Month: July 2005

Net Dating Is Painful Reality TV

Posted on July 27, 2005

HookingupWIRED NEWS– July 22 — Reality TV is so terribly fake. Still, I thought it was important that I watch ABC’s new series Hooking Up, which follows a dozen New York women on their year-long online dating journeys. The show barely pays attention to the internet. The show ends up as just a series of dates caught on camera. And it’s like watching a handful of your most clueless acquaintances stumble through one botched romantic encounter after another.

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

Hey, Baby, Want a Date?

Posted on July 26, 2005

Small_planetSAN FRAN CHRONICLE — July 23 — With advances in cell phone technology and wireless networks, users can browse truncated profiles, view photos of possible dates and exchange cheesy lines via text messaging. SmallPlanet has come up with a way for its compatible users to be alerted when they are within range of each other, in most cases about 30 feet for now.  Said analyst Brent Iadarola of Frost & Sullivan. "The comfort people have with online dating in the wired world is now translating to the mobile world."  Subscription revenue for mobile services are expected to rise from $31.4 million this year to $215 million by 2009. That does not include revenue from text-messaging charges, which could double those figures, according to Iadarola. "Handset technology has moved in leaps and bounds to the point you can have a good user experience while on the bus or sitting in the back of car," said Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch. "People are gaming and texting now. It all makes sense at last." One promising technology is location-based dating, in which users can be alerted to a potential match just down the street or somewhere in their ZIP code. "I can go to a club, and the phone becomes a transponder," said Joe Brennan Jr., vice president of Webdate, the industry leader with 5 million users. "I can find someone I match up with, and that facilitates a meeting." But there's a hitch. Wireless carriers haven't embraced Webdate technology for now because they are unconvinced of the safety and manageability of the service. Some fear the technology could be manipulated to electronically harass users. FULL ARTICLE @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

News Corp. Banking on Continued Growth for MySpace

Posted on July 26, 2005

Myspace_1REUTERS — July 23 — MySpace is gunning to become the Internet's next major consumer brand. Jupiter Media analyst David Card says that while there is evidence that MySpace has figured out the formula for success in social networking, it is still not clear that its popularity is sustainable. MySpace 15 million uniques and 7.5 billion page views in May, making it the fifth-largest domain in the United States, according to ComScore Media Metrix.  MySpace claims more than 22 million users worldwide.  "We have plans to build MySpace into a next-generation portal," said CEO Chris DeWolfe.  In the works are plans for MySpace to create products and services for mobile devices and push into Europe and Asia.

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

Mark Brooks: A key difference between Friendster and MySpace is in the integrity of the connections. I believe Friendster users tend to be more oriented towards 'real world connections' whereas first level connections made on MySpace are more likely to have been initiated online. Friendster has battled 'fakesters' in the past to maintain this connection integrity.

Singles-Space.com Launches Campaign Against Russian Dating Fraud

Posted on July 26, 2005

SinglesspacePRWEB — July 22 — There are two common forms of fraud on Russian dating sites. A lone scammer asks for money to get a visa or recommends a travel agency to extract money.  Singles-Space.com has invented several methods of unearthing scammers and blocking their progress.

Singles-Space.com Launches Campaign Against Russian Dating Fraud

Posted on July 26, 2005

SinglesspacePRWEB — July 22 — There are two common forms of fraud on Russian dating sites. A lone scammer asks for money to get a visa or recommends a travel agency to extract money.  Singles-Space.com has invented several methods of unearthing scammers and blocking their progress.

GoingOn Aims to be Social `Network of Networks’

Posted on July 26, 2005

MERCURY NEWS — July 22 — GoingOn, will work on an open-standards platform, is expected to launch this fall, and will mix social networking and blogging.  Perkins and Canter said they want the company to be a "network of networks" — a platform open for integration with other social networking players, such as Tribe or Friendster, and other large media companies, such as Yahoo, and even other corporate sites. All these players could create their own networks on GoingOn.  Being interoperable is not entirely new. SXIP sells a product that allows the same user name/password information to be used across many networks.

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

Ireland’s Largest Web-Dating Site Launches Assessment Tools Powered by Thomas

Posted on July 26, 2005

ThomasTHOMAS — July 18– Thomas Technologies, a leader in private-label behavioral assessment software, reporting and search tools, today announced Anotherfriend.com successfully launched two of their web dating products – Personality Assessment and Personal Feedback reporting. Two additional products, Essay Coaching and Compatibility reporting, are scheduled for release later this year. Thomas’ Web-dating client list includes LoopyLove.com (England), Pocado.com (England), AnotherFriend.com (Ireland), NWNP Communities (US), LoveAccess.com (US) and ConnectionClub.com (US). Thomas’ Personal Profile Analysis is a web-based, self-administered, forced-choice adjective checklist consisting of 24 tetrads of descriptive words. In 6-8 minutes, the PPA assesses member’s basic characteristics, perceptions, motivators, communication style and unique strengths. The Thomas PPA is independently certified to meet the testing standards set by the British Psychological Society.

Mark Brooks: I just came across this company at the Mobile Internet Dating Convention.  Any comments from users or partner companies?

How Cell Phone Dating Could Lead to a Ring

Posted on July 25, 2005

Idate_logo_2005_3CBS CHANNEL 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS — Joe Brennan Jr, Sr VP Marketing and Strategy for Webdate, and myself, Mark Brooks, Editor of Online Personals Watch appeared in this news piece at the Mobile Internet Dating Convention last Thursday. 

The video was originally published at CBS Channel 5, but is no longer available.