Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Valentine’s Day: Love In The Air But Where Is The Money?

 The economic slowdown has taken a toll on love birds this Valentine’s Day with 44 percent young men and 34 percent women telling a survey that they will curtail their expenditure.

According to a survey by matrimonial site Jeevansathi.com, those surveyed said that the ongoing slowdown would affect their plans for the special day.

The trend was more prevalent in metros where about 50 percent males said this year they were trimming their V-Day plans.

Asked how they would make the day memorable, 76 percent respondents said they would love to plan their engagement or wedding on the day.

Commenting on the trend, Rohit Manghnani, business head of Jeevansathi.com said, “Low increments and slower promotions within organisations have made the youngsters more practical.

“However, this may not dampen the celebrations for the day as it holds a lot of importance in the lives of young couples. The spends will not be over-indulgent.”

Gifting still remained the main ingredient of love on the day with time tested flowers emerging as the most preferred by 43 percent girls.

Dinner dates and jewellery were the second and third choices with 22 percent and 20 percent voting for them.

Gadgets and apparel took a back seat over a candle-lit dinner for young men. Quality time with the loved one was more important than a gift, the survey noted.

Alone on Valentine’s Day? Try out dating app
Singles who believe in love at first sight can turn to new apps that will match them with potential dates in time for Valentine’s Day, but only if each person has expressed an interest.

With the new dating apps, users simply flip through photos of people in nearby locations and express their interest in dating someone. If there’s a mutual attraction, the app connects them for a conversation. If not, their feelings remain anonymous.

“It limits the conversations to people you’ve actually expressed an interest in. So each of those conversations starts at a very deep level,” said Sean Rad, co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based company Tinder, which developed the app of the same name.

Makers of the Tinder app, which is available worldwide for iPhone, said it has matched more than 10 million couples since it was launched in September.

The app pulls in member photos of people from Facebook, and then it’s as simple as anonymously indicating interest in that person. If both people like each other, messages can be sent between the two users.

Rad said most users are between 18 and 30 years old.

Let’s Date, which was released across the United States last week for the iPhone, is a similar app. But rather than simply focusing on the photo, the app provides the person’s interests from Facebook for a broader view of the potential date.

“Our goal was to create an app that replicated the real world experience of going to a party or bar full of potentially eligible people,” said Sean Suhl, founder of Let’s Date.

“You’re put into a crowd of people and if someone catches your eye and they catch your eye, then a conversation is struck up and then someone might ask the other person out on a date,” he added.

The app resulted from a frustration with other dating apps, according to Suhl, who described them as “artificial and laborious”.

“We’re just presenting you the daters and you’re just saying yes or no,” he added.

Both apps require a login with Facebook, so people must use their real identity. Let’s Date also stipulates that users must have been active on Facebook for a year, and have at least 50 friends before signing up.

Although the apps can set people up quickly, it still could take a while to find the right person.

“People are literally getting dates the same night, but you might want to give yourself enough time to find the right Valentine,” Rad said.

Both companies plan to release Android apps.

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