GeekSugar

Study Shows More Women Than Men Online

GeekSugar — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:00:58 PDT

Just when men thought they were more techie then women, CBC news reports that internet usage among women has been ahead of male usage for some time. The eMarketer says that "female usage of the internet in the U.S. has risen 12.4 per cent since 2000, compared with 3.2 percent for males."

Demographics show that young females tend to spend more time on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and of course, Teamsugar. Unlike their male counterparts, who are apparently more apt to pursue the net for videos.

Don't expect these stats to change anytime soon - eMarketer estimates that by 2011, 109.7 million US females will be going online, amounting to 51.9 percent of the total online population. That calls for a - you go girl!

Tips For Building an Effective Online Dating Profile

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:02:33 PST

In this digital age, men and women aren't just hitting bars and coffee shops to snag a date. More and more, they're heading to the Internet. In fact, 50 percent of men have met a woman online according to a recent survey. It's obvious that online dating has become the norm, and for good reason - the Internet gives you more options because you can cover a wider area of partner possibilities (as in, the entire globe). And while your chances are better of finding a compatible mate on the worldwide web than, say, your small town of 13,000 people, the Internet can't help you if you don't give off the right signals. First impressions are everything - even virtual ones. Beef up your online dating profile with these tips, and snag yourself one of those "many fish" your mother is always talking about.

Make sure you're fishing in the right pool -You wouldn't go to Craigslist's Casual Encounters to look for a serious relationship, so don't go to Match.com if you're just looking for a little fun on a Friday night. Sites like eHarmony and Chemistry have had a lot of success by getting scientific about the dating process (taking your likes and dislikes and matching you up with someone who's compatible), so make sure you're ready to commit before diving in!
Lose the negativity - No one wants to meet up with a Debbie Downer, so if your online dating profile is riddled with sarcasm, negativity, and pessimism, you can be sure that you won't be getting many date requests any time soon. This doesn't mean you have to be fake, just keep the "I'm too cool for school" attitude to a minimum.

See a few more tips, including some important dos and don'ts for your profile photos, when you read more

Republicans Have More Orgasms, and More Fun Facts From Match.com's Singles Survey

Annie Scudder — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:45:03 PST

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to climax every time they have sex. Or at least that's what they reported in a new and expansive survey conducted by Match.com. In its second annual comprehensive Singles in America Study, the online dating site surveyed 5,000 singles across various demographics. Match wanted to know what men and women are looking for in sex, dating, and relationships. Here are five fun facts from the results.

Marriage Rates at Record Low: Bad News For Economy

LearnVest — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:15:56 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Bride Wars. Bridezillas. Bridalplasty. Shedding for the Wedding. Platinum Weddings. Say Yes to the Dress.

If you flip through the channels, it looks like all of America is altar-bound.

But in fact, the Pew Research Center found that American marriage rates are at an all-time low: Only 51% of Americans over age 18 are married. Marriage rates have declined by 5% between 2009 and 2010 and 21 percentage points since 1960, when 72% of adults were married.

Are We Aging Out of Marriage?

It’s no surprise that things are very different today from only a few short years ago - see cell phones, laptops, tablets and the Facebook timeline. The big things are changing, too.

Half of men getting married for the first time are 29 years or older and half of women marrying for the first time are 27 or older, which means that many Americans are tying the knot well past age 30. Of course, the big 3-0 is getting younger and younger, so the news isn’t revelatory, but for reference, remember that Marie Antoinette married at age 14. In more recent history, Elizabeth Taylor’s first marriage took place when she was only 18.

Marriage and Money

So, what does all this have to do with money? A lot, it turns out.

First, married people tend to accumulate money. As Pew researcher and senior writer D’Vera Cohn explains in The Huffington Post, "Some of that might have to do with who chooses to get married, that is, people who are educated have less of a decline in their marriage rates than people who are less educated. We also know that the kind of partnership marriage encourages is one in which you plan for the future, share your assets, build wealth together. There isn’t that evidence yet for people who live together."

Second, beyond the married couple’s individual finances, their marriage affects the wider economy. Married people wait to make big purchases and investments until they’ve "settled down." Those purchases include houses, children, property . . . the big things that keep our economy spinning in a way that rent checks and vodka sodas can’t manage.

We're not saying that marriage will make you rich, or that opting out of the contract keeps you from being so. But research shows that marriage is good for our finances and good for the economy at large, so it follows that a decline in marriage rates isn’t exactly helping us climb out of the recession crater.

There goes the bride.

More From LearnVest
There’s a way to get $1,600 in free food, but it involves online dating and spreadsheets.
When it comes to getting what you want, are wish lists practical or tacky?
We know they’re wobbly, but how do high heels indicate economic instability?

Another Reason to Play Online Games: More Sex, More Often

Kristy Korcz — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:05:56 PST

Video games may make you happy, but did you know that women who play online games have more sex than those who don't? This, according to new research by the Harris Interactive firm, which also says that online gamers are predominately women (55 percent vs. 45 percent of men) and are more active (inside and outside the boudoir) than non-online gamers.

Though the differences are slim, 38 percent of female online gamers say they have sex at least once per week, while 34 percent of non-online gamers partake in "business time" one or more times per week. This could be related to the fact that 61 percent of women play online games to relieve stress, and a relaxed gal is more likely to enjoy herself in the bedroom.

Do One Thing: Unsubscribe From Everything

Bundle — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:15:20 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Bundle story here on Savvy!

Of the mail you receive-both electronic and otherwise-how much is legit, and how much is junk? That’s what we thought. According to various sources, something like 90 percent of all email is spam, and direct-marketing mail makes up more than half of U.S. Post Office volume. Then there are telemarketers. (Remember them?) Here’s how to lighten the load.

