Well that assumption has been shown to have some basis in fact by a study released yesterday in the USA – but perhaps not as much as you’d think.

Jeffrey Hall of the University of Kansas undertook a survey of 5000 members of a popular online dating website to test their attitudes to truth and deception. The study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that men were indeed more likely to tell lies in an online environment.

However, Hall concluded that most of these lies were motivated by a desire to ‘fit in’ with social norms rather than just a matter of simple presentation. He noted:

“What people lie about depends on what kind of people they are. For example, if you’re an extrovert, you might downplay the number of past relationships you’ve had because chances are you’ve had more relationships than an introvert.”

Those who are the most likely to tell fibs are those that Hall calls “high self monitors”. These are people who are very aware of the things that people generally like and are adept at controlling their own behaviour to fit in with these patterns. Underlying this can be character traits which the person would much rather be hidden and so they fall into a patter of “little white lies”.

Hall’s more surprising conclusion was that while men tended to engage in this behaviour more than women, the percentage difference was actually very small. Furthermore, in the study group as a whole levels of honesty were surprisingly high.

Hall points out in his summary that as most people engaged in an online relationship would ultimately like to meet up in real life, the risks associated with lying are so high as to render people more honest than you might expect.

The message is clear: if you are online dating, more often than not you can trust the other person. But still, keeps your wits about you and look for tell-tale signs that they’re not being entirely honest with you.

Specialist vs. General Dating

Some online dating sites cater for everyone; others are more specialised, catering for certain groups of people with common interests or lifestyles such as Married Dating sites like Ashley Madison. If your religion, location, sexual preference, profession or hobby is an important factor in your dating preferences then consider choosing a site which is specifically aimed at a particular group.  It should be noted, that specialist sites have a fairly limited number of registered users, and you may find just as many people who share the same interests or passions on a general dating site like Dating Direct or Social Network like Faceparty.

Information

How much do you want to know about a potential partner? Online dating sites vary as to how much information they ask from members.  Some sites only ask for very basic details such as age, location and looks. Other sites ask detailed questions and aim to match, and only allow members to register once they have filled in all the questions with an adequate amount of information. Some dating sites even have psychological tests to help you find suitable matches.  Bare this in mind when choosing an online dating site; also consider how much information you’re prepared to give before meeting a potential partner.

Shop Around

The majority of online dating sites allow you to sign up free of charge before subscribing to the paid-for functionality. Shop around and trial a few sites before parting with your cash. Check out the sites functionality, some even allow you to search through members profiles before paying!

Tip 1: Selecting a Site

Online dating is a numbers game, the more exposure your profile gets there better. Select a site which has lots of active members such as Dating Direct or eHarmony; don’t get off on the wrong foot by registering with a site that doesn’t have numbers to start with.  Join up as a free member before committing to a paid-for subscription.

Tip 2:  Create the perfect profile

Once you have found a dating site which has lots of potential partners, the next step is to create a profile that makes the most of your attributes. Include a clear photo; people tend to avoid members who don’t display an image of themselves. Don’t forget to tell people about yourself and your interests.

Tip 3: Make the first move

Don’t just set up your online dating profile, sit back and wait for people to get in touch. Be brave and make the first move, take an active approach in searching for potential dates. Remember it’s a number game, the more people you contact the more likely it is you will find the perfect partner.

Tip 4: Review your progress

If you are struggling to connect with people on the site, or still haven’t found that special one than take an objective look at the replies you are getting. It could be that your profile needs to be adjusted. It may even be worth trying a new online dating site if you’re not meeting the right people.

Once you have started talking to someone, learn how to handle your first date.

The survey, which questioned 2, 259 internet users about their online reading habits, revealed that 92% of users accessed news content on multiple platforms. Only a pitiful 7% rely on a single source to get their news. This represents a seismic shift in the media world, as newspapers and magazines have traditionally relied on a loyal subscription base as their audience.

Not only this, but internet users expect to get their news in formats and places that suit them. Fully 30% of respondents said they used personalization options to create their own custom homepages, and the majority also accessed news on the go through hand held devices and smart-phones.

The shift is critical, because it implies that old media brands are going to find themselves fighting for an audience in a way that would have seemed incredible just a decade ago. Today, people will happily accept news from a variety of sources and the carefully constructed brands that people like Rupert Murdoch have bought into are consequently on shaky ground.

As this younger generation grows up, accustomed to a much more diverse media/news landscape, the power of long-established brands such as News International is likely to wane. Furthermore, it isn’t even necessarily individual websites that are attracting people’s attention. Aggregators such as Digg.com are playing host to nothing more than a link, while a conversation around the content happens on their own space rather than on the property itself. Sharing links with friends is also an increasingly common phenomenon – bypassing even the mighty Google in the spread of content.

