Communicating with people on dating sites and social networks is often accomplished by sending plain text messaging, generally the most fast and efficient way to dash off a message to a friend or potential date.

Sometimes you just want to leave a message or comment on a photo. Rich text editing lets you format text with bold, italic, colors and multiple fonts, for the times you want to add more of a personalized touch to you messages.

Web-based editors featuring rich text are commonly called WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You get). The most popular version is called TinyMCE, which is used on various dating sites, social networks and blog editors like WordPresss.

The people behind the web-based collaborate workgroup solution Basecamp have developed an improved rich text message editor called WYSIHAT. Improvements include lighter footprint (loads faster) and easier customization (TinyMCE tends to look like an old copy of Window 3.1, clunky and a PITA to customize.)

If you do implement rich text editing, one thing I would turn off the the ability to TYPE IN ALL CAPS. The next step towards more personalized messaging and additional revenue, thanks to our sponsor Sobayli, would be to explore virtual gifts, which, while quite popular on social networks, are slowly gaining acceptance in the online dating market.

Lately I have been furiously throwing sheep and sending roses to people on Facebook, working through what types of virtual goods and activities are the most engaging- fun, in an empty-calories kind of way. What’s clear is that we have a lot to learn when it comes to building compelling applications that truly engage participants.

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