TECH CRUNCH BLOG — Jul 23 — Online dating drew ~4 million U.S. users daily in June 2006 (25 million monthly), and they spend a daily average of nearly 17 minutes each on these sites. That adds up to ~4.5 billion page views per month (source: Comscore). And that doesn't take into account the billion-a-day Myspace page views. All told, at least 15% of U.S. Internet users visit an online dating site each month. The two largest dating sites are Yahoo Personals and Match.com (9.3 million monthly visitors). Match.com charges $30/month for the basic plan, Yahoo's is $25/month. Both offer premium plans. An entire batch of next generation dating sites have emerged that are starting to nip at the established players. One, PlentyofFish, launched in 2003 and has over half a million monthly U.S. visitors. Google entered the space with their Google Base product. These sites are (mostly) free, making revenue from ad sales alone.
- Consumating – "Find People Who Don't Suck" – Launched the summer of 2005 and was acquired by CNET in December 2005. Tagging plays a big part. Aimed at young hipsters who make themselves more "popular" by answering questions to fill out their profile. Offers contests and weekly user quizzes.
- Engage – Hooks up couples Fiddler-on-the-Roof-style through matchmaking. Users sign up with the usual descriptive profile, but then take on the role of either "dater" or "matchmaker" (or both).
- Google Personals – Google Base – User profiles highly targeted towards dating. Other features include labels (tags), location mapping, and an anonymous email to be reached at.
- GreatBoyFriends – Friends, family and ex's are asked to leave feedback about users. GBF then verifies the endorsement or removes it.
- MatchActivity – MatchActivity is a new site that sets up a date before the introduction. Users post activities in their area and then choose the respondent they like the most and carry out the date.
- MatchTag – Same core activity tagging feature of MatchActivity.com, but wraps it in a more complete social network. A service to meet new dates and friends.
- MingleNow – Users group themselves by what real world locations they hang out at (bars, restaurants, cafe's, etc.) so groups can mingle online and off.
- PlentyofFish – A very large dating site. Users browse personal profiles free of charge, with a bulletin board system that allows users to freely chat, vent frustrations, and offer up dating advice.
- Poddater – Users create profile videos and allow others to download them and view them.
- Prescription4Love – Niche site devoted to people facing thestigma of special conditions, such as deafness, HIV, or obesity.
- RateOrDate – A meta-dating-search site that features couple ratings, singles event listings, and a dating site directory.
- VerbDate – Adds voice to the usual online dating experience via Skype and incorporates Flickr photo albums. Allows the greatest amount of interaction while remaining physically separated.
- Wikia Personals – Aims to create a free global personals page.
If numbers of profiles matter PlentyofFish leads the pack. Our anticipated favorite is MingleNow – tying socializing to real-world hangouts is a great idea. FULL ARTICLE @ TECHCRUNCH BLOG
And don’t forget http://www.eRomance.com
eRomance.com is in Beta but is a lifestyle community built around the theme of romance. Find romance through free online dating, but you can also read from hundreds of advice articles, and find a romantic restaurant or weekend getaway idea in your area. 🙂
I believe that the ease of use and how these services incorporate into daily life will drive their memberships and also lead to their eventual demise.
Social networking works as long as it is social. Adding a dating aspect to it opens up a world of abuse from ex-daters, bewildered members and those with spite towards others.
Just as Match.com hit the headlines by the service being used/abused by a possible rapist, social networking opens up a new world of reports on one’s personal social life that may not be as restrictive as people would otherwise feel safe with considering the unfounded ‘safe’ feeling people get with online interactions.
‘Online dating’ has preconceived notions that ‘social networking’ services have yet to experience.
No respect! No respect I tell ya. Did somebody step on duck in here?!!?
Someday we will make the “List”… 🙂
Andrew, please stop whining. Match.com deserves kudos for its deal with us (Jangl). They get it. Do you?
We are not a dating site per se, but we are a small (but growing) social network for alumni from top academic institutions. It’s interesting to see how much more comfortable people are joining a “social networking” site than an “online dating” site — there is something psychological about not making the dating piece explicit that seems to help people sign up and participate.
I just happen to be passing by when I read your post. Nice post and keep up the good work!
Please do include http://www.cebuanas.com too!
Anyway, thanks for sharing for this one.