This is for you: If you’re overwhelmed by junk mail, junk email, and unwanted telephone calls.

Cost: Varies, depending on the services you use and whether you’d like to donate to the services that are free. (But probably $20 or less.)

Hands-on time: Varies, depending on how many services you decide to unsubscribe from

Total time: Same

What you’ll need:

An Internet-connected computer
Some idea of the catalogs and junk mail senders you’d like to block

What to do:

1. Put all of your phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry to prevent telemarketers from contacting you. Note: If you’ve done business with or donated to an organization, they still have permission to contact you unless you expressly ask the company to take you off its calling list.

2. Consider a service like CatalogChoice.org to remove your name from catalog and other direct mailing lists. Remove yourself from specific catalogs for free, and remove yourself from all direct mail marketing lists for a $20 annual fee.

Read on for more.

How-To: Research the Salary You Deserve

Emily Co — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:45:28 PDT

It's a fact: women get paid less than men. Although the gender gap is narrowing, there are still leaps and bounds we need to take to even out this unfair discrepancy. We're obviously not going to be handed what we deserve so we need to start asking for it.

A recent Huffpost Women article pointed out a grave mistake that women are making straight out from college - they aren't negotiating their first salary. This will set them back in the long run, because if a woman starts off her career track earning less money than men, it will be harder to narrow the salary gap and catch up. This seems to be a prevalent problem. According to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, female new grads are earning 17 percent less than their male counterparts, and that's partly due to the fact that they're not negotiating.

What's the solution to this? Well, we need to start negotiating for the salary we deserve. The first few steps to earning our worth, Huffpost Women says, includes researching the pay. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Go to your college career center: Take advantage of the resources your expensive tuition provides you, and ask the counselors at your school to give an estimate of what your fellow classmates are making in a particular field. Schools tend to regularly poll their students for salary statistics and the information they give you will give you a more accurate amount of what someone with your profile can expect to receive. They may also be able to share personal anecdotes of what other students in similar situations are making.
Check out online salary tools: There are a ton of helpful online salary tools that can give you a rough gauge of how much to negotiate for. Take a look at Indeed.com to see what figure their salary search comes up with. What I like about Indeed's salary tool is that it's very simple, so it's a good website to start with. If your company is big enough, you may be able to find out the pay of employees through anonymous salary quotes at Glassdoor.com.
Ask your employer for the range: When your employer asks how much salary you're expecting (remember don't ask them about pay if they don't talk about it in your interview!), respond in kind with, "What's a fair range that someone at my position is making?" Take in that information and tell them you'll get back to them after you sit on it for a while.

Entrepreneurship 101: Q&A With Wendy Downs of Moop Handmade Bags

LearnVest — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:15:12 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Wendy Downs is the owner and founder of Moop, an online shop that sells stylish, utilitarian handmade bags for men, women and children. Is it successful? Just ask her devoted fans, who rave about the quality of both the bags and the customer service.

Wendy’s success seems almost too easy. The four-year-old business turned a profit in its second year, and it has grown from one old sewing machine and an Etsy shop to a storefront workshop in Pittsburgh and its own e-commerce site.

Find out how Wendy turned an idea into a success story, with no previous business experience - plus a giveaway below!

How did you get the business started?

After I graduated in 2006 I was basically unemployable with a useless graduate degree in art. I was using this old sewing machine to sew together a bag for myself. It wasn’t a very nice bag, just a rectangle with two handles, but people started asking where I got it, and if I could make them one.

Then my sister-in-law came to visit and she asked if I had ever heard of Etsy. A few months later, I set up shop, and within three days somebody had bought a bag.

Do you regret getting your art degree?

It wasn’t totally useless. My degree was in photography, and I do take all my own product photographs. If I’d only had an “Accounting 101″ class, though . . .

Were you scared about running your own business?

There was a short time where I was working another job, and the moment when I decided to quit was scary. But so far it’s been only good. My dad ran his business and both his parents ran their own business, so there was this entrepreneurial thing within me that I hadn’t tapped into.

I tend to operate on the philosophy of just doing things. Sometimes that works for me, and sometimes it doesn’t. But if I don’t try, I tend to wonder what the outcome will be.

Read about what Wendy has to say about the advantage of being on Etsy.

Digital Dating: Men vs. Women

GeekSugar — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:54:27 PDT

AskMen.com and Cosmopolitan teamed up to release the results of the Great Male/Female Survey. The poll of more than 80,000 men and women around the world looks at the current state of love, health, fashion, and life for both sexes. Of course, we're a bit more interested in the survey's findings on dating in a digital world.

Both men and women are nearly equally comfortable with a partner friending an ex on Facebook. Forty-four percent of men say this is fine, and 40 percent of women are not bothered with exes keeping in touch.
More of the surveyed women are tempted to read a partner's Facebook messages or emails. Twenty-nine percent of women would not peek at this correspondence, compared to the 36 percent of men who refuse to look at private messages.
Online dating? Sure! Only 37 percent of men and 44 percent of women would completely rule out the prospect of finding a mate through a matchmaking website.

With the intricacies of digital life, social networks, and online dating moving into the mainstream, perhaps it's now OK to make this assumption: both men and women are looking at tech life through the same (digital) lens.

4 Things You Might Not Know About Sexting

TresSugar — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:00:00 PDT

The wondrous world of sexting may have gained some serious exposure with the Anthony Weiner scandal, but we have the dirt on some facts and research that shift your preconceived notions about who is sexting and what is being sent. For the four things you may not know, read on