According to Pew:

“To a great extent, people’s experience of news, especially on the internet, is becoming a shared social experience as people swap links in emails, post news stories on their social networking site feeds, highlight news stories in their Tweets, and haggle over the meaning of events in discussion threads. For instance, more than 8 in 10 online news consumers get or share links in emails”

The future landscape of content discovery will represent a diverse information ****. This means a very fragmented picture for advertisers who are trying to find ways of reaching as many people as possible. It is likely that contextual advertising will become even more important in the web infrastructure, with content-relevant ads served by the likes of Google playing an increasing role.

This is likely to drive advertising revenues for content producers down, meaning that sites will increasingly look to fund their content operations through the addition of services ancillary to their news content. In the UK media scene, august operators such as the Telegraph have a fully fledged paid online dating section and most of the tabloids offer fripperies such as bingo games which they are developing as important revenue streams.

As the line between ‘news’ in the traditional sense and ‘news content’ in the modern sense becomes more and more blurred, it will be very interesting to see how a new generation of websites operate in this new environment. Either way, the increasingly social aspect of the internet will continue to play an ever more important role.

Those rumors were finally confirmed today when Pattinson reluctantly informed The Sun that “It is extremely difficult but we are together, yes.”

Despite that, the pair recently turned up for the British Academy Film and Television Awards – aka the BAFTAS – separately, setting tongues wagging as to whether the fledgling romance was already in trouble.

Pattinson explained the apparent separation, saying: “we can’t arrive at the same time because of the fans. It goes crazy. This was supposed to be a public appearance as a couple, but it’s impossible.”

This reluctance to appear together is perhaps understandable. Dating is hard enough for private individuals who have to overcome the hurdles of a first date and the personal awkwardness of becoming part of each others lives. Now picture trying to do all that under the watchful eye of the world’s media, when every public utterance is pored and scraped over and even the act of getting out of a car is a major news story.

So their decision to keep things as private as possible is understandable. Hollywood couples have a long history of crumbling under the pressure of fame and scrutiny. They also have a habit of just… happening anyway. After all, during the making of a film, two super-attractive people spend much of their days acting out an intense love affair, sharing working quarters and dressing rooms and working together in a very intimate way.

The intensity of these relationships often spreads across into real life – think of Brad and Angelina – who made the leap from Mr & Mrs Smith to being Mr & Mrs Pitt in a few short months – despite already having established relationships (Angelina’s appetite for having affairs is legendary, but Pitt’s reputation was more honorable!) That keeps fans flocking to the movies to see the chemistry at work.

But it is that very attention that sounds the death-knell for celebrity couples. We wish them well, of course, but wouldn’t be surprised if their very public attempt at dating each other ultimately crumbles.

Photo by ❀ℓєтιzια❀

Tip 1: Location, Location, Location.

to find many millionaires in your local nightclub, cafe of restaurant. You need to expand your travels into new territories. Think yacht clubs, art galleries, polo matches and exclusive hotel lobby bars.

The rich and famous tend to cluster, so a holiday spent at one their favoured haunts is a very efficient way of meeting the wealthy. Popular playgrounds for millionaire include the Seychelles, Monte Carlo, Barbados and the French Riviera.

Tip 2: Join a Millionaire Dating Service

If you don’t have the time or money to jet of to the Med on the hunt for a millionaire, or struggling to find a wealthy partner, than an online dating service is a no brainer. Thanks to increasing popularity of millionaire dating sites, itís now easier than ever to find yourself a wealthy partner.

Millionaire dating websites are similar to your standard relationship sites like Dating Direct, the sites act as a matchmaker between millionaires and those who want to date or marry them. Many of these wealthy men and women are ready to share the benefits of their lifestyle with a stylish and sophisticated partner.

Although competition among people looking for a wealthy partner has increased, the great news is that the number of male and female millionaires is on rise.

Millionaire Dating sites are mainly for rich and wealthy people seeking long-lasting, loving relationships, so why not join up and find yourself a millionaire!

Despite all that, Twitter continues to defy predictions of its demise and today announced that it hit a new milestone: 50 million tweets in a single day.

That’s a pretty impressive statistic by any measure and suggests that Twitter is now firmly established in the social media sphere as a genuine player. The site is, in fact, so well established that savvy journalists now mine Twitter for opinion and on-the-ground reports of live events – as so aptly demonstrated by the use of the site by Iran’s Green Movement during last years protests over the elections there.

