Month: January 2006

Craigslist: ‘Seeking human connection’

Posted on January 15, 2006

Craig_newmarkBBC NEWS — Jan 13 — Craigslist now has "well over three billion page views" per month Craig says, which makes it the seventh biggest presence on the internet. His almost anti-profit business employs just 19 people, and is still based in a San Francisco living room. Craigslist is a real and reciprocal online community that is "just trying to give people a break" across the 190 cities it serves. Craigslist  nets around $20m a year by charging for job postings in three cities. eBay managed to buy 25% of the company in 2004, when a former employee unilaterally decided to sell his shares. Craig says the unexpected relationship has been beneficial so far. "We try to be driven by the values of the people who use us," he said. With a portion of each site given over to dating, "erotic services" and "casual encounters", it is not hard to see for example, why only Istanbul has joined the Craigslist ranks from the Islamic world. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS

Mark Brooks: Craigslist because looks and feels like a cool guy doing us all a favor.  It is!  I had lunch with Craig in 1999 and pitched an early version of Plaxo.  In 2000 he almost bit on a deal with Hypermatch a small online dating site I was working with…the only stipulations, we were not to make money from advertising or charge membership dues.  Um, then what?  It didn't happen and Hypermatch was sold to EZBoard.  Other companies I've advised have pitched Jim Buckmaster (CEO) and Craig since then, to no avail.  I've not bugged Craig for a while now.  The last time I saw Craig it was simply to buy him a cup of coffee and thank him for helping me grow my little club http://www.ace-club.com by relisting events on his events calendar.  Craigslist is a great site and public service.  The shear utility, utter integrity, humility and lack of commercial agenda is at the core of it's success.

December Online Personals Rankings

Posted on January 14, 2006

Jan 14 — Hitwise – Plentyoffish moves up one spot to displace singlesnet.  Manhunt.net jumps in at 10th spot.  First time I've heard of them but it looks like they've been around for a while according to Alexa's 2 year graph.  MSN Match and PerfectMatch move down three spots to 13th and 15th spots respectively.  Hotornot climbs one spot to #12.    

Nielsen Netratings – myYearbook moves up two spots to 5th place and Mate1 bumps down two spots to 7th.  Tagworld, Tickle's Lovehappens and Crush Calculator spring onto the scene at 8th, 10th and 14th spots respectively and LoveAccess moves up four spots to take the 11th spot.  Perfectmatch moves down one spot to #12 and eCrush gets bumped from 9th to 15th spot.

Alexa – Singlesnet moves up to 6th spot bumping Date.com to #7…and that's it.  Only one change.         

Cupid.com/PreDating World Record Attempt for Largest Simultaneous Speed-Dating

Posted on January 13, 2006

CupidpredatingPR WEB — Jan 12 — 125 Cupid.com/PreDating parties are scheduled to be held in more than 100 cities in the US and Canada on Wednesday evening, February 8th.  ~4,800 eligible singles will participate in 43,200 6-minute speed dates in one evening.  Eric P. Straus, President & CEO of Cupid.com said, "We know that singles want to find someone special with whom to share Valentine’s Day. What better time to attempt a new record for this new social phenomenon?" RELEASE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: I guided Cupid's acquisition and integration of Predating.com in 2004.  It wasn't easy, but it's a marriage made in heaven for Cupid. Cupid knows radio.  Radio loves events.  Cupid will eventually be a hot acquisition target.  This event marks the completion of the integration. Who else will step up to the mark and consider events, en masse?  Events are a double edged sword.  Users rave about great events.  Mediocre events are not worthwhile.  Bad events are poison to your brand.  The founder of Predating did an A1 job of systematizing and perfecting the speed dating event format and ticketing, prime for Cupid to acquire and weave into their offerings.  A true differentiator.

Date.com Signs New Relationship Advisor

Posted on January 13, 2006

DatePR WEB — Jan 11 — Date.com announced today the addition of its newest relationship advisor, sexy scribe Anna David; responsible for providing advice to our more than two million members nationwide. She will write a monthly column devoted to contemporary dating and relationship issues, which will appear on Date.com's interactive webzine "Date Info." David has conducted interviews and written for Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Details, Vanity Fair, Playboy, Maxim, The New York Post, Us Weekly, Variety and penned the "Sex Files" column in Razor magazine. Date.com is adding new members at a rate of 250,000 per month.

