Finding Love on the Internet: It Works

Yahoo! Joins Dating Circle

Yahoo! similarly lets singles connect over the Internet through Yahoo! Instant Messenger, an online software that allows users to send instant messages for free.

Members of Yahoo! Personals, an online dating service, can exchange messages through Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Yahoo! Voice to keep in touch with other singles.

"Yahoo! Voice features are not integrated into Yahoo! Personals," said Terrell Karlsten, spokeswoman for the Internet service.

But the service can be integrated as a pay-as-you-go service, similar to Lavalife's.

Currently, Yahoo! Voice has a promotion until the end of the year that allows users to sign up for Yahoo! Voice and gives 100 free minutes to five friends and families, Karlsten said.

"Yahoo! Personals has grown as consumers spend more and more time online. Many of our members who meet online through Yahoo! Personals now take their relationship to the next level through online chat and phone services," said Yahoo! spokeswoman Annie Sammis.

"But many people like to begin by exchanging e-mails, which gives them time to craft a response at their convenience. For online dating, e-mail tends to be more well thought out, affording a potentially deeper, personal interaction. IM, on the other hand, is great for gauging a quick initial interest," she said.

Phil Wolff, managing editor of Skype Journal, said that Skype users were able to take their relationship to different levels through "loads of intimacy."

"It lets people escalate through different levels of intimacy, from chat, to voice, and then steps it up to video," Wolff said.

A Marriage, Thanks to Skype

In November 2005, just four days into his trip, Passerby married Al-Saban in Cairo.

They had to wait nearly a year for her paperwork to be filed and cleared so that she could enter the United States.

In the meantime, the couple continued to keep in touch through Skype by talking for hours at a time online.

"I would call his cell phone every day through Skype," Al-Saban said.