The critical test for the service’s owners must soon be on hand however. With the exponential growth curve, costs of hosting these millions of Tweets as well as the uncounted number of API calls and security updates means that investors will soon want to see a plan for Twitter that involves monetisation. Whether the site starts to carry targeted advertising, sponsored Tweets or other revenue streams, making a profitable return from a format which by it’s very nature is typically engaged with in very short bursts remains to be seen.

Dating is never easy; perhaps you have a hard time meeting women who are suitable and single. Maybe you work unsociable hours which means you never have time to date. Whatever your situation, the first step is take action.

Forget traditional methods of trawling through bars and clubs to find a potential partner, the chances of finding a women to date from such establishments are far and few between. Fear not, there is much simpler way to date women which yields great results. The 21st century has brought a whole new life to the world of dating; all you need is a computer with an internet connection. If you want to date women the best place to look is in fact online dating sites.

Over the last ten years the online dating industry has boomed, thousands of people everyday are dating women they have met online. If you don’t have the time to find a date, simply sign up to Dating Direct or eHarmony and have instant access to thousands of single women in your local area.

Once signed up, browse through the profiles, you can generally search by location which makes things easier if you are looking to date women who are close to home. Once you have found a lady you want to take on a date, simply contact them through their profile and await their response. Very soon, you may find that you have arrange not just one but many dates.

Online dating is a great and convenient way to date women, no more standing in bars brainstorming opening lines, just easy and relaxed dating, whenever you want!

“Happy Girl” photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Finding a date is never easy, but by taking a methodical approach to dating men, it can be relatively painless and actually quite enjoyable. The biggest problem when it comes to dating is actually finding someone you wish to spend time with. Locating a potential partner is the first hurdle you will come across in the world of dating.

How do I find a man to date? I hear you ask. Firstly try your local area, is there any men in your social circles that are single and that you get on well with? Often many people complain they are single because no one has asked them out on a date. Itís no longer a social faux pas for a woman to ask the man on a date, bit the bullet and go for it.

If, however, you are struggling to find a potential suitor then check out the world of online dating. Once considered an embarrassing social stigma, online dating agencies, such as Dating Direct or eHarmony are now the number one place to go if you want to find the ideal man. The beauty of using a dating site is that it allows you access to thousands of men at the click of a button, you can browse through pictures and profiles until you see someone who takes your fancy.

Practice makes perfect, and the same can be applied to dating. Online dating makes finding dates easy, the more you go on the more experienced you will become and the more likely it is you will find Mr Right.

Romantic Waterfall image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

The latest batch of changes – rolled out across all accounts over the past week – are among the most radical yet. Up front and center is an improved news feed. When this was first introduced, users complained that it too closely mimicked Twitter and was thus alien to the huge majority of people who have still to take Twitter to their hearts.

The feed was also cluttered by application updates, leading a very popular message doing the rounds about how you could change things around to focus more on status updates and conversations. In response, the news feed now has more focus on status updates and photographs.

Visually, the site continues to get simpler. The rounded edges and big blocks of colour that marked early iterations of Facebook have long been trending towards a simpler style and this latest update takes the site a lot closer to the mobile version. The logo and top menu has shrunk dramatically, leaving more screen space for actual content and updates – a move that is surely welcome.

A common trope among designers is that most companies continually want a bigger logo. Not so Facebook – whose logo is now very discreet. The colour scheme has become iconic in itself so the site remains instantly recognisable. The smaller logo also indicates that the company is pretty relaxed about its branding.

In terms of functionality, Facebook’s widespread adoption of Ajax to include real time updates continues apace. Live updates are now flagged in a more prominent position at the top of the page and flagged up with tidy red icons that stand out much more clearly against the blue banner strap.

Applications are now presented more discreetly through the side menu, and the floating bottom bar that previously housed them has been dramatically shrunk to just provide a place for Facebook chat. On the subject of chat, it was a feature that has mixed feedback due to its propensity to crash. Early indications are that the feature is now more reliable.

Overall Facebook’s evolution reflects a number of trends in the online world. The focus on live updates and the adoption of Ajax to help realise this reflects the influence that Twitter has had. The increasing simplicity of the interface is also something that is a reflection of the trend away from the glossy, hyperactive interfaces that dominated web design a couple of years ago.

What do we think? Well this is more of an evolution when compared to the outright revolution of the last series of updates and possibly for that reason this feels more natural and less of a shock to the system. Overall, the simplicity and realtime control is increasingly impressive and Facebook is now several streets of any of its competitors.