You are here: Home / meeting new people

Posts

How to Meet New People This Winter? Consider the Airport!

/in /by

Wondering how to meet new people this holiday season? According to research firm StrategyOne, almost one out of every ten adults has either dated or known someone to have dated a person they met at an airport or during a flight. So Axe spray — the industry leader in satisfying a need no one really thought needed to be satisfied — commissioned a study in 2007 with Sperling’s BestPlaces to rank America’s biggest airports by likeliness to produce a romantic connection. Their metrics include variables such as length of layovers and delays (which promote interaction, obviously) and cute shops and places to interact (beer gardens and magic shops). Basically, they came up with a formula to determine the likelihood of you meeting new people during a layover.

The best airport? Philadelphia. Yep. Apparently. Below are their full rankings. Let us know if this squares with your own experiences.

  1. Philadelphia Int’l (PHL)
  2. Newark Int’l (EWR)
  3. John F Kennedy Int’l (JFK)
  4. Washington-Dulles Int’l (IAD)
  5. La Guardia Int’l (LGA)
  6. Port Columbus Int’l (CMH)
  7. Detroit Metropolitan (DTW)
  8. Logan Int’l (BOS)
  9. Dallas/Ft. Worth Int’l (DFW)
  10. San Francisco Int’l (SFO)
  11. Lambert-St. Louis Int’l (STL)
  12. Cincinnati Int’l (CVG)
  13. O’Hare Int’l (ORD)
  14. Minneapolis/St. Paul Int’l (MSP)
  15. Miami Int’l (MIA)
  16. Seattle Tacoma Int’l (SEA)
  17. Pittsburgh Int’l (PIT)
  18. Hartsfield Int’l (ATL)
  19. Washington National (DCA)
  20. Baltimore/Washington Int’l (BWI)
  21. Denver Int’l (DEN)
  22. San Antonio Int’l (SAT)
  23. Hopkins Int’l (CLE)
  24. Houston Hobby (IAH)
  25. San Diego Int’l (SAN)
  26. Portland Int’l (PDX)
  27. Kansas City Int’l (MCI)
  28. Houston Hobby (HOU)
  29. Sacramento Int’l (SMF)
  30. Tampa Int’l (TPA)
  31. Midway Int’l (MDW)
  32. Sky Harbor Int’l (PHX)
  33. Los Angeles Int’l (LAX)
  34. Orlando Int’l (MCO)
  35. McCarran Int’l (LAS)
  36. San Jose Int’l (SJC)
  37. Oakland Int’l (OAK)

 

recent college grads

Stressed about post grad life? 5 mobile apps that will help you rule the universe (…but not really)

/in /by

The following article is a guest post, courtesy of Catherine Nguyen

So you just graduated from college…now what? Before the real world hits you too hard, we came up with 5 free mobile apps to help you get adjusted to your life outside of school. These apps will help you manage the 5 most important aspects of your life: productivity, finance, health, social and alas, your love life. Enjoy your first years out of school stress-free with help of technology.

recent college grads

Productivity  – CloudOn

As a recent college grad breaking into the industry, first impressions are important. CloudOn centralizes all of your working files in one workplace so you can work outside the 9-5 routine, and impress your boss with your work ethic! Now, you can easily view, edit, and share your files on Microsoft Office through your favorite cloud storage services Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive.

recent college grads

Finances – Manilla

Rent, food, credit card bills, travel expenses, student loans, car loans — you’ve seen it all. If you’re struggling with paying on time, budgeting your money, or even remembering login information, our friends over at Manilla have a solution for you. Their free app securely integrates all your accounts so you can easily manage your bills and budget for them — like a real adult!

recent college grads

Social – BlockAvenue

BlockAvenue lets you see what is happening up your block and around your ‘hood. Currently a website-based service, BlockAvenue gives you the low down on the hottest restaurants and bars, with reviews from city locals and a grade from A to F from BlockAvenue’s secret algorithms. BlockAvenue is also a great resource for everything else social-related, such as locating local ATMs, gyms, and grocery stores to recent crimes in the area.