Mark Brooks: Nice move.  Content keeps users around.  They need educating on how to find the right person and how to keep it together.

Internet Dating: A Consumer’s Guide, Part III

Posted on January 13, 2006

Eharmony_2NY PRESS — Jan 11 — TheSquare is a website much like RightStuffDating but with broader and more general ambitions. It limits membership to alumni of "elite" colleges and universities, and offers job and event listings. Its membership is several times larger then RightStuffDating. Lavalife is the tiki bar of online dating sites. Its functionality is poor, and I had such a tough time figuring out how to use its menus that I was never actually able to use it properly and never went out with anyone from it. Median age appears to be mid-20s and the focus is on photos. EHarmony members aren't permitted to search the site and selectively e-mail. The site decides who will be compatible. 

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

7th Internet Dating Convention to Focus on Increasing Revenue

Posted on January 12, 2006

Idate_conferencePR WEB — Jan 11 — Speakers at this event will mainly address issues on increasing revenue and improving customer retention. The event will be held on February 2-3, 2006 at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort. Online personals, which include both internet dating and social networking continues to be a fast growing internet based business, some senior executives have expressed concerns over profit margins and customer retention. The event plans to discuss those needs. In addition, the convention covers issues such as management, marketing and technology for the industry, mobile dating, idea generation, software, cultural marketing, metrics, event planning and advertising strategies.  Speakers include:

Dr. John Gray, Author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
Brad Hogg, President of Relationship Exchange
Mark Brooks, Publisher of Online Personals Watch
Robert Fisher, CEO of Great Expectations
Meir Strahlberg, CEO of Date.com
Bob Chieffo, COO of Cupid.com
Sam Moorcroft, President and CEO of ChristianCafe.com
Terry Markwart, Director & Assistant GM of US Sales at Canon
Peter McGreevy, Attorney at Law …and many others

The next conventions are:
May 18-19, 2006, Beijing, Republic of China
Mobile Dating, Internet Dating and Social Networking to the Far East.

September 25-26, 2006, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mobile Dating, European Internet Dating and European Social Networking.

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

Mark Brooks: Press, please contact me if you would like to attend these events. I handle media relations for the internet dating conventions. mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com

DatingDirect Seals £1.6m Radio Sponsorship Deal

Posted on January 12, 2006

DatingdirectNET IMPERATIVE — Jan 10 — Online dating service DatingDirect.com has secured a signing a 12 month contract with GCap Media, the owners of radio stations Capital Gold, Century FM, Choice FM and The One Network. GCap Media will get a DatingDirect branded dating service on station websites.  Each night, a male and female profile will be read out live on each of the stations, encouraging single listeners to go online to DatingDirect.com. 

Mark Brooks: Cupid.com is the king of radio in the USA.

10,000 Bachelors Displayed on Single Web-Page

Posted on January 12, 2006

10000bachelorscomPR WEB — Jan 10 — In an attempt to establish a record for the greatest number of eligible bachelors posted on a single web-page, the site http://www.10000bachelors.com was recently launched by David Pierpoint, founder and director of The Relationship Training Center. Each bachelor pays $59 towards The Relationship Training Center and charity.  http://www.10000bachelorettes.com will be launched later this week.  It is expected that a new season of ABC's “The Bachelor” will create a renewed interest in looking online for eligible singles, and both sites are designed to help make that process easier and more interesting. 

Comments on Online Personals Watch

Posted on January 11, 2006

Jan 11 — OPW welcomes comments from industry execs, users, press, analysts and anyone who cares to comment with an informed opinion.  OPW is a safe place for executives in the industry to post comments.  As such, the following kinds of comments will be removed from OPW. 

1. SPAM; comments that push a link but don’t add to the comment thread
2. ANONYMOUS; comments that are anonymous (please add your signature)
3. DEROGATORY; baseless comments that are derogatory towards the industry and/or execs

OPW is CNN for the online dating industry.  I welcome controversy and debate around issues in the industry.  Execs, I recommend you review the comments and answer issues in detail.  The press reads OPW.  The target audience for OPW is industry execs, employees and the press. 

Let me know your thoughts and questions at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com.