MAD.CO.UK – June 15 - Yahoo! has struck its first UK partnership with a dating provider, to launch co-branded dating channels in the UK and Germany with global dating giant Match.com. Users of Yahoo! Personals will be offered the chance to access the Match network of services, creating the biggest online dating network.
Month: June 2006
Join Match.com at Bachelorism.org to Cure Affliction
PR NEWSWIRE — June 14 — Match takes a stand against bachelorism, to raise awareness for the causes and cure for this devastating syndrome. FULL ARTICLE @ SYS-CON
Mark Brooks: So nice to see Match roll out this kind of tongue in cheak PR/viral campaign.
Carmen Electra Introduces Luvoo.com on NBC’s “Access Hollywood”
MARKET WIRE — June 14 — Carmen Electra, former "Baywatch" beauty, was featured on "Access Hollywood." and provided an endorsement of Luvoo.com. The strategy for growth is through celebrity endorsement and services such as The Luvoo Dating Card and Verified Member.
Female Prisoners Looking for Love Online
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — June 14 — ~100,000 women are in prison in America. Sites are offering men opportunities to find potential mates in prison. Womenbehindbars.com, Ladiesofthepen.com, Writeaprisoner.com, Inmate-connections.com, Inmatesforyou.com and Cellpals.com.
Match.com to Expand MSN Partnership
PR NEWSWIRE — June 13 — Match will extend its existing global partnership with MSN (MSN Dating and Personals) to include Windows Live services, MSN Search, MSN Messenger, MSN Spaces, and the MSN.com homepage. Jim Safka, Match CEO said, "Our long-term alliance with MSN is incredibly important to our business and, more importantly, to the people that trust us to help them in their search." Match has 15m members in 30 countries. MSN attracts 30m visitors each month in 30 countries. John Nicol, MSN.com GM, said: "Online personals has developed into one of the top consumer activities on the internet, leading the content spend for the last three years in the US and fast accelerating in every global market." In the UK, Match has more than 1.5m members and is ranked #1 in UK by Nielsen//NetRatings.
The full article was originally published at Red Orbit, but is no longer available.
DateMobile Launches in North America
PR NEWSWIRE — June 13 — Date.com (two million active members) launched DateMobile, a new cross-platform mobile dating service in North America. DateMobile was created via a partnership with Plutolife is available through most cell phone carriers to both members and non-members of Date.com. During the regular Date.com signup process, members are able to sign up for DateMobile. DateMobile members can browse profiles, view suggested matches, text, flirt and chat with thousands of other singles directly from their mobile phone. It's free to send a message to other DateMobile members, but costs $.50 to receive text messages.
Mark Brooks: Strong pricing model. Looks like datemobile users will only be able to access other datemobile users though, like Match.com's offering. Makes for a great flirty chat app. Webdate allows access to their entire database of online users via webdate mobile. That's the best approach that serves serious daters that want local matches…but it costs far more to build that kind of application.
DoubleDate.com Launch
PR NEWSWIRE — June 12 — DoubleDate.com gives friends the opportunity to socialize in pairs; creating a more honest, less stressful and more relaxed environment for meeting new people. Safety in numbers. FULL ARTICLE @ SYS-CON
Mark Brooks: I like this concept, but will it take off? Depends if they can seed their database and get traction with the press.
Pentagon Sets its Sights on Social Networks
NEW SCIENTIST — June 9 — "I am continually shocked and appalled at the details people voluntarily post online about themselves," says Jon Callas, chief security officer at PGP, a Silicon Valley-based maker of encryption software. Websites such as MySpace and Friendster are a snoop's dream. The Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. By adding online social networking data to its phone analyses, the NSA could connect people at deeper levels, through shared activities, such as taking flying lessons.
The full article was originally published at New Scientist, but is no longer available.
MySpace Exploration is Marketer’s Dream
Mark Brooks: Seems Myspace is spawning a new marketing paradigm. Integrated content.
For Some, Online Persona Undermines a Résumé
THE NEW YORK TIMES — June 11 — When a small consulting company in Chicago was looking to hire a summer intern this month, the company's president went online to check on a promising candidate who had just graduated from the University of Illinois. At Facebook the executive found the candidate's Web page with this description of his interests: "smokin' blunts", shooting people and obsessive sex.
The full article was originally published at IHT.com, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Doh!