Month: September 2005

Online Dating Agency is Positive About Love

Posted on September 27, 2005

Thepositiveconnectioncoza_1INDEPENDENT ONLINE — Sept 26 — Ben Sassman set up an online dating agency in South Africa two years ago, for people living with HIV/Aids.  The Internet enthusiast, who works at an international recruitment agency for medical personnel by day, says his HIV-positive friends would complain of how prospective dates tended to slip away the moment they disclosed their status.  As a result, http://www.thepositiveconnection.co.za, was born – apparently the first online service of its kind in the country.

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

Mark Brooks: A great public service.

Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher Wed

Posted on September 27, 2005

Kutcher_and_mooreReuters — Sept 25 — Actors Demi Moore, 42, and Ashton Kutcher, 27, were married on Saturday, capping their celebrated two-year-long older woman, younger man relationship, two celebrity magazines reported on Sunday. About 100 of the couple’s friends, including Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu and Moore’s three daughters from her marriage to Willis.  The relationship between Moore and Kutcher has been seen by some in Hollywood as evidence of a liberating new trend in which older American women are dating younger men.

Mark Brooks: Has anyone done a study of this trend on an online personals site yet?

Judging a Man by His E-mail

Posted on September 27, 2005

BALTIMORE SUN — Sept 25 — When Dinah Larson was single, she and a friend used to read e-mails from guys and decide if they were potential dates based on their e-mailing ability. "If he wrote like he talked, and was funny? An e-mail is a first impression, like a first date face-to-face. Match.com advises members not to stay in the e-mail stage for long. "Just because it’s online dating doesn’t mean you’re dating online," Kathleen Roldan says.  Here are some suggestions: 1. Write the way you talk. Read it aloud to see if it sounds like you. 2. Be clever but not cute. 3. Be plain-spoken, but not stilted. 4. If it’s early in the relationship, keep e-mails short. 5. Punctuation and grammar matter. 6. Remember that tone doesn’t always translate. 7. Use emoticons and IM acronyms like LOL sparingly.

Your Face Here

Posted on September 26, 2005

Myspace_5KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE BUSINESS NEWS — Sept 22 — MySpace has 29 million members with 110,000 new members joining each day, and more than 350,000 musicians profiles.  Intermix Media parent company) was purchased in July by NewsCorp for $580 million.  danah boyd, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, who doesn’t capitalize her name, studies the demographics of MySpace as part of her research on social technology. She said most MySpace members are younger than 22, and she compared them to the young people who spent hours on the phone or hanging out in malls in the 1980s.  MySpace offers special features for musicians and bands including Mp3 players that can be added to a profile for free, giving independent musicians an easy way to get their music heard. The site also has an extensive list of area shows. 

Mark Brooks: New social networks could be built around other specific interests such as gaming.

We Must Meet: Sharp Edge to Internet Dates

Posted on September 26, 2005

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD — Sept 23 — At least four Sydney men have been abducted and robbed at knifepoint in an internet dating scam in the past week, police say.  The victims were lured to locations in Sydney’s south-west, believing they were about to meet women after blind dates were set up via websites.  When the victims went to meet the women, they were ambushed at knifepoint, kidnapped, robbed and then later released.  None of the victims were harmed. FULL ARTICLE @ SYDNEY HERALD

Mark Brooks: Always meet in a public place.  Let me repeat.  Always meet in a public place.

UK Dating Affiliate Program with a Difference

Posted on September 26, 2005

Love2flirt_1PR WEB — Sept 22 — Love2flirt UK Dating announces the launch of its affiliate program where affiliates are paid for every new user that signs up, whether they pay or not.  Love2flirt payout $0.45 or £0.25 for every new registration.  RELEASE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: This is a smart tactic for a new site clawing it's way to critical mass on a budget.  However, larger, more establised online dating sites convert better and can support the cost per paying customer model.   

The Nerve of Some Websites

Posted on September 26, 2005

Eye_weeklyEYE WEEKLY — Sept 22 — Blog Q. My loving wife has a fantasy that I want to make happen for her. She wants me to have online sex with another woman. The problem we have is finding a totally free site. Every site we have found so far states it is free to join, but to chat or view email you have to pay a monthly fee. As we are on a limited budget we were hoping for a free site where I could chat and have online fun.  Blog A. There are lots of sites where you can hook up for free online sex no matter what your status, one of them being adultfriendfinder.com — a site that actually has an online chat for couples-looking-for-women option. Now of course they try to woo you at every turn with platinum and gold memberships, but a basic membership is still free, though yes, it is more limiting.  Speaking of online sex and dating, remember all those times I raved about Nerve Personals? I need to take it back, or at least offer a serious caveat. The system has been radically changed within the past month. Basic membership is now like every other online dating site and they're trying to make it seem like it's not about them trying to make more coin.

Mark Brooks: Quality online personals services cost money these days.  Nerve was not making enough money to survive.  It's been bought by the company that runs AdultFriendFinder.  What are your thoughts on the changes FriendFinder has introduced?  Your comments please.

Man Sues Online Dating Service After Being Rejected

Posted on September 26, 2005

NBC4 NEWS — Sept 20– Soheil Davood claims his paid subscription to JDate.com, billed as "the world's largest Jewish singles community," guaranteed that he would find "high-quality, successful Jewish personals without wasting precious time." The subscriber, who is a co-defendant in the case, made sexual remarks during the chat, claimed to work for the nation's largest lingerie manufacturer, and told Davood that "she might have found her man in the plaintiff," the suit states.  When the plaintiff called, he "received a taunting automated message telling him that he was rejected."  Davood is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for "serious psychological injury." 

The full article was originally published at NBC4, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: It's unfortunate this user was left at the alter.  He can't possibly have any legal standing.  Online dating sites are a vehicle for search and communication.  We can vet for bogus profiles and inappropriate pictures, but not much more.  TRUE.com has, however, taken the vetting process one step further by performing background checks to check if users are felons or are married.   

SkaDate Dating Software

Posted on September 26, 2005

SkadatePR WEB — Sept 21 — Talking about the competition on the Online Dating Solutions market, the availability and variety of products presented as ‘the only solution’ to satisfy the potential customer’s needs and requirements, you would always think of whether any of the proposed products really do what’s written on the pack. There are so many factors which can be called the key points to define the online dating software that will really provide the solutions to your requirements and do even more than that, bring your online dating business to the top of the Online Dating Industry on the Web.  What’s Worth?  SkaDate prices are formed on the basis of our Clients demands, therefore we have always been maximally friendly while developing our Pricing policies, so we have really affordable prices for the solutions, which really work. RELEASE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: This time, I didn’t correct the Russian/English grammar.  I shudder to think of the end users registering for sites built on this software and taking it as a reflection of the online dating industry.  Guys, pull those Russian socks up and find a (new) translator, please.      

Terra and Match.com to Play Cupid to U.S. Hispanics

Posted on September 22, 2005

TerraHISPANIC PR WIRE — Sept 12 — Terra Networks has teamed up with Match.com to enable U.S. Hispanics the search tools necessary to find their ideal partner from Match.com's more than 1 million registered users in the Spanish version of its service in the U.S.  Terra's Amor channel, which heavily promotes Match.com, previously averaged 1.5 million chats per month.

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

Mark Brooks: Matchmaker.com?  Que?