recent college grads

Health – Fitocracy

If you still got the dreaded Freshman 15 from college, don’t sweat it. With Fitocracy, you have the support of an entire social network of health gurus, other aspiring athletes, and your own friends to help you get addicted to being fit. Fitocracy sends you daily workouts in the form of a challenge so you can earn points once completed and beat your friends in the quest to be the fittest of them all. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger approves!


 recent college grads

recent college grads

Love – Coffee Meets Bagel

Moving to a new city not only means a new job and new friends, but also a potential new beau. Our team here at Coffee Meets Bagel has created a free dating service that uses your social network to introduce to you one “bagel”, or match, everyday at noon, so dating is fun and easy — the way it’s supposed to be. Register now on our website or follow us on @CoffeeMBagel to stay tuned for our official app launch later in the summer!

recent college grads

recent college grads

The Little Things: Dating and Your Health

/in , /by

When you’re dating, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn’t “Will dating this person make me healthier?” Well, if it is, then you may be worrying a bit too much. Then again, if you are dating someone and it only makes you worry, then it’s probably best to get out of it as soon as possible. Two studies have proven the link between bad relationships and poor physical and mental health.
Lets start with the mental. A study by Case Western Reserve University showed that excessive worrying can create intrusive and obsessive behaviors that could negatively impact your relationships, romantic and otherwise. Though it studied people suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), its findings could be used for anyone that finds themselves worrying themselves into a corner – making them either too cold or too nurturing.Either way you feel, it will push the people you love away from you and make you more isolated.
The way to attack this problem is to get to the source – what made you worry in the first place? Does it come from somewhere real or imagined? Anything can make you worry but the best way to attack the problem is head-on: discuss it with your partner. They should understand completely. Don’t put it off too long, worrying does have a snowball effect. Just to top off the worrying, if you feel that you are suffering from GAD, please consult a therapist since this blog can only go so far.
Worrying will also result in physical health problems. If those problems mentioned before keep coming up again and again, you may be in a toxic relationship. The exact health problems that can result from these relationships were recently discovered by UCLA scientists. Negative interactions increases inflammation, which can result in heart disease, increased blood pressure, and cancer. Monitoring 122 healthy young people, scientists found that stressful events increased the production of inflammation-causing proteins.
Yeesh, that sounds terrible. Imagine staying in a bad relationship even for a few more weeks – it really can kill you in the long run. That’s why when something doesn’t work, you shouldn’t be afraid to say goodbye. Your health is more important than hurt feelings.
Mental and physical health are tied together tightly like a fine knot. One notch fails and the rest of it falls. Life is made up of the little things. A hug. A compliment. A glare. An argument. You should never neglect looking out for your own health first. It’s more important than any petty argument will ever be.

Original Article

Happy New Year! Dating Site Usage is Up by 15-20%

/in , /by

Yes, it’s that time of the year again. In just one more day, it will be a new year and a lot of people are really feeling it. Don’t believe me? Recent research has shown that dating sites have been receiving a 15 to 20 percent jump in activity.
It’s no wonder. This year went by pretty fast and, for those who believe in certain Mayan prophecies concerning next year, trying to get a date before New Years Eve is the most important thing you can do before the end of the world. That apocalyptic feeling really isn’t new to this year, though. This time of year may be joyful on the surface but there has always been a deep undercurrent of loneliness for those looking through the window at other happy couples. Trying to get a date before New Years isn’t an act of desperation. This is an attempt to no longer be on the outside looking in.
This trend doesn’t stop after New Years. From now until Valentine’s Day is the busiest time for dating websites. We now live, quoting Thomas Friedman, in a hyper-connected world. This means that we feel intimately connected with more people outside our immediate social network than ever before because of social media and intimate access to the lives of others through their profiles.  Whereas before online dating there was uncertainty as to where you can meet that special someone, now you have sites that can help. While online dating was a joke ten years ago, now it’s more socially acceptable to say you met your partner online. To speak to this paradigm shift, approximately 10% of singles in the US used dating sites in 2011. I can’t speak for all of their motivations but it shows how the Internet has changed where dating begins.
There are a plethora of articles out there about how people are trying to connect with each other out of desperation. For the most part, that isn’t the case. I believe that this trend shows that, deep down, people are looking to find someone they click with to start the new year fresh. As Auld Lang Syne implies, the new year is the start of new beginnings as we throw everything else away. With the millions of potential connections out there, there is bound to be the perfect one for you.
Happy New Year one and all! May you find that special someone in the glorious year of 2012.
-Brett

