NY TIMES — Nov 30 — "Why would I give out my cell?" said Ms. McClain, 23. "I don't need a guy I met at a bar one night calling me every day for the next two weeks begging me to go out. I want to filter out the people I don't need to have contact with." In an age of information oversharing, the mobile-phone number is one of the few pieces of personal information that people still choose to guard. And the decision to give out a cell number can haunt you for years, as people now hold on to the numbers longer than their land-line numbers. Instead of giving out her cell number, Ms. McClain has recently been dispersing what has become known as a "social phone number." A handful of Web sites are creating mask numbers, which can be obtained in nearly every area code. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
Mark Brooks: I'm preparing a side by side analysis of over a dozen anonymous calling service providers suitable for consideration of internet dating and social networking services. Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com to get your copy as soon as it's completed. I'm working for Vumber.com (coming soon) and this is part of my research for them.
Month: November 2006
European Internet Growth
NETIMPERATIVE — Nov 30 — Social networking websites are used by nearly a quarter of Europeans at least once a month, according to a new consumer survey (7,036 participants). The 2006 Mediascope research from the EIAA reveals that social networking is driving internet growth. 72% of Europeans spend the majority of their time online for personal reasons. 45% of internet users in Europe now go online every day of the week. The average European internet user spends 11 hours 20 minutes a week online compared to 10 hours 15 minutes a week in 2005 and is online 5.4 days a week on average. Social networking sites are visited at least once a month by 23% of online Europeans. 32% of 16-24 year old internet users visit social networking sites at least once a month. 31% of European online users download music at least once a month. 15% conduct telephone calls via the internet, up 50% from last year. Spain and Germany lead in the use of online forums with 36% and 31% respectively interacting with those sites at least once a month. Sweden is leading the European internet radio trend with 43% of online users tuning in at least once a month, followed closely by the Spanish and French markets. 25% of internet users in France engage with the blogosphere at least once a month. 85% of online consumers in the UK, France, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark use broadband.
Mark Brooks: Italy and Spain hold opportunity. Eastern Europe is still virgin territory.
Modern Romance: Get Texted When Love is Near
CNN — Nov 30 — Online dating is so last year. Now, if you're thinking romance, look to your mobile phone. Match-making companies are creating new services that allow people to post their dating profile online and then automatically receive a text message on a GPS-enabled phone when a match is nearby, say, at a coffee shop around the corner. Mobile dating is such a new trend that the size of its user base isn't even closely followed. In a survey of online dating users conducted by Jupiter Research, barely a fraction of them said they use mobile platforms in search of romance. But younger generations more comfortable with newer technologies could change how people connect. Three in four of them use text messaging (versus one in four adults) and nearly half of them use their phones to instant message. FULL ARTICLE @ CNN
Mark Brooks: Think long term, think mobile. Mobile dating will eventually produce more revenue than online dating. Who wants to sit in front of a desk while chatting up a potential date? Users want to be free, mobile, but hooked into the net. Mobile dating is far, far more compelling than internet dating. LBS + Phonecams + Palmtop computer phones (a la 'sidekick'). Which is why I created Mobile Dating Watch. Watch this space 😉
International Flavor
OPW — Nov 30 — Online Personals Watch is short on international news. I’d like to add some international flavor and I need YOUR help. Please forward me your press hits and press releases (with real news) to mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com for review. The press uses OPW for research ya know 😉 Sites with a lot of news get their own category listing. – Mark Brooks
Spark Launches Private Calling and Interactive Games
PR NEWSWIRE — Nov 29 — Spark Networks launched live and anonymous calling and interactive games on a number of its online communities including AmericanSingles, Date.ca and CollegeLuv via Userplane Webchat and Webmessenger applications. "The leaders of the next generation of online personals sites will be those, like Spark Networks, who focus on making their websites more effective at smoothing the process of introduction," stated Greg Liberman, President/COO of Spark Networks. "Anonymous calling gives singles an additional channel for communication, while games allow our members to get to know one another in a fun, low pressure way."
Mark Brooks: Wise move on both counts. My client, Vumber.com, will release a standalone solution for anonymous calling shortly. Email me if you want early notification, mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com.
JLove: For Jewish Singles
MARKET WIRE –Nov 29 — JLove launched in early 2006 and is dedicated to preserving Jewish values and keeping the essence of Jewish unity alive. In August 2006, JLove became the first and only Jewish community site to offer a personality assessment, the JType Personality Profiling System.
Mark Brooks: JLove is going after JDate and taking a little of it's market share. JLove is a better name, but JDate owns the market…for now.
China.com Partners with Meetic
BUSINESS WIRE — Nov 29 — China.com, a leading ISP in China partnered with Meetic to launch an online dating service in the China market. Meetic is the largest dating website in Europe with 25 million registered users and since its launch in 2002, more than 500,000 couples have become engaged. "According to industry research, the scale of online dating in China will reach more than 100 million people by 2008," said Xiaowei Chen, Ph.D., CFO of China.com.
Mark Brooks: If you want a piece of the Asian online personals market, come to the Asian internet dating convention in May 2007. There were tentative plans for it to be in Tokyo but I confirmed with Marc Lesnick of the Internet Dating Conference that it will be in Shanghai.
Domain Names
OPW — Nov 29 — If you have domain names for sale that are suitable for internet dating or social networking sites, please email your list/pricing to mark@courtlandbrooks.com. Thanks.
Internet Dating too Good to be True
POST TRIBUNE — Nov 29 — 60,000 new people register on Match.com every day, and last year, 400,000 formed long-term relationships through the Web site. The FBI said online crimes are increasing as more and more people become adept at using the Internet. Match officials said they reject about 15 percent of the submitted profiles that don’t reach their standards.
Caller Privacy For Dating Sites
USA TODAY — Nov 27 — Are you ready to get Jangl'd? Michael Cerda, the co-founder of Jangl, a telephone service start-up, sure hopes so. "We give consumers the ability to call each other without giving out phone numbers," Cerda says. Go to Jangl.com, and sign up for a free account. Provide an e-mail address and telephone number. Create a "Jangl ID." Once you have your Jangl ID, Cerda says, "You can stop giving out your phone number and just Jangl." Callers must go to the Jangl website and key in their Jangl ID. To be accepted, callers have to provide enough personal information so that the Jangl system — which is bi-directional — can connect you with that caller. Once the required information has been keyed in, the Jangl system hands over your contact "phone number." In reality, however, it's a unique telephone ID for that particular relationship. As soon as the call is placed, Jangl forwards it to your real phone number. The privacy protection is bi-directional, so recipients don't know the real numbers of callers, either, Cerda notes. For security reasons, each call is announced with a short preamble that includes the caller's name. Recipients can accept, reject or block any call. Jangl is a natural for online dating services, which have long favored anonymous e-mail systems to protect the identity of users. On Nov. 2, online dating giant Match.com started offering Jangl as a free service, called "matchTalk." Jane Thompson, a Match VP, says response to the feature has been "extraordinary." She says 275,000 people already have used the feature. One surprise: Match.com had expected the service to be used mostly by younger romance seekers, she says. But so far, 50% of users have been in the 35 to 49 age bracket. About 8% are over 55. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY