Free Online Guide Offers Singles Everywhere Expert Dating Tips, Gift-Giving Ideas and Holiday Dating Trends.

Zoosk, the world’s largest social dating community, is hoping to make singles’ holiday dating experiences a little brighter this year with its Single’s Survival Guide to Holiday Dating. The Guide, which is free to download at www.zoosk.com/survivalguide.php, includes tips from relationship experts, gift giving ideas, holiday dating trends and more.

“More singles participate in online dating during the holiday season than during any other time of the year,” said Alex Mehr, co-founder and co-CEO of Zoosk. “We know that the holidays can present unique dating questions and challenges, so we talked with several relationship experts and then polled singles in our own community to gather the best tips, gift giving ideas, and holiday dating trends out there. We hope our Single’s Survival Guide to Holiday Dating will help make dating this holiday more enjoyable for singles everywhere.”

Zoosk’s Single’s Survival Guide to Holiday Dating contains a variety of helpful content, including:

The Survey Says – Singles Are Looking For Romance This Holiday Season
Zoosk recently conducted a survey among its users to understand their thoughts about holiday dating. The survey found:

• This holiday season, 63% of singles are looking for long-term true love, 33% of singles are just looking for a holiday party date and 4% feel it’s too stressful to date during the holidays
• Surprisingly, 19% of men say they would invite a woman to their office holiday party as a first date. Only 10% of women are this daring

Tips From The Pros
Zoosk teamed up with several relationship experts to gather their best holiday dating advice. The Guide includes tips from:

• Sherry Amatenstein, LMSW, relationship columnist for iVillage.com and author of The Complete Marriage Counselor
• Rich Santos, Dating Diaries Blogger on MarieClaire.com, marieclaire.com/dating
• Julie Spira, bestselling author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online, dating advice columnist, and founder of CyberDatingExpert.com

Holiday Gift Giving
It’s hard enough to shop for gifts for friends and family, much less the perfect gift for someone you’re dating. Zoosk went straight to the source – singles on Zoosk – with a survey and asked what they would appreciate receiving as a gift this holiday. 

Overwhelmingly, singles agreed on the #1 gift they’d most like to receive this holiday: a hug or a kiss. The Guide includes additional gift ideas for new relationships.

Virtual Gift Giving
Earlier this year, Zoosk conducted a survey of its users and found that 76% said they would be more likely to respond to a potential match if they received a virtual gift from that person. A selection of Zoosk’s new holiday gifts are unveiled in the Guide.

The Data on Holiday Dating
Zoosk took a look at holiday dating activity in 2008 to see what trends and tips could be uncovered. A few of the interesting finds included:

• The week before Christmas marks the year’s busiest week for online dating activity
• The second most popular week of the year for online dating is the first week of January
• In general, Mondays are the busiest day of the week for online dating activity

To read more tips and survey results, download the Single’s Survival Guide to Holiday Dating at www.zoosk.com/survivalguide.php.