Month: May 2005

Google Buys Dodgeball Text-message Networking Service

Posted on May 16, 2005

DodgeballINFOWORLD — May 12 — Google continued extending its reach beyond the PC this week by acquiring social networking service Dodgeball.com; a grad-school project started at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. The service lets users "check in" their location at a bar, club, restaurant, or other local gathering spot, then transmits that information as a text message to the mobile phones of selected other Dodgeball.com users in the area. The goal is to spark in-person connections among friends, acquaintances and friends-of-friends.   "As a two-person team, Alex and I have taken dodgeball about a far as we can alone.  We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but no one really 'got' what we were doing — that is until we met Google. The people at Google think like us. They looked at us in a 'You're two guys doing some pretty cool stuff, why not let us help you out and let's see what you can do with it' type of way."  He and Rainert will remain with the company and begin work on new features. 

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

Mark Brooks: Wireless online dating is coming…  Heck, it's already here.  Webdate has the nicest application I've seen so far.  Yahoo is available on Blackberry now.  Check out the mobile dating internet conference, San Francisco in July, http://www.idate2005.com.  (Member of the press?  Contact me at mark@courtlandbrooks.com) 

Very Personal Personals: Dating With an STD

Posted on May 16, 2005

Herpes_datingWASHINGTON POST — May 10 — Shawn Henderson tried online dating through AOL, but he preferred a personals site for those, like him, who're HIV-positive. Nancy stumbled across Meet People With H (http://www.MPwH.net). She posted information about herself, along with a photo, and within days, responses from "tons of men" — including CEOs, a firefighter and an architect — came pouring in.  More than 65 million Americans live with a viral sexually transmitted disease such as herpes, human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B and HIV. Many online dating services find the subject of STDs to be taboo.  Positive Personals (for people diagnosed with HIV) and After H (herpes and HPV) work like any online dating service.  The Antopia Herpes/HPV Network is the largest and busiest STD community on the Web, with nearly 45,000 members (http://www.gotherpes.com).  FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

Mark Brooks: Mainstream dating sites have left this niche completely unattended.  A great niche and valuable public service.

True.com Forms Exclusive Partnership With AskMen.com

Posted on May 16, 2005

True_online_dating_logo_9PRNEWSWIRE — May 11 — True and AskMen, the leader in men's lifestyle content, announced an exclusive partnership. True will serve as AskMen.com's exclusive online personals partner. AskMen.com will provide its popular content on dating, love and sexuality to TRUE's site.  The two companies will also work together on a series of cross-promotional events."  With more than 6 million monthly readers that generate 65,000,000 page views each month, AskMen.com is clearly the first place that men turn to for advice online.

Mark Brooks: A major coup for True.

Searching for Profit in Networking Web Sites

Posted on May 16, 2005

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE — May 12 — LinkedIn is hoping to create a viable business by capturing a small piece of a classified advertising market estimated to be worth more than $20 billion.  It charges employers $95 to post a job listing for 30 days.  It had 1,000 or so job listings last month.  "They're giving recruiters access to people they wouldn't normally be able to get to," said Charlene Li, Forrester Research. "These are passive job seekers – people who aren't actively looking for jobs – who are extremely valuable to the recruiter and the hiring manager."  Tribe.net, raised $6.3 million, and encourages users to join "tribes" of mutual interest.  A free service that charges for classified ads posted on its site.  Tribe had 243,000 unique visitors in March, according to comScore Media Metrix, 3.7 million people turned to Craigslist.  Friendster received ~$13 million in funding…and found itself eclipsed by a pair of newer, more narrowly focused social networking companies, MySpace, specializing in music, and Thefacebook.com, geared to university students. Friendster had 975,000 uniques in March, according to comScore, 11.3 million users visited MySpace, 4.1 million to Thefacebook. 

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

Mark Brooks: These sites are also doing a good job of reaching the 18-30's crowd…which is an increasingly valuable, and hard to reach demographic.  They're tuning in to the TV less, in preference to the internet.

Psychologist Unveils Free Marital Success Test Online

Posted on May 16, 2005

Matchwise_lemanPRWEB — May 10 — Psychologist Dr. Kevin Leman unveiled a free online Personality Compatibility Test.  Leman has authored over 25 books on practical approaches for building lasting relationships. His online dating site is MatchWise.com has as its main goal the prevention of marital mistakes through the psychology of birth order. "We'll show you that the best marital match isn't with someone just like you," says Leman. "If each of you is too similar in personality and conflict skills, you're likely to have more difficulty, not less. For an 'ideal' match, you'll want some things in common; but the best matches are opposites!"  RELEASE @ PRWEB

Mark Brooks: A budding Dr Warren perhaps?  As eHarmony pulls away from it's Christian focus towards the mainstream, perhaps Dr Leman will find success in maintaining it's focus on Christian singles matching.

