that there’s no such thing as bad publicity!

Dating Essentials Ashley Madison, Cheating, Christians, Money