Free dating site OkCupid has been rolling out some interesting newsletters on its user behavior the past few months.  This month’s discussed the best questions to ask on a first date. The recently acquired website is turning data it gathered from its users, notably a database of at least 275,294 ‘match questions’ and roughly 776 million answers (relationship concerns) into points of interest and statistics. This is basically a data market OkCupid has created, which it will increasingly leverage on the consumer level in newer and more gainful ways.

Viewing OkCupid from the cloud angle, the dating site has found a way to utilize its big data, which it has been probably collecting throughout most of its years in existence.  Making consumer-driven value points around it is a mere byproduct of the activity taking place on its site.  It’s a trend many businesses are taking, in part to promote themselves across social media channels, and in part as a way to contribute to the compounding data markets that are emerging from the social interactions taking place on the web at large.  While this marketing ploy represents yet another use case for internal big data, it also presents the means for continued self-improvement as a business.

OkCupid has been acquired last week by Match.com for $50 million in cash, in order to expand and reach younger demographics. Match.com is owned by IAC, and the acquisition will help the industry leader to better compete with Zoosk, a premium subscription dating site (with a basic free option as well) who’ve seen tremendous growth throughout the past year.

“Dating site Zoosk says that based on its January revenue, it will have a run rate of $90 million this year. Of course, recent growth could be a side effect of New Year’s resolutions and winter holiday loneliness, but the company says revenue is up 250 percent from this time last year.”

Zoosk is looking to takeover Match.com and eHarmony’s current share of the dating market with its younger and relatively more casual approach. Zoosk’s growth is impressive, and has applied several mainstream marketing tactics to further its hold on the market.  Competing with this on a large scale will require more than monthly newsletters that visualize dating data in interesting ways, but big data is still at the heart of OKCupid’s ability to push forward from here.

Managing, accessing and analyzing big data are important aspects of a company’s growth strategy, and are becoming necessary actions for any business developing on the web.  The interaction with users alone is cause for ongoing social studies, and real-time data processing is enabling us to convert those data points at a rapid pace.  What a business does with that data is drive decisions along a pipeline that’s better oriented for the future–an insurance of sorts, based in statistics and compounding knowledge.   See more on big data trends and use cases here.