LANSING STATE JOURNAL
— Apr 6 — I teamed up with a wingwoman. I paid $50 an hour for Amy, a pretty, friendly, intelligent, professional wingwoman contracted by www.wingwomen.com in New York City. I would be a reporter (true) who just got back from Florida (true), where I befriended Amy’s boyfriend (false), who also lived in Florida (true). I was in New York City on business (sorta true) having drinks with Amy because I don’t know anyone in the area (false). When men approach women at a bar, the motives are transparent: "Hi. We are sleazeballs here to hit on you." But when Dan is replaced with Amy, even though the motives may be the same, the impression is different: "Hi. I’m a friendly guy who spends time with attractive women and I’m interested in getting to know you as a person." We moved on to a table with four of the most attractive women ever assembled on a single patch of earth. Amy said she was already taken, but she flirted with me enough to make me seem desirable. My confidence soared. But not for long. "I couldn’t get those women on my own," I told Amy as we walked away. "You’re right," she said. "You couldn’t.
Month: April 2005
FOX Uses Friendster Blogs for Pamela Anderson Show ‘Stacked’
PRNEWSWIRE — Apr 6 — Friendster announced it is working with FOX to promote it's new series, 'Stacked,' through the use of Friendster Blogs. More than thirty members of the cast and crew, including 'Stacked' star Pamela Anderson, have Friendster profiles and blogs, providing insight and images on the making of the show, and a look at what's going on behind the scenes. The 'Stacked' blogs on Friendster are viewable to the public at http://stacked.friendster.com. Cast profiles are only available to Friendster members.
Mark Brooks: We'll be seeing more of this kind of 'celebrity connection' in the online dating world ;-) It's great for branding, viral marketing, PR.
Userplane Chat and Instant Messaging Launched on Date.com
BUSINESS WIRE — Apr 6 — Userplane, social software pioneer, today announced a partnership with Date.com to provide Userplane Webmessenger and Webchat. "By partnering with Userplane, we are providing them with the best chat and IM capabilities currently on the market," said Date.com CEO, Meir Strahlberg.
Sitracon Cancelled
OPW — Apr 5th — SITRACon, the convention for the Singles Industry Trade Association has been cancelled…just one week prior to the convention! Poor form. The last SITRACon pulled 75-100. iDate2005 pulled 350+. Looks like iDate is emerging as the favored gathering point for the industry. Mark Brooks
Dr Conru; FriendFinder CEO Interview
WALL STREET REPORTER — Mar 31 — Some summary facts about FriendFinder; 25 million active members, 90 million signups since 1996, 80-90,000 registrations a day, 20 dating verticals including adultfriendfinder, alt, asiafriendfinder, amigos etc. 180 Palo Alto employees, 80 abroad in customer service and photo reviewing, 250 all in. Friendfinder just acquired Cams.com (and hired Legendary Lars). In the future FriendFinder will become more of a personal agent for online daters. They are in acquisition mode and more amenable and interested in going public than in the past.
Mark Brooks: Employee numbers would include FriendFinder's marketing spinoff Medley. Dr Conru got it right in 1996, and is now enjoying the rewards of some very early, very smart decisions. He actually started webpersonals.com in 1994 and sold it off while he was at Stanford Uni. Webpersonals ended up with Lavalife. At the beginning of 2004 Dr Conru was quoted as expecting FriendFinder to make $75-$100 million revenue in 2004. I'm sure they aced those numbers. An Alexa rank of 53 for AdultFriendFinder, no less. There are two very clear strands in society emerging that are being reflected in the online dating arena. (The uncommitted and the comitted). On the one hand, casual/sex dating sites are doing very well, on the other, relationship sites such as eHarmony, True and PerfectMatch are ruling the roost.
Niche Dating Sites Allow Special-interest Singles to Find Each Other
ARIZONA TRIBUNE — Apr 5 — The online personals industry is experiencing "The Big Squeeze." Mark Brooks, an online personals industry analyst and editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com, says hundreds of small dating sites have emerged in the past five years. They are now competing for advertising dollars with the big guys like Match.com. But lower profits don’t mean the online dating bubble is about to burst, says Brooks. "It’s actually quite the opposite in some ways. Online (dating) is as solid as ever. It’s no longer cheesy and it’s no longer sneered at." Brooks estimates there are about 900 Internet dating sites, and he claims that more people than ever are signing up. Niches are the growing trend among these smaller start-ups. "There’s really something for everybody." People who enjoy hiphop can find love on Hiphopsinglesconnection.com and (young) women looking for generous men to shower them with gifts may find success at Sugardaddyz.com. There are also companies that cater to "varying levels of singleness." People looking for a spouse may have the best chance on eHarmony. The site is known to include members who are motivated and serious about ending their singlehood, says Brooks. On the other hand, Friendster.com helps individuals create a social network and don’t necessarily aim to make love connections. "They do a good job of modeling the real world." FULL ARTICLE @ EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE
Mark Brooks: I recommend some of the niche sites such as ChristianCafe.com, DateMyPet and SeniorFriendFinder. Never heard of Hiphopsinglesconnection and Sugardaddyz though. They look like intriguing, but have no traffic (according to www.alexa.com) and probably just a handful of members.
