Month: April 2005

AdvancedTele.com Purchases Spark Network Services

Posted on April 4, 2005

Spark_network_servicesPRWEB — Apr 4 — AdvancedTele.com has purchased Spark Network Services.  Spark is a division of Infinity Broadcasting. AdvancedTele.com has been active in the newspaper voice personals business for over a decade. By purchasing Spark Network Services, it obtains over 400 voice personals accounts in the radio industry.  It will operate Spark's call center in Chicago and its automated telemarketing IVR system.  Spark Network Services (www.sparkns.com) most popular product is the MatchLink system, the leading interactive computer dating service used by radio and television stations in the US and Canada.  Its dating services have served over two million members since its inception in 1994.  RELEASE @ PRWEB

Mark Brooks: Spark who?  What kind of tradename search did Spark Networks (Matchnet) do to miss Spark Network Services!?  Yikes.  Spark (the one that was just acquired by Advanced Tele) was founded by a couple of Northwestern University professors in the mid 1990's as a newspaper voice personals company that evolved into online dating with webfriends.com.  Webfriends was sold to Match.com.  Spark (the one that was just acquired by Advanced Tele) now operates http://www.matchlink.com and http://www.planetultimate.com.

SWF Seeking 40-plus Singles for Good Times

Posted on April 4, 2005

NEVADA APPEAL — Apr 4 — "People are visual animals. With the Internet, you miss out on that magic feeling of eyeing someone from across the room and getting the thrills and chills of instant attraction," Kelly said.  "No matter how good the Web site is, there's always that lingering suspicion you may never really know exactly who you're communicating with."  Kelly has decided to revive Nevada Singles for 40-year-old-plus singles after a six-year hiatus.  "We're too young for the senior centers, and we're too old for the dance clubs," she laughed.  "Putting people in the same place and seeing what happens," said Kelly. "That's what we're all about."  Ice cream socials, full-moon hay-rides and hosted dinners – what Kelly calls "good, clean, conversational fun." 

The full article was originally published at Nevada Appeal, but is no longer available.

 Mark Brooks: A resurgence of real world singles clubs is in order.  Some are touting background checks and safety. 

Early Version Of Yahoo 360 Confusing All Around

Posted on April 4, 2005

Yahoo_360 WASHINGTON POST — Apr 3 — What is this service Yahoo unleashed on Tuesday, anyway?  Yahoo says it's designed to help you stay in touch with existing friends, not introduce you to strangers. But it feels a lot like Friendster and other social networking sites, with the addition of a blogging tool, a smattering of traditional Yahoo content and two odd new text-messaging tools.  Yahoo's service (360.yahoo.com), released to a limited number of beta testers, lets people create personal online sites to share content with their friends and family.  "Think of this as a My Yahoo page with your friends," said Julie Herendeen, Yahoo's vice president of network products. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

Mark Brooks: Friendster worked because it was simple (a la Craigslist).  Sign up, invite friends, see who your friends are buddies with…and add testimonials to make the 'connectors' egos ever larger.  Add in all the cute pics and you get a viral fever pitch.  The more social networking sites spring up, the less motivated the connectors get.

Keeping Online Daters Honest

Posted on April 4, 2005

TruedaterWIRED — Apr 1 — TrueDater, not to be confused with True.com, is a database of reviews written by people who met through online personals. The goal here is not to rate (or berate) the person, but to compare how he or she matched the profile that got your attention. Does she look like her pictures? Is he really 6 feet tall?  Currently, you can read and submit reviews for members of Match.com, JDate and AmericanSingles.com. To post a review, you indicate which dating site they belong to and enter their profile ID. Rate them with a "yes" (they tell the truth in their profiles) or a "no," and add a few words of explanation. 

The full article was originally published at Wired, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Why do they limit to Match and Spark I wonder?

