It’s a well known phenomenon that during the cold winter months, people tend to have sex more often; just take a look at the number of babies typically born in August, September, and October, and you’ll see how true this is. But what about all of those singles out there who aren’t involved in a relationship? What do they do when a raging snowstorm keeps them inside for days on end?

Turns out, they go online and join online dating sites. From Australia to the United Kingdom to the United States, online dating services report significant surges in website visitors and new members during the winter months. This has been especially true during the winter of 2009/2010 so far because it has been such a tremendously cold and wintry season.

For instance, in the UK there are reports from MySingleFriend.com and Singles365.com that their visitor tallies were up from 27% to as much as 55% during the recent plunge in temperatures and piles of snow. And it’s not just the snowbound in the UK turning to online dating sites, either; in the United States the adultery online website AshleyMadison.com reports it gained as many as 10,000 new members each day during the recent spate of snowstorms and frigid temperatures.

So the next time you’re trapped inside by cold temperatures, snow, ice, or the like, why not take a look at an online dating site? With all of those new members signing up you’re more likely than ever to find someone special online!

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Oh, the money to be made from online dating!

You can be sure the business world is well aware of how much money can be made by operating an online dating service; that’s why there are so very many of them out there, all competing for your “dating dollar”. They put a great deal of effort into positioning themselves as your friend, your confidante, and your best choice for finding love, but never for a moment forget that none of that stuff is “real”.

Online dating is a business, first and foremost, and every paid dating service is going to do everything they can to squeeze every dollar possible out of you. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing if they succeed in matching you with someone special. But you can never know at the beginning if you’re going to have this kind of success, so you have to go into it with your eyes wide open and with a budget in mind of what you’re willing to spend.

I don’t have anything against paid online dating sites; in fact, they can be quite good for many people. I do think, though, that it’s a good idea to use some of the free sites as well, especially those based on social networking concepts. Think of it as you would a financial investment; you wouldn’t put all of your money into just one kind of financial tool, and so you shouldn’t put all of your money (and effort) into just one online dating site.

Online dating may be big business and generate millions of dollars in profit each day, but it is still something very personal for you as the user. It pays to keep this in mind when you’re choosing which online service(s) to use and how much of your hard earned money to put into their offerings.

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In my ideal world, you could order up dates as easily as you can order books on Amazon.com or movies on Netflix.com. Here’s my dating dream.

I’d like a site where people can post other people they know who are looking to date. By filling out a form about what they like, these people would get sorted into different categories – artsy, athletic, etc. Then, after they have dated someone or you have dated them, you would leave feedback on the site or rank them with a star or point system.

By the magic of computers and ranking systems, the dating site would then recommend other dates based on dates that you ranked well in the past. For example, if you seem to like going on dates with athletic guys or gals, you might get shown a list of singles that fit with your interests – “Based on your interest in Mike2014, here are some other dates you might like…”

This would make things all the easier, wouldn’t it?

Instead of poring over the lists of singles that are available, you could go to your recommendations and pick out the ones that appeal to you. And whenever the website didn’t match you up with someone that you liked, you could simply say ‘Not Interested’ and then further refine your dating recommendations.

Of course, I would also make sure there was a way to keep track of the singles you want to contact – much like the cart or the queue system. How perfect would that be?

Do I have something to be thankful for? Are there sites like this out there? I haven’t found the perfect site yet, so if you have – let me know!

Leave your hints in the comments so that all of us can fill up our calendars!

Diary Dating Websites, Future, Singles