Month: November 2005
The Truth About Online Dating
Irish Speed Dating Movie
The full article was originally published at RTE, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Internet dating and speed dating are getting a bad rap these days.
Dating Scams Prey on the Lonely – and the Stupid
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE — Nov 23 — Morgan wrote me an e-mail saying she was "looking to definitely become intimate" with me. She really wanted me to call her, but in order to get her phone number, I had to go to her Web site. I found a slightly naked Morgan; I had to plug in my e-mail address and credit card number to see more pictures of her. But she was only asking me to do this "so not just anyone can see all of me!" "Don't worry," she said. "It's free!" On MySpace, a cheerleader law student identified only as "C"…"I like what I've seen from you so far," she said, even though she had seen nothing of me so far. She wanted to make sure I liked her also, so she sent me to her Web site, where for $19.95 I could see pictures of married women who wanted "discreet affairs."
The full article was originally published at The Hub, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: The internet dating industry is putting up a fight against these kinds of scams. 'Abuse teams' monitor profiles and reported scams. Most services have a button on profiles inviting users to report people for abuse.
Donat/Wald Launches DRTV Campaign for eHarmony
BUSINESS WIRE — Nov 21 — Donat/Wald has unveiled three direct response television campaigns for online powerhouses eHarmony.com, Register.com and Stamps.com. CEO Lucas Donat says it’s the secret weapon of the new generation of dot-coms that want the branding power of offline and the accountability of ROI-positive advertising. The new eHarmony campaign features real couples of all ages from all over the world – who met through the revolutionary online dating service. In one story someone from the US Midwest finds a soul mate in India. The spots show that love can thrive no matter the geographic location or age.
Facebook Founder Interview
I just listened to an interview between Accel VC Jim Breyer and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's Founder. Here's some interesting points about this phenomenon of good judgement, timing and site design… Mark Brooks
LOOMIA — Oct 26 — 450 servers and 25,000 signups a day. 230 million page views a day! Mark considers Facebook, not as a social network but as an online directory. Some have called it a 'walled friendster' but Mark says it's a utility, a directory. They made a decision to keep individual schools walled to keep maximum focus. Users can see fellow alumni only…so they feel more comfortable listing private information such as their cell phone number. "Friendster, myspace and facebook are all very different things. We have this directory, Friendster is a dating site and…who knows what Myspace is." (laughter). Mark is very humble and reveals, (32:08) "I've no idea what I'm doing." Jim adds, "I'll add a couple of comments. (laughter). Mark has a number of skills that one rarely sees…he's a great listener and you learn from listening…I'm still stunned how many entrepreneurs come to our offices and it's all output and there's no thoughtfulness. It's amazing that the very best entrepreneurs are…great listeners and…their organisations tend to be great listening organisations.
The full article was originally published at Loomia, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: This is what Friendster got fabulously right. Jonathan (Friendster's founder) listened and observed the real world for 6 months after splitting up with his girlfriend. He bottled what he saw in how his friends networked and met new people in the real world. On another note, I'm very pleased to announce that Sierra Ventures ($1.1 Billion managed) confirmed today that they will be speaking at the next Internet Dating Convention on raising venture capital and working effectively with VC's.
A little more from Mark Z. from the interview…(42:53) "One of the things one of my friends and I were messing around with the other night was seeing if we could comput who we thought would be in a relationship…and we realised we had over a third chance of predicting which two people would be in a relationship in a weeks time." (laughter).
Mark Brooks: Hmm, so dating is intriguing to Mark. I believe Facebook will eclipse the other 'social networks' simply because it offers the highest utility (focus+integrity) at the biggest point of pain and value. Pain being, the pain of losing connections with alumni. Value being, in maintaining contacts and reaping the long term emotional and financial benefits. A central directory was needed, Universities knew this…but they never quite got around to it. I visited and pitched UC Irvine and UC Berkeley on a plaxo-esque directory in 1999. Alas, a little early, wrong company.
Rankings – Movers and Shakers
The October rankings are live. Here are the major changes…
Hitwise: Free dating site Plentyoffish sidles up two spots to #7. Adult dating site Mate1 launches up from #15 to #8. Singlesnet moves up three spots to #9. Perfect Match is bumped from #7 to #10. BlackPeoplemeet moves up two more spots to #12. Alexa: AsiaFriendFinder disappears from #2 spot off the top 10. Amigos also. Plentyoffish moves up three spots to #6. Singlesnet joins the ranks at #8. Nielsen: MySpace enters the chart this month at 1st place…from nowhere. Friendster also enters the chart at #12. Looks like Nielsen just added MySpace and Friendster as personals sites. Date.com moves up three spots to #11.
Alaska Dating
The full article was originally published at Anchorage news, but is no longer available.
iDate Conference Moved to Feb 2nd to 3rd
Nov 23 — The Miami Internet Dating Convention has been moved up one day. It’s no longer Feb 1-2, but rather Thursday and Friday Feb 2-3, 2006. So now you can stay over and enjoy Miami on Saturday as well. IDATE SITE
What’s the Deal with These Quiet Parties Anyway?
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — Nov 21 — Official quiet parties have been thrown in Washington, D.C.; Seattle; London; Barcelona, Spain; Houston; and Beijing. The first San Francisco quiet party, held in April, drew more than 70 people. The New York parties regularly had more than 100 attendees, and at the first party in Beijing, there were about 170 people. It seems like a lot of people just want to shut up. FULL ARTICLE @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Mark Brooks: I don’t get it…which is why I need to try it!