Age-old Wisdom

Posted on April 4, 2005

Dating_adviceUK TELEGRAPH — April 1 — If you want to know the secrets of a long and happy marriage, ask Gran.   Jennie Hawthorne is the 88-year-old author of a new book on finding the right partner called Meet Your Match.  Jennie's mission is to revive the troubled institution of marriage. She and her ex-squadron leader husband have notched up 65 years with 7 children. Has she ever considered divorce?  "Divorce, never! But murder, often."  When reading recent statistics that show the suicide rate among young men to be the highest ever, Jennie, a financial services expert, decided that divorce and loneliness were the most pressing issues in modern life. Men don't cope well on their own, so she wants to help them (and women, too) find the right partners – and stick with them. "Girls these days push to get on, but young men don't seem to know where they are going," she observes.  Her precepts for long-term happiness include putting more emphasis on common interests, less on looks and passion; offering more compliments, less brutal honesty; showing more self-knowledge, less impatience.  Surprisingly, her dating book advocates old-fashioned morality in a contemporary setting. Escort agencies, speed-dating, agencies specialising in vegetarians, the protocol of internet dating: she describes them all with gusto. 

The full article was originally published at The Telegraph, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: This isn't an April Fools posting.  However, I couldn't find Jennie's book on Amazon yet; just 14 of her books. 

How To Look For Love Online

Posted on April 3, 2005

Cbs_online_dating_interviewCBS EARLY SHOW — Mar 31 — Today, online dating is socially acceptable and totally mainstream. 26 million people visit dating sites each month. Consumers will spend over $500 million on online dating services this year.  The Early Show turns to AOL's Consumer Adviser Regina Lewis for tips on finding love online.  Lewis says that for many singles, heading online is actually the preferred method of hooking up with potential dates because it offers them more control over their dating lives…"it can be a lot more productive. That has inherent appeal for a lot of people with busy lives."  Lewis says about half of the people who date online claim to be "serious daters." The other half, are "casual daters," who simply want to meet more people and have a good time.  Match.com, the largest, claims that about 200,000 users a year find the relationship they are looking for. Eharmony reports 4,000 marriages.  About 18% of those dating online now are over 55.  The other big trend is the growing number of "niche" dating sites. "The people I talk to who seem happiest with the process view it all as upside," she says, "They're happy to go on three or four dates a week even if many of them turn out to be not-so hot. They look at it as at least I'm getting out there.  Others do get burnt by the process and often make comments like, 'If I go on one more bad date, I am going to scream, and this is taking up tons of time and getting me nowhere.'" Then again, when you remind them, sitting at home also gets them nowhere, they tend to come around and concede, 'I guess you're right.'" FULL ARTICLE @ CBS NEWS

Mark Brooks: This sums up the upside of online dating nicely.  There's not much in the way of downside, and it's a helluva deal for the money.

Yahoo 360 Beta Testing

Posted on April 3, 2005

YahooSEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL — Mar 29 — So far, Yahoo 360 is quite nice. It seems to be the missing link connecting Yahoo Groups, photos, and centering them around blogging. There’s one uniform Yahoo login across Yahoo Groups, Mail and chat. Yahoo has also used 360 to showcase Yahoo Local User Reviews. If you’re checking out your friends’ profiles or maybe looking for some people with similar interest in your town, if they’ve commented on local businesses such as bars or restaurants it is shown in their 360 account. Those 360 users who listen to tunes on Yahoo Music can also share their favorites with Yahoo 360 members.  Also, favorite sports teams from Yahoo Sports, RSS feed subscriptions from My Yahoo and listings from Yahoo Pets community – you have various ways to find people who share your interests.  FULL ARTICLE @ SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL

Mark Brooks: You can count on Yahoo to be two things; very simple and straightforward to use (no fluff or feature creep), and very reliable.

Matchmaker Says Phoenix Hot Market

Posted on April 1, 2005

Janis_spindel
BUSINESS JOURNAL — Apr 1 — Janis
Spindel, founder and owner of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking,
is on her usual mission of matching time-starved rich businessmen with
beautiful, intelligent and single women. Those interested in
being interviewed should be in their early 30s, 40s, or 50s "if they
are really pretty," Spindel says. She charges clients anywhere from
$20,000 if in the New York area
to $40,000 if she has to travel out of state on her mission. However,
being a matchmaker for the elite is not without its risks. In
1999, a Manhattan doctor filed a $4 million lawsuit against Spindel.
The suit alleges that she overcharged him and thousands of other single
men for her services. Dr. Paul Dantzig was hit with a $50,000 bill. He
never got a match,
and he says New York state law prohibits her from charging such high
fees. Spindel’s company, started in 1994, has more than 10,000 members
in
the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas, she says, and works
one-on-one with between 50 to 100 men at a time. The ages of the men range from the late 20s to mid-60s, with the middle ages the most plentiful.