Month: July 2005

Fairfax Buys Aussie Online Dating Agency RSVP for A$38.9 Mln

Posted on July 12, 2005

RsvpBLOOMBERG — July 11– John Fairfax Holdings, Australia's second-largest newspaper publisher,  bought online dating agency RSVP.com.au for A$38.9 million ($29 million) to bolster its classified advertising revenue. RSVP is expected to earn at least A$4 million  in the next 12 months.  Classified advertising in Fairfax's newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's Age, has fallen almost 25%  in the past five years as advertisers migrate to the Internet. RVSP was founded on Valentine's Day 1997, has about 600,000 members, and is adding about 20,000 new members a month .

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

Mark Brooks: Wait until Craigslist comes to Australia.  Then the classifieds numbers will really plummet.  Craigslist is going to singlehandedly castrate many smaller newspapers around the globe…eventually.  Have you seen all the new cities Craigslist is opening in?  FYI, I own Markslist.com.

Fairfax Buys Aussie Online Dating Agency RSVP for A$38.9 Mln

Posted on July 12, 2005
Logo of RSVP.com.au

BLOOMBERG — July 11– John Fairfax Holdings, Australia’s second-largest newspaper publisher,  bought online dating agency RSVP.com.au for A$38.9 million ($29 million) to bolster its classified advertising revenue. RSVP is expected to earn at least A$4 million  in the next 12 months.  Classified advertising in Fairfax’s newspapers, including the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s Age, has fallen almost 25%  in the past five years as advertisers migrate to the Internet. RVSP was founded on Valentine’s Day 1997, has about 600,000 members, and is adding about 20,000 new members a month .

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

Mark Brooks: Wait until Craigslist comes to Australia.  Then the classifieds numbers will really plummet.  Craigslist is going to singlehandedly castrate many smaller newspapers around the globe…eventually.  Have you seen all the new cities Craigslist is opening in?  FYI, I own Markslist.com.

My Mousepad or Yours – Friendsation Launches Today

Posted on July 11, 2005

Friendsation PR NEWSWIRE– July 8 — MobileJam launched Friendsation.com July 8th, a free dating/friendship community focusing heavily on mobile phone technology. Friendsation.com will bring free instant messaging, online dating and mobile flirting into one interactive community. Members will have access to user profiles, photo galleries, blog diaries, instant messaging, pc to pc chatting and pc to mobile as well as the ability to send video messages to friends or love interests all at the touch of their keypads. Also, mobile blogging.  Friendsation.com will be available to mobile phone networks in September.

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

TV Review: Perils and Pitfalls of Online Dating

Posted on July 11, 2005

Hooking_up WALL STREET JOURNAL — July 8 — "Hooking Up" is a real-life ABC version of "Sex and the City" with the twist that the New York women depicted start their search for Mr. Right on the Internet.  Begins Thursday July 14, 9-10pm ET.  "Hooking Up" is mesmerizing and often very funny — first, because Internet suitors, both male and female, tend to lie about themselves and that makes for some notably bad first dates. It becomes clear why some of the girls are having problems finding a lasting relationship. It ends up being about the good, the bad and the ugly in both sexes, and the games they play.

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

Mark Brooks: A reality check for online daters perhaps…but the program will boost the interest in online dating.  😉

SexSearch.com Adult Personals Mentioned On Howard Stern Show

Posted on July 10, 2005

PR NEWSWIRE — July 8 — Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood’s madam and sex boutique owner, mentioned SexSearch.com adult personals three times in the course of the show, joking on how she should post her profile, while Howard Stern dropped the name twice.

Mark Brooks: A separate press release mentions Sexsearch has surpassed 3.5 million registrations. 

Nonprofit BEAN Sprouts Social Network

Posted on July 6, 2005

Howard_wubeanSEATTLE TIMES — July 4 — A tech-savvy Microsoft employee, drawing on the possibilities presented by online social networking, has found a way to take things a step further and give people opportunities to meet and mingle in both social and professional settings.  Howard Wu created Business and Engineering Activists Network (BEAN), a nonprofit group to link like-minded young professionals, three years ago.  His brainchild has blossomed into a Puget Sound-area network of more than 800 members who host monthly gatherings and participates in local volunteer efforts.

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

Online Dating Service Adheres to Founder’s Moral Values

Posted on July 6, 2005

EharmonyUSA TODAY — July 2 — You’ve no doubt seen Neil Clark Warren on TV commercials.  "He’s like the grandpa who wants to set you up," says Nate Elliott, an online media analyst with Jupiter Research.  Warren, 70, really is a grandpa. Born on an Iowa farm, he’s quick with a down-home hug and a smile. His pale blue eyes grow misty when he speaks of his love for his wife of 46 years, Marylyn, the senior VP at eHarmony.  He really does want to set you up – but only if you’re emotionally healthy, heterosexual and want to get married.  Nothing in Warren’s TV or radio ads ($50 million spent last year, $80 million projected this year) hints at his Christian background.  The Web site doesn’t play it up, either.

Mark Brooks: eharmony excludes the outliers.  True and Perfectmatch are non exclusionary. 

MySpace is (Free) Music to the Ears of Bands, Fans

Posted on July 6, 2005

Izabelle_1SEATTLE TIMES — July 1 — MySpace.com has an almost overwhelming amount of music, all free to consume. This site is similar to Friendster.com but way cooler.  Nonregistered users can zip all over MySpace.com and listen to thousands of songs.  More than 2,500 bands within 10 miles of downtown Seattle are on MySpace.

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

Mark Brooks: Myspace is enjoying similar media attention to Friendster in 2003-2004.

Male Call: Advice from a Guy

Posted on July 6, 2005

KNIGHT RIDDERS NEWSPAPERS — July 5 — One thing quickly became clear as we sifted through the responses to our recent question about whether online dating was still worth the effort. Many of the readers who wrote to tell us of the joys of online dating services were – surprise! – now married to their Netmates. Those who found it flawed, well, they weren’t.  Chris, from Tallahassee, Fla., wrote that going out with women he met online was like "meeting your sister.” His theory was that it’s too easy; men need the thrill of the hunt.  More prevalent were the responses like Nancy’s, "I would not be so fast to discourage it. I met my husband six years ago though Match.com."  And Jean’s,"My husband and I were living parallel lives two miles apart, but probably never would have met if it weren’t for online dating."  The thing that became clear to us from the responses is that a few liars, cads and deadbeats can’t extinguish the romantic spirit.

HurryDate to Bring Online Dating to Mobile Phones

Posted on July 6, 2005

BUSINESS WIRE–July 5 — Amp'dMobile, 3G mobile entertainment company, and HurryDate, a speed dating leader, announced a three-year exclusive partnership to connect Amp'd Mobile's 3G EV-DO service to HurryDate's party and online dating community. They will premiere video profiles featured on mobile handsets later this year. Amp'd Mobile users will be able to access HurryDate's very popular online dating services – browsing profiles, sending virtual "Drinks" and emailing possible dates – from their mobile phones. They'll also be able to register to be alerted for parties in their area and sign up for upcoming events.