Beliefnet, Yahoo! add spiritual chemistry to cyber soul mate searches

Beliefnet, whose spirituality Web site (beliefnet.com) attracts 3.1 million users per month, earlier this month said it will connect its dating service users with those of Yahoo! Personals, an online dating service based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! Personals will host Beliefnet's Soulmatch dating venue. The new arrangement gives users of Soulmatch access to as many as 5 million singles who troll for new connections each month on the Yahoo! Personals site.

"For so many people, finding a soul match means connecting on a deep level--seeing what's on the inside as well as on the outside," said Steven Waldman, CEO and cofounder of Beliefnet. "We want to help people who believe that spiritual connection is an important part of building a great relationship."

Currently, women--who make up 60 percent of Beliefnet users--outnumber men on the Soulmatch Web site, Waldman said. But he expects "the partnership with Yahoo! will even that out."

Beliefnet's agreement with Yahoo! Personals comes at a time when social networking sites, such as MySpace, are demonstrating critical ability to attract large numbers of loyal visitors. Beliefnet originally launched Soulmatch, Waldman said, after noticing "the tremendous popularity of advertising for spiritually oriented online dating on our site."

Among those advertisers was eHarmony, an online dating service that attributes millions of matches to a process that explores such factors as core values, spiritual beliefs, passions and character. However, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site takes a somewhat different approach from eHarmony, Waldman said. While eHarmony uses a mathematical formula to generate a list of potential matches, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site gives users the tools to make their own short lists.

This year, eHarmony expanded its service to include interactive tools for helping married couples nurture their relationship. Beliefnet and Yahoo! Personals are taking a similar step by offering "expert relationship and dating advice" on their site to help users "build strong relationships."

"We believe a great spiritual dating site would offer a large community of daters, excellent search and matching tools, and superlative content about spiritual relationships," said Anna Zornosa, vice president and general manager for Yahoo! Personals. "Our partnership with Beliefnet will give us the opportunity to provide all three elements to customers seeking spiritual chemistry."

--Religion News Service