Month: August 2006

Love is on the Net for Young Irish Singles

Posted on August 17, 2006

Trojlistek2THE IRISH POST — Aug 16 — Eiresingles.com helps Irish people living abroad find their ideal Irish partner.  One in 10 single Irish people are now looking for love on the internet.  Dinnerdates provides dinner dates for single people in their 30s and 40s. One Irishman living in London said: "The bigger the city you are in the more difficult it is. I moved over to London a year ago and have found it difficult to meet a partner."

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

Mark Brooks: Anotherfriend.com is Ireland's top dating site. Bebo is their top social networking site.

Brazil To File Suit Against Google’s Orkut

Posted on August 17, 2006

Google_3ALL HEADLINE NEWS — Aug 16 — A Brazilian court ordered Google to provide information of its users. Orkut is being used by criminals to traffic drugs and commit other crimes.  Google denies accusations it is ignoring the court order.

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

Lifeknot’s Cell Phone Online Dating

Posted on August 16, 2006

PR WEB — Aug 15 — lifeknot.com launched a mobile version of its web site enabling members to search and view member profiles and pictures from their cell phones. lifeknot connects people through shared activity interests. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: Similarly, Hobbymatch also helps people hook up through their shared interests.

Online Dating Profile Help

Posted on August 15, 2006

Profilehelper_columnBRADENTON HERALD — Aug 12 — ProfileHelper helps online daters enhance their profiles, whether it's the written portion or the photo. "The best way to think of a profile is it's a movie trailer, it's not the movie. The trailer is supposed to give you just enough information that you want to buy a ticket," lead advisor Eric Resnick says. 11% of adults who use the Internet – 16 million of them – have gone to an online personals site, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project published in March of this year. LookBetterOnline charges $129 for 12 pictures. The move toward hiring professionals to improve profiles started a couple of years ago, says Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com.  It's worthwhile for internet daters to make a compelling profile and a photograph that brings out the best in them. If they take the time and money to seek out professional services, Brooks says their responses should double. 

Mark Brooks: Internet daters need profile improvement services. Unfortunately internet daters still don't realise this. It behooves internet dating companies to offer, or at least guide them, to reputable profile improvement services. The better daters profiles look, the better the internet dating services looks as a whole.

£30bn a Year – That’s the Cost of Loving in Britain

Posted on August 15, 2006

LondoninternetdatingHUDDERSFIELD.CO.UK — Aug 15 — Some £14.8bn is spent on the search for the perfect partner with a further £15.2bn going on keeping the sparks of love alive, internet dating firm Parship said. Its Cost of Love Index found Britain's 9 million singletons are prepared to spend £1,650 a year: £1,008 goes on nights out "on the pull", £156 on dating services and £602 for an average of seven first dates each year. But the cost of a first date has also got cheaper, down to £69 from £87 in 2005.

The full article was originally published at Huddersfield.co.uk, but is no longer available.

Senior Citizen a Surprise YouTube Star

Posted on August 15, 2006

Logo_youtubeREUTERS — Aug 14 — A septuagenarian British widower's soft-spoken, humble manner has won the hearts of young YouTube users. "What I hope I will be able to do is to just to bitch and grumble about life in general from the perspective of an old person who has been there and done that and hopefully you will respond in some way by your comments." 100 million clips are watched every day on YouTube.

Mark Brooks: YouTube is booming.  Users are getting their webcams hooked up and actually using them now.  It's time for online dating companies to more seriously consider the use of video for profile information, and webcams for video dating. Webcam dating solves the problems associated with users posting inaccurate/old photos.

AOL Acquires Userplane

Posted on August 14, 2006

Userplane_3USERPLANE — Aug 14 — One recent night before inking our first-round with a top VC – we were approached by AOL's CEO, Jon Miller…  Userplane will continue to support all communities small and large. Our business model will remain unchanged – startup-style. Any relationship between our network and AOL's will be completely optional. Expect to see an abundance of new features and innovation. For years, Userplane has been dreaming of federated identity and network interoperability with AIM.  AIM Interoperability will be an added feature for our clients in the near future! We are also going to be working with Open AIM to become a quick installation and robust A/V front-end for the AOL network. No pricing changes are planned at all. In fact, we're releasing an ad-supported package for our integrated clients as part of this transition. Our core data center will remain in LA but we will be expanding to Europe and Asia with AOL's greater resources. We're staying put in LA with the same team 🙂 Soon we will be moving into larger offices down the road in Santa Monica…

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

Mark Brooks: Congratulations to Mike Jones and the team. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! Talk about blazing a trail. AOL. Wow!

New Online Paid Content Report

Posted on August 14, 2006

Research_1BUSINESS WIRE –Aug 11 — Research and Markets has announced the addition of Online Paid Content – Global Strategic Business Report to their offering analyzing the worldwide markets for Online Paid Content in US$ Million. The major product segments analyzed are Personals/Dating, Entertainment & Lifestyles (Music, Video and Gaming), Business/Investment/Finance, Sports & Games, Research, General News & Archives and Others (Includes greeting cards, Personal growth, credit help, community made directories).

Mark Brooks: The Online Publishers Association also delivers a twice annual U.S. paid content report.

Cyworld Launches in U.S.

Posted on August 14, 2006

Cyworld_2CNET NEWS.COM — Aug 11 — Cyworld, a South Korean social networking site, kicked off a beta in the U.S. on July 27.  ~18 million people in South Korea (~30%) have accounts with Cyworld, according to Cyworld.  ~80% of 20 to 29 year olds in S.Korea visit daily. The service, which started in 1999, has since expanded into China (2 million users), Japan and Taiwan. Revenue is from advertisers, from hosting corporate-sponsored pages and also from selling background screens, charms and other graphics to for users to decorate their sites. The decorative services account for $300,000 a day in revenue / US $100 million a year. MySpace is expected to make $180 million this year, according to eMarketer. But MySpace has a base of 100 million members, five times as many as Cyworld. Cyworld has avoided some of the predator problems that hit MySpace by having users give their national ID number (like SS#).  However, it won't ask for Social Security numbers in the U.S.

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

New Sexual Revolution: Text A Booty Call

Posted on August 14, 2006

WCBS-TV — Aug 13 — There's now a new way to say "I want your text." It's instant, easy and is now becoming the high-tech way to "hook up." One message is sent to many potential partners to see who responds first. It's not uncommon for guys to blast the same text message to several girls in hopes of hooking up, said Matt Rittberg, an attorney by day and stand-up comedian by night. "If you've already met five or six great girls you have in your phone, then from there it's a rat race. Whoever texts you back first wins. I've gotten texts and I know for fact, I wasn't the only guy who got that same text."  People say things by texting that they would never say if they had to pick up the phone.

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