March Online Personals Rankings
OPW — Apr 5 — The new online personals rankings are out, courtesy of Hitwise. The top 7 remain the same. True moves from 10th to 8th spot. LoveAccess climbs from 13th to 11th spot squeezing Cupid into 12th spot. BlackPeopleMeet jumps onto the top 15 charts at 14th spot…and who are mate1.com? They leaped into 15th spot pushing aside MSN Match!? fyi…The Match.com ranking does not include the numbers from their partnerships with AOL and MSN, which might explain why they are playing second fiddle to Yahoo in the Hitwise listings. Mark Brooks
Carat Interactive Launches New Campaign for PerfectMatch.com
PRNEWSWIRE — Apr 4 — Carat Interactive announced a new interactive online ad campaign for PerfectMatch.com titled "Genuine People, Real Love," building on the existing member base of over 1.5 million users and momentum created through the Dr. Phil show feature on February 11. "Using the 'love letters' in the ads gives us a strong visual device, which further distinguishes the brand," said Tamara Birdsall, VP/Creative Director at Carat. "We'd love to see the letters take on a life of their own, because they say so much about the importance that PerfectMatch.com places on the individual. The new theme speaks to both the sincerity and motivations of PerfectMatch.com members and the idea that PerfectMatch.com holds the promise of the sort of relationship people dream about — one with permanence, reliability, romance, and mutual acceptance," The online advertising campaign began on April 1st and will run on sites including MSN, LifetimeTV.com, MSNBC, Netzero, eDiets and EarthLink.
Mark Brooks: Upstart Perfect Match is becoming a very serious contender as a relationships focused online personals site.
CGI to Acquire Vintacom/Relationship Exchange
BUSINESS WIRE — Apr 4 — CGI Holding, which plans to change its name to Think Partnership, announced a deal to buy Vintacom and Real Estate School Online. The Company expects to pay an aggregate of $4.95 million in cash and $4.95 million in stock to acquire the two companies. The acquisitions should add $3.2 million to its pre-tax income. Located in Edmonton, Alberta and founded in 1999, Vintacom operates DreamMates.com, SingleMe.com, and PassionatePersonals.com and the Relationship Exchange affiliate network of dating sites. "We see great potential for immediate synergy between ourselves, Cherish, WebSourced, PrimaryAds and KowaBunga," said Brad Hogg, CEO, who will continue to lead the business. CGI has seven subsidiaries: 1.WebSourced, (SEO & PPC management Keyword Ranking); 2.MarketSmart Advertising, 3.Rightstuff/Bright Idea Studios, and 4.Checkup Marketing, providing off-line advertising, PR, marketing, branding and shopping evaluation services; 5.Cherish (online dating); 6.Ozona Online Network (web design, web apps, hosting, e-commerce; and 7.KowaBunga! Marketing (affiliate marketing). CGI plans to also acquire Proceed Interactive (marketing agency) and PrimaryAds (affiliate network).
Mark Brooks: Think Partnership is building itself a powerful marketing team and online personals hub. They will shortly have a combined workforce of 400 people. Scott Mitchell has been leading the acquisitions team and commented to me, “Vintacom will be a very important ingredient in our long term growth strategy within the online dating vertical. Vintacom’s expertise in online dating technology, affiliate marketing, and community management will benefit all our dating properties.” Brad added, "access to these (marketing) competencies will enable Vintacom to accelerate its already aggressive growth strategy.” Watch this space!
Celebrity Relationships
PRNEWSWIRE — Mar 31 — Hollywood couples are widely known for their failed relationships and unusually high divorce rates. Most recently, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen called it quits after three years of marriage, which was preceded by the dissolution of Hollywood's fairytale marriage between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Chief psychologist for TRUE.com, Dr. James Houran examined 21 celebrity couples to determine the leading factors that destroy celebrity relationships. Out of 11 characteristics of celebrity couples, Dr. Houran found three to be mathematically linked to celebrity break-ups. He then further assessed which relationships were very likely to succeed and which ones were likely to burn out.
The full article was originally published at Compuserve, but is no longer available.