Month: October 2005
7th Internet Dating Conference to be Held February 1-2 in Miami
PR NEWSWIRE — Oct 12 — Ticonderoga Ventures announces the seventh Online Dating Conference, to be held on February 1-2, 2006 in Miami at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort. The Conference and expo will focus on management, technology and marketing for the industry. Mobile dating, cultural marketing, event planning, metrics, advertising strategies and software will be discussed at this event. Attending the event will be senior execs, marketing firms, telecommunication firms, software companies, affiliate managers, affiliates of singles related sites and entrepreneurs. Also in 2006…May 18-19, 2006, Beijing China – Mobile Dating, Internet Dating and Social Networking to the Far East. September 25-26, 2006, Amsterdam – Mobile Dating, European Internet Dating and European Social Networking.
Mowave Launches GAY.COM Mobile on O2 UK
Mark Brooks: Europe. Now is the time to make your move if you intend to enter this market.
CFS.com Sues Paypal
ASSOCIATED PRESS — Oct 11 — A Web site for gay men, cfs.com, has sued PayPal, claiming the online payment service refused to process transactions for charitable donations the site was collecting for Hurricane Katrina victims because the site engaged in "the sale of adult, sexually oriented or obscene materials or services." In addition to featuring online personals, chat rooms and listings, the site sells sex videos and some advertisers sell sex toys. cfs.com claims it was not using PayPal to process any adult-content transactions. PayPal spokeswoman Sara Bettencourt said the company has strict guidelines prohibiting use on adult-themed Web sites.
The full article was originally published at The Tribune, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Any lawyers out there willing to comment?
The Match Game and how Search Stinks
— Oct 11 — Match.com has launched Chemistry.com (Denver, Seattle, San Diego, Washington D.C.) using matching technology rather than search technology. You answer questions and then a computer algorithm finds matches . Now I'm going to surrender my control to let the computer do all the work for me? Here's the thing, though: Search doesn't work. Match.com believes there's a large audience who want a more structured online dating experience and who'll pay a premium. Alas, matching is still highly unproven. You have to devote about 40 minutes at the outset to completing a profile in the hopes that it'll bear fruit in the end. In my experience, the harvest is a long way off. I think that matching has to get more sophisticated–and quickly. Chemistry's answers are either geared in such a way that you don't have any bad traits, only lesser degrees of positive ones, or they make it so that any reasonable person would answer "Sometimes" almost every place it's offered as a response. In the end, you're left with a middle-of-the-road profile that's going to mean that you're still most likely to get paired up with a mate based on whether you both smoke or not rather than based on how likely you both are to share your feelings. On the whole, I'm bullish on the idea of matching technology.
The full article was originally published at Fast Company, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Matching holds high promise. Is it delivering right now? If not, when will it deliver? Please comment? TRUE uses the only validated test I've come across yet btw.
Safe Calling Takes Off on Dating Sites
PRWEB — Oct 6 — Phone Matrix announced the launch of its new PrivateCall™ Express phone service on three online personals sites. PrivateCall lets people talk on the phone without exchanging numbers, without risking safety and identity theft. If a person can’t be reached, PrivateCall’s heuristics intelligently repeat dialing until both parties are successfully connected. “There’s simply too much of a gap between online daters using instant messaging, chat and email to them showing up for their first in-person coffee date. Anonymous phone calling services allow online daters to talk on the phone and get a sense of chemistry, without divulging their telephone numbers,” stated industry analyst and editor of Online Personals Watch, Mark Brooks. “Anonymous phone calling services will proliferate in 2006 as the online personals industry becomes ever more sensitive about safety.” "Phone Matrix has crafted a very attractive service," said a spokesperson for Megafriends. "With a system we tried before, less than 1% of members registered for the anonymous calls. We’re not yet done promoting PrivateCall and the registration rate is already pushing 20%." RELEASE @ PR WEB
Match Launches Chemistry.com
Pssst! Check this out. www.chemistry.com. Match has 8 patents on this new relationships site. Their answer to TRUE, eHarmony…and Yahoo Personals Premier.
Match.com’s Criss-Crossed Lovers
WASHINGTON POST — Oct 9 — Owing to a glitch, profiles and preferences for many members temporarily were shuffled for several days on Match.com. For several days, Tom’s profile page sported his picture with a headline identifying him as a "funny girl" and half his profile was wiped out. The error came at a bad time for Tom: He had just sent e-mails to a few women he was interested in. Match.com spokeswoman Kristin Kelly said the "unprecedented" problem affected about 10,000 of its 15 million users and that an explanatory e-mail (that offered seven free days as remuneration) was sent out. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST
Dating Agency Employees Date Clients
CLICK2HOUSTON — Oct 7 — A Houston-area woman said she was told to date clients at a dating agency. Paul paid nearly $4,000, but said he only got dates with staff members. The Houston-area Better Business Bureau has received 200 complaints on Houston Dating Services in the past year. Paul has moved onto another local service –one he's happy with, so far.
The full article was originally published at Click2Houston, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: This is a real world dating agency. Often they have a hard time finding enough members in certain age ranges. Sending in agency employees for dating members is bad form. They need to turn down clients or comp them at least if they can't support their desired age range.
Meetic Plans 342 Million Euro Paris float
REUTERS — Oct 4 — Meetic is preparing a Paris flotation that could value it at up to 341.7 million euros ($411.5 million). (estimated price range of 19.20 euros to 22.30 euros a share). Meetic is valued at seven times 2005 annual sales and 35 times 2005 earnings (EBTIDA). Launched four years ago, Meetic operates in 13 countries and nine languages. Meetic made a net profit of 2.7 million euros on sales of 21.3 million euros in 2004.
Mark Brooks: I’m in Prague right now. Noone uses internet dating here! Europe is still prime territory.