Online Love Coach

Posted on May 15, 2005

NEWS 14 CAROLINA — May 10 — Some have success with online dating, others don't. One expert says it’s because people don’t have a clue on how to put together a strong online profile.  You need more than just one good picture.  Beyond pictures, the words are where so many people fail… being too generic. Don't just list an activity, share the moment. Dodson started her consulting business two years ago. So far she has helped 60 clients improve their profiles for $250. 

The full article was originally published at News14, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Check out www.lookbetteronline.com and www.e-cyrano.com.  My favorite photos and profile help services.

Supporters of Online Dating Criminal Background Screening Continue Efforts

Posted on May 15, 2005

True_online_dating_logo_8PRNEWSWIRE — May 9 — "While the legislature ran out of time before they could have a complete dialogue on this issue, we are prepared to take this measure in a new direction," said House sponsor Rep. Kevin Ambler. "We need to determine how Floridians can be better served and protected by available criminal background data, which by law is public record."  Supporters will be requesting the House Speakers Office to assemble a committee to study the quality and availability of criminal background screening data in Florida. Supporters of this health and public safety measure include more than 130 Safer Online Dating Alliance (SODA) members including the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, the International Union of Police Associations, the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, National Organization of Women-Florida Chapter. 

Mark Brooks: The availability of exhaustive criminal records data for background searches is under question…for good reason.  It falls short. 

Dinner, Movie, Background Check

Posted on May 15, 2005

Business_weekBUSINESS WEEK — May 9 — The founder and CEO of True.com, Vest has been pushing several state legislatures to pass a bill mandating that all online-dating sites do background checks on their members or carry a disclaimer if they choose not to. The legislation has been proposed in California, Michigan, Texas, and Virginia, but so far has gained the most momentum in Florida, but it ran out of time. Match.com, Yahoo, Microsoft, and others are against it.  The American Civil Liberties Union contend it violates members’ privacy.  Vest and Republican state legislators — John Carona, Texas, Alan Cropsey of Michigan, and Ambler of Florida — believe the Internet’s current anonymity lulls people into a false sense of security.  Legislators point out that some 180 organizations have come out in favor of the bill, including local sheriff’s offices and victims’ support groups.  Before starting True.com, Vest owned a financial firm called HD Vest, a network of independent accountants who also gave financial-planning advice. In the early 1990s, it was either illegal or against accounting rules to take commissions in 40 out of 50 states. Vest ignored the rules. The FTC backed Vest’s stance and the American Institute of CPAs reversed its anticommission stance, causing many of the states to follow suit.  Vest’s firm prospered and was sold to Wells Fargo in 2001 for $127 million.  No matter what happens on the state level with background checks, Vest aims to be a thorn in the online-dating industry’s side for years to come.

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

Florida Background Checks Legislation Update

Posted on May 15, 2005

SUN SENTINEL — May 7 — Legislation that failed in the 2005 regular session of the Florida Legislature, which adjourned Friday, would have: — Required online dating sites to put warnings on their Web sites if they fail to do background checks. 

Asian Industry Internet Dating Conference; May 12-13

Posted on May 15, 2005

Idate_logo_2005_1PR WEB — May 8 — The Hong Kong Online Dating Conference and Expo will focus on management, technology and marketing to Asia and the Far East for the online personals industry.  Attending the event will be senior executives from all aspects of the internet dating industry and social networking industry, as well as executives from wireless telecommunication firms, software companies, marketing firms and entrepreneurs located in the Far East. Speakers at this event include executives from: Click2Asia, Bharat Matrimony, Asia Friendfinder, Asian Promise, Userplane, One2One Magazine, and Bartle Bogle Hegarty.  Topics include: Dating business development in China, social networking and online dating in Asian nations, wireless carriers and business models for mobile social networking, the dating market in India, the mobile dating market, search engine marketing in China.  The Internet Dating Conference (http://www.InternetDatingConference.com), otherwise known as iDate 2005, holds the largest industry events for the online dating and social networking industry. 

Mark Brooks: I handle Media Relations for iDate btw.  The next conference will focus on mobile internet dating, July 21-22, Hilton San Francisco.  See you there.