The full article was originally published at Biz Report, but is no longer available.
Month: September 2006
Yahoo Courting Facebook
NY REUTERS — Sep 21 — Facebook is in serious talks to sell itself to Yahoo for an amount that could approach $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Facebook also held discussions with Microsoft and Viacom over the past year.
Mark Brooks: Will students on Facebook feel the same with Yahoo or Microsoft as momma bear? MySpace is doing well under News Corp it would seem, but I think that dynamic is very different from the potential dynamic between Facebook and Microsoft. Your comments please?
PlentyofFish makes Arrington’s hotlist
TECHNOSIGHT — Sep 21 — Mike Arrington – the founder of the popular blog TechCrunch stated, "the best entrepreneurs never listen to anybody."
What's Different from Web 1.0
– Slow Apps vs. _Javascript/AJAX/Flash Apps
– One-way vs. Two way
– IPO for Billions vs. Sell for Millions
– Beg for PR vs. News Spread Virally
– Recycling 1999 Ideas Isn't Stupid
Some of the Winners – Mike defines a winner as a company who sold their business: Writely, Newroo, Delicious, Weblogs, MySpace, and Skype…
Future winners include: Digg, Facebook, Youtube, Netvibes, Zoho Projects, Photobucket, PlentyofFish, Netvibes, and StumbleUpon. Facebook is probably worth $2B. PlentyofFish is Match.com but free and its a one man show. The guy running it is making $300k/month. FULL ARTICLE @ TECHNOSIGHT
A MySpace That Speaks Your Language
BUSINESS WEEK — Sep 21 — COO Court Cunningham says Community Connect is the third largest social networking company in the U.S. in terms of revenue. Community Connect's sites (BlackPlanet, MiGente, AsianAvenue) function like MySpace; users can create profiles and search for people by gender, age, and interests, as well as ethnicity. There are also chats, message boards, job listings, personals, and of course advertisements. Together, Latinos, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans make up about 33% of the total U.S. population (2005 U.S. Census). According to Forrester, 86% of Asian-Americans are online, 56% of African-Americans are online, and Latinos, at 45%, are currently undergoing the fastest online migration. Community Connect will launch gay/lesbian Glee.com, by the end of 2006. Another Christian site is due January, 2007. Community Connect expects to earn $20+ million this year and has gone from 70 employees to 140 in the past year. 15% of revenues come from online personal subscriptions, 50% advertising, 35% from job postings.
Mark Brooks: The Community Connect team has worked for over a year to build a more scalable platform for launching new niche networks sites. It has proven itself with Black Planet and will loom over MySpace when it comes to profit rich targeted niche communities. Users will end up using three multiple sites; a generic site such as MySpace/Friendster, additional niche focused sites such as Fropper or MyChurch or BlackPlanet, and the latest 'in-thing' social network with more progressive functionality.
YouTube To Share Ad Revenues?
BIZ REPORT — Sep 19 — YouTube is rolling out a technology designed to automatically spot copyrighted material that users upload without permission of media companies, and then to share ad revenue with those companies. This new system is set to be released in the next few months. The first entertainment company to embrace the system is Warner Music Group which will collect a percentage of the revenue from advertising appearing alongside them. FULL ARTICLE @ BIZ REPORT
Mark Brooks: Perhaps that will save YouTube from a barrage of suits. I wonder what that (sweetheart) percentage was for Warner Music Group?
OPW Experiment – Changing Credit Cards
OPW — Sep 21 — I signed up for eHarmony, Sexsearch, TRUE, Yahoo Personals, American Singles and Match in November 2005. I ran an experiment starting in July 2006. What would happen if I cancelled the card instead of cancelling with the service? Would they cancel the service automatically, email me for my new card number, or transfer the charges to the new card. Here's the results three months later.
American Singles – cancelled, no more charges
eHarmony – cancelled, no more charges
Match – cancelled, no more charges
Sexsearch – cancelled, no more charges
TRUE – cancelled, no more charges
Yahoo Personals – carried on charging the new card
(Yahoo also continued charging for Overture. Google Adwords cancelled out)
I called in to Yahoo Personals to see how lenient their refund policy was. They cancelled the membership but were rigid on their refund policy, despite the card number change. August and September charges were not refunded. Interesting. So, how lenient should your membership refund policy be?
Membership to my little Silicon Valley social club, Ace Club, is $19.95 a month with a 90 day no quibble money back guarantee. 1 in 200 takes me up on refund within the 90 day period. Short refund policies and long refund policies work best. So, 3 to 7 day trials and 90 day money back guarantees. The people who request refunds within the 90 day period should provide you with good feedback/service improvement information for your service. If they're not happy, you need to know why. A 90 day money back guarantee will open up that feedback channel. Listen intently. The keys to the future profitability of your internet dating service are within that feedback.
I've heard some internet dating services have considered going free. No need. Just try a 90 day refund policy. Your conversion numbers will be favorable. Your long term return rates will be favorable. Just find a way to track them. See what happens 😉 Your comments please. – Mark Brooks
Mobile Phone Survey Gives Insight Into Dating Behaviour
POCKET LINT — Sep 20 — A new survey, carried out by Parship.co.uk (1000 UK singles) has attempted to link the mobile phone habits of singles with their dating behaviour. Commitment phobics are twice as likely to arrange a first date by text than those looking for true love, and singles just looking for a fling are much more likely to text immediately after a date than people looking for a real relationship: 16% of casual daters text straightaway, while only 3% on the look out for real love do. Those looking for a serious relationship prefer to follow up with a call. FULL ARTICLE @ POCKET LINT
Mobestar Signs Gaydar
AFX NEWS — Sep 21 — Mobestar signed a deal with QSoft's Gaydar.co.uk (1.1 mln subscribers), with a view to rolling it out across Europe and Australia in 2007. The agreement provides for an equal rev. share arrangement.
The full article was originally published at Lifestar Extra, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Mobestar is working on a mobile dating package that will eventually include video based dating.
August Comscore Rankings
OPW — Sep 20 — The Comscore rankings for August are in. TRUE maintains it's 3rd place ranking, but is close to overtaking Match. eHarmony and Zencon move up one spot to #6 and #7, bumping Singlesnet to #8. PerfectMatch jostles up one spot to #9. This weeks big mover is PlentyofFish which enters the top 15 at #12. – Mark Brooks
MySpace Online Morgue
OPW — Sep 19 — MyDeathSpace makes you feel lucky to be alive. The site reveals the profiles of MySpace users who have been mentioned in the press as recently deceased. – Mark Brooks