PRNEWSWIRE — June 7 — CupidsReviews.com helps readers understand the differences in dating websites. Cupid’s Reviews has rated and ranked over 70 different dating sites?
Mark Brooks: This is what an affiliate website should look like. A quality job.
UK GUARDIAN — June 5 — 'The Infidelity Report' carried out by the Consumer Analysis Group, revealed that 1/3 of people think people were made to stray, over 3/4 consider infidelity more common than ever and nearly as many find it increasingly acceptable. Nearly a third of over 1,000 respondents didn't consider infidelity in a short-term relationship as 'being unfaithful' – a mindset that has been imported from the New York dating scene. Most women want to be in a relationship from day one but more and more men are trying to get away with [not settling down] so women are adopting the trend of dating more people too. Meeting more people has been made possible because of methods such as internet dating and speed dating. In the past you had to wait for single people to find you – now you can go out to find them. Mobile phones, email and text messaging were all cited as ways to conduct an affair safely. There was a disparity on what would constitute cheating. While some said flirty text messages and emails were too much, almost a quarter did not consider a 'lingering kiss' to be an offence, while 12% said you could only be 'unfaithful' if you were married.
The full article was originally published at Guardian UK, but is no longer available.
LA DAILY NEWS — June 4 — While general online personals and dating sites have been around for years, a new online dating niche has emerged and is seeing surging growth in the LA area: Sites catering to ethnic groups. With an estimated 600,000 Iranians and 400,000 Armenians in LA — the largest populations outside those countries — the sheer size of the communities is fueling much of the growth. "I found this to be a great way to try to find Armenians. It brings the whole community together," ," a business owner said. That's the philosophy of Said Amin, CEO and founder of World Singles which runs IranianPersonals.com (120,000 members, 1/3 in LA), HyeSingles.com (16,000 members, 2/3 LA), and ArabLounge.com. JDate accounted for nearly 25% of Spark Networks' $65.1 million in revenues in 2004, and its online dating service has grown so large that it is rolling out premiere offerings to try to continue to attract and retain customers. In early May, it launched Joe's Club in LA in which provides personalized matchmaking at dinner tables of eight people, for an annual fee.
Mark Brooks: Culturally specific niche sites are some of the strongest. World Singles will also have an incredible word of mouth ad base in LA. Would be a good acquisition target. www.qiran.com is another site that was brought to my attention.
PRNEWSWIRE — June 3 — OnlineBootyCall will become the first online dating destination to hold a virtual bikini contest on their site for a bikini calendar. The final twelve contestants share in over $50,000 in cash and prizes. OBC has over 500,000 members.
HALIFAX DAILY NEWS — June 4 — Glad Simmons opened Better Half Matchmakers after being certified by the The School of Matchmaking and Relationship Sciences in New York. It's aimed at people who don’t frequent singles functions and don’t have the time or inclination for Internet dating. She uses information from profile interviews to find potential matches and makes all the first-date arrangements. Better Half also offers life coaching and image consulting: “I tell people what other people are too afraid to tell them.” Women pay a $50 registration fee. Men pay $500 (3 months, 3+ matches) to $1,300 (1 year, 12 matches). Simmons says it’s a bargain, compared to the alternative. “By the time you go through 30 dates online, you could have gone to a matchmaker and been matched up almost instantly.”
Mark Brooks: The movie, Hitch, was a good pitch for real world matchmaking services. Still, they draw from a limited pool. I'd like to see matchmaking services that pull from the online personals pool. It would behoove online personals companies to consider working with real world matchmakers and offer them enhanced services.
SEATTLE TIMES — June 4 — Al Farrar, at age 74, was a bored and lonely widower when his daughter urged him to go online and look for a lady friend. That's how Farrar, a retired postal-service supervisor, apprehensively came to sign up for "Cupid Junction," a computer dating service. "Two years ago, the percentage of age 50-plus online daters was very, very small. Now on a daily basis that percentage is growing by leaps and bounds," says Duane Dahl, president of PerfectMatch.com. AARP counsels beware when dating online but touts the strategy as a good way for older people to meet. In April, more than 1.6 million age 65-plus visited online personals sites, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. "The most important thing to do is make sure the site you choose has a large enough database of people you're interested in and who are interested in you," advises Ron Geraci, a special-projects editor for AARP.
The full article was originally published at Seattle Times, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Older singles discovery of online personals has been one of the big stories of the year.
PRNEWSWIRE — June 1 — JDate is hosting a summer penthouse party, in Beverly Hills, Tuesday, June 21. All proceeds from the event will benefit ORT (work for the advancement of Jewish people through training and education). "As part of our mission to strengthen the Jewish community, we utilize the strength of JDate's 600,000 members to support non-profit organizations," stated Joe Shapira, JDate co-founder and Chairman.
NEWS 14 CAROLINA — June 2 — There are plenty of websites out there that can help. Here are a few free-bees. Friendster.com has 17 million members. MySpace includes a lot more extras, like different groups, look up/post events and birthdays, classifieds, music section, play games. At Hi5.com you can look up old classmates, browse and comment on journals, join groups and talk in chat rooms. bebo.com has a unique feature; create quizzes, even one to see how well your friends know you!
The full article was originally published at News 14 Carolina, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Some of the newer social networks are getting significant traction. Hi5 has an Alexa rank of 143 no less. bebo is at 600. bebo also offers to help members stay in contact and pings it's userbase once a quarter for contact info updates…a version of Plaxo and Good Contacts in essence.
THE REGISTER — June 2 — When you sleep with someone, you are sleeping with everyone they ever slept with, and everyone those people slept with, and so forth. Accordingly, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that you have in fact slept with Sharon Stone, even if you weren't aware of the fact. Now a website is seeking to build the world's biggest database of previous sexual partners. http://www.shagster.net users register their profile and enter the details of those they have slept with. Stats such as 'performance ratings' are also listed. FULL ARTICLE @ THE REGISTER
Mark Brooks: An interesting amusement that is probably a viral marketing ploy for 7 sins game.