Month: October 2006

Eight Social Networking Sites for Men Who Love Men

Posted on October 12, 2006

TECHCRUNCH BLOG — Oct 12 — Many people prefer networks set up for people they can relate to. Just as there’s a wide diversity of gay men in the world, there may well be ample room for a variety of gay male social networking sites. These appear to be the most talked about gay male social networking sites online.

  • Jake – Very British. 30,000 members. Real world events. Encourages users to advertise their own businesses and directly monetize their involvement with the site. Paid accounts are £10 per month and allow members to access the dating section and a number of other things.
  • ManJam – Probably the most widely discussed. One of many similarly branded copycat sites from JuxMedia Ltd. Offers classifieds. Paid accounts are $20 per month.
  • Ohlalaguys – A rebranded version of JuxMedia’s ManJam with even worse site navigation. See also Bentlads.
  • Lovetastic – “Finally, gay personals that treat you like a person.” Brings together husbands. Paid accounts start at $6 per month. In some ways it’s got more class than any of them. Nude or shirtless pictures are prohibited.
  • Connexion – LGBT online networking with a .org suffix. In addition to dating and events organizing the site focuses on low level political activity and news.
  • OutEverywhere – A paid service for men and women in select countries around the world. Very text intensive with unbearable site navigation. An emphasis on promoting real world events and venues. Memberships are £19.95 for 6 months with a 28 free trial period.
  • DList – Straightforward social networking site with a good feature set. Blogs, music player on profile pages. It’s ad supported without premium accounts.
  • BigJock – Will launch its full featured version on next month. Hot or Not picture rating component. Will be free and ad supported.

FULL ARTICLE @ TECHCRUNCH BLOG

Mark Brooks: Gaydar.co.uk, Manhunt.net, Adam4adam and the risque Outpersonals are leaders of the gay dating space. We'll see social networking space follow very much the same trajectory as internet dating in that it will 'niche out.' Sites like CollectiveX and Affinity Circles offer custom social networks.

Top Five Wired Nations

Posted on October 12, 2006

Nations IMB — Oct 11 — SINGAPORE, 3.54 million people, 60% internet users, DENMARK, 5.4 million people, 69% internet users, CANADA, 32.5 million people, 64% internet users, USA, 296 millione people, 67.8% internet users, SWEDEN, 9.04 million people, 74% internet users. FULL ARTICLE @ IMB

Mark Brooks: Last year I was contacted by a group that were interested in promoting internet dating as part of a government program to get people hooking up (and mating, and making babies). Singapore's population has a population problem in that people are having fewer kids. PlentyofFish is doing well in Canada. Match and Yahoo Personals still lead the way in the USA market. Match has done well in Sweden lately, so I'm told. Parship and Meetic also have presences there.  Now, who has the rankings for internet dating companies in Scandinavia?  I'd like to list them on OPW?

Sequoia Returns $480M on $11M Investment

Posted on October 12, 2006

Ggar11102 GEEKFISHING BLOG — Oct 11 — Sequoia was among YouTube's first funders, providing $11.5 million in two rounds. Sequoia's take from the Google IPO: a $12.5 million investment in 1999 for 10% equity turned into roughly $4.7 billion.

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

Mark Brooks: And how many success stories are there like this these days? For all the deals VC's do and the losses they take on other deals, these are the rock star deals. The main thing VC's are looking for is an incredible growth trajectory. There will be more social networks that show these trajectories. PlentyofFish seems to be the lone star for high growth trajectories in the internet dating sector right now. 

Love at First Site?

Posted on October 11, 2006

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK — Oct 10 — ''Everyone's at it," says a BBC producer. ''At lunchtime the gossip is quite incredible. People are amazed by the horizons that open up once they get on the net." We may be years behind New Yorkers (they've been at it for ages), but in Britain internet dating is now big and getting bigger. We are on the cusp of a major social change. One user's criteria are that women should be ''pretty and fun". He has been on so many dates that he keeps a spreadsheet of all the women he has taken out (17 and counting). Despairing of the internet, he has now signed up with a London introduction agency, Drawing Down the Moon, where the joining fee is £950. Mysinglefriend – friends, rather than the singletons themselves, write the rofiles. Telegraph.co.uk./dating – for Telegraph readers. Ivorytowers.net for graduates. Toyboywarehouse for women in their 40s and men in their 30s. Classicalpartners -agency/social club aimed at music lovers.