Original Article

Looking for Someone

/in , /by

This New Yorker’s article is probably the most comprehensive article summarizing the birth and history of online dating in the US.
Some lines that are memorable to me:
“Often the people who go on the sites that promise you a match are so primed to find one that they jump at the first or the second or the third who comes along. The people who are looking may not be the people you are looking for. “It’s a selection problem when you round up a bunch of people who want to settle down,” Chris Coyne, one of the founders of a site called OK Cupid, told me”
Well, isn’t that what happens in real life? It’s all about meeting the right person at the right time and right place. At least the “selection problem” of online dating gets rid of having to fit the right time and place so you just have to find the right person. Trust me, it’s not that there is one RIGHT PERSON who is just waiting to be found at a corner somewhere in the world.
“Starting a site is like starting a restaurant. It’s a sexy business, looks like fun, yet it’s hard to make money.” There is, as yet, a disconnect between success and profit. “The way these companies make money is not directly correlated to the utility that users get from the product,” Harj Taggar, a partner at the Silicon Valley seed fund Y Combinator, told me. “What they really should be doing is making money if they match you with people you like.”
Amen! It doesn’t take a genius to recognize why match.com or eharmony.com or even howaboutwe.com put you in a subscription plan! They don’t make money if you meet someone and leave right away. That’s the dilemma of these dating sites—your customers can’t be too successful or too unsuccessful. I think dating sites should make money if and only if they actually help the user find someone they like.

“Men want someone who will take care of them, make them look good, and have sex with them—not necessarily in that order.” Love it. “There is a fundamental imbalance in the social dynamic,” Harj Taggar, the investor at Y Combinator, told me. “The most valuable asset is attractive females. As soon as you get them, you get loads of creepy guys.”

So it’ a mystery to me why so many dating sites cater to how men date. C’mon, women don’t care about browsing through thousands of men’s photos. We don’t have time for that and if we do, we rather look at women’s photos!
The social science behind what attracts men and women is so addictive that I can go on forever. And it is no wonder that there are so many dating services with various niche ranging from matching based on DNA, facial resemblance to what makes people laugh. But sometimes, all you need is an easier way to meet decent, normal people, period. Everything else can be figured out and decided by the couple themselves.
You can read more about the article at:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/04/110704fa_fact_paumgarten#ixzz1gS2wwjzO

Original Article

Women's hunch

/in , /by

Hunch, intuition, gut-feeling, voice whispering in your ears—whatever you may call it, I have experienced, repeatedly, many instances when my first intuition proved to be right.
In this interesting study conducted by Psychologist and Villanova University Associate Professor Rebecca J. Brand, women could intuitively evaluate men’s physical attractiveness from their written online profiles. Without photos, they were asked to evaluate men’s attractiveness from their writing. The result—the women actually didn’t need photos to to discern which ones are attractive.
This Huffington Post article does not include the details of how these women evaluated men’s attractiveness and how much it correlated with the actual attractiveness of the photos. The interpretation is that women are generally attracted to confident men, and the confidence level is reflected in men’s writing. And because our looks/attractiveness impact our confidence level, the more confident you are, the likely that you are attractive.
I find it fascinating that even in such short online profiles, such deeply personal traits can be analyzed. More interesting question would be whether this would apply if done among men. I don’t think for women, being attractive necessarily translates to confidence. In fact, a lot of attractive women I know are insecure. Also, I am not sure if men will be able to pick up on these subtle cues. It would be an interesting study.

In Romance, Too Many Choices May Hurt

/in , /by

Recent studies found out if the brain is faced with abundant choice, it may make decisions based on what it can evaluate most quickly.
Does this apply for love?
According to a recent study conducted over speed dates, at smaller events (with less than 24 participants), participants were much more likely to make decisions based on deeper attributes, such as education, job, smoking habits. At bigger speed dating events, both male and female choosers were more likely to decide based on attributes that could be judged quickly, such as their dates’ height, and whether they were underweight, normal weight, or overweight.
Does this explain why city dwellers seem much more superficial?