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

Mark Brooks: I'm surprised Dating Direct has not wrapped up a distribution deal with The Telegraph.  Looks like they're offering online dating internally.  Is this wise or a mistake?  Why? Your comments please.

Another Free Dating Site – Datopia

Posted on October 11, 2006

Datopia_logo_1PR WEB — Oct 11 — The Heart2Heart Network, a leading provider of targeted online dating services, today announced the launch of its free, all-access dating community, Datopia.

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

Mark Brooks: Ever since Markus Frind showed off his $900k check for January and February from Google Adsense I've seen free dating site after free dating site launch. I've added a top 3 ranking for the free dating sites on the right bar. Plentyoffish is way ahead. OKCupid and Matchdoctor are doing well also. It falls off significantly from their.

Dot-Com Boom Echoed in Deal to Buy YouTube

Posted on October 10, 2006

Gootube3NY TIMES — Oct 10 — A profitless Web site started by three 20-somethings after a late-night dinner party is sold for more than a billion dollars, instantly turning dozens of its employees into paper millionaires. It happened yesterday. Google ($132B market cap) agreed yesterday to pay $1.65 billion in stock for YouTube. Users view 100 million short videos on the site every day. Google is expected to try to make money from YouTube by integrating the site with its search technology and search-based advertising program. News Corporation sent a letter to YouTube seeking to start talks but never received a response. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: And another raft of VC’s will pump money into new social networks which will launch in 3-6 months.

YouTube Valuation Growth

Posted on October 10, 2006

Gootube2SV BLOG — Oct 10 — Based on our rough calculations, YouTube was able to grow its valuation by $2.6 million every day since its launch in February 05.

The full article was originally published at Search Views Blog, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: YouTube proves out a critical hypothesis. Online video, and TV, is here to stay. The users will be very likely to switch over to new competitors.

YouTube Founders Video About Being ‘GooTube’

Posted on October 10, 2006

GootubeINFECTIOUS GREED BLOG — Oct 10 — Chad and Steven, the YouTube founders, have made a video on YouTube about being bought by Google. (1:36 mins)

The full article was originally published at Infectious Greed Blog, but is no longer available.

Google YouTube Conference Call

Posted on October 10, 2006

Conference_callSE JOURNAL BLOG — Oct 10 — Here are some random snippets from the call. 

Google CEO Eric Schmidt:
* This is the next step in the evolution of the Internet. It’s a natural next step and one that’s
very exciting for Google, YouTube and their users.
* There was a clear winner on the social networking side of video (in response to question re why
did Google want to buy YouTube).
* This is just the beginning of the online video revolution.
* This is just one of many investments Google will be making in online video.

YouTube Co-Founder Chad Hurley:
* We’ve always respected copyright owners’ rights. Copyright holders benefit from our site.
* We’ll remain independent and now have the resources to sharpen our focus and build a new
platform. (Answer in response to a question about why did YouTube sell after saying it was not for
sale.)

Eric Schmidt also characterized YouTube as a "global media platform." It was also interesting how Google speakers (Eric, Sergei) tried to distinguish Google video from YouTube as being in a different category of sites ( i.e., social networks). FULL ARTICLE @ SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL BLOG

Top Web Apps in India

Posted on October 10, 2006

Sahdipar_1READ/WRITE BLOG — Oct 10 — It's an exciting time for the economy in India. India has 1.1 Billion people and the average age of the nation is just 24.9 years. Indian GDP is growing 8%+. Their are 45 to 50 Million internet users in India making it the 4th biggest country in the world in terms of total Internet users – behind only the US, China and Japan. However due to India's huge population, its Internet Penetration is among the lowest in the world at only 4.5%, and only 10 million of those users are real power users who spend money online. Another challenge is that there are 23 mainstream languages that are spoken in India.  Matrimonial sites. Shaadi and BharatMatrimony.com are the most successful. India's eBay is Bazee.com (acquired by eBay). For Online Travel – MakeMyTrip, Yatra, and Arzoo.com (founded by Sabeer Bhatia, the co-founder of Hotmail. Jobs – Naukri. Real estate – 99acres. Online movie rentals – Seventymm.

The full article was originally published at Read Write Web, but is no longer available.