Month: January 2007

Internet Dating 2.0

Posted on January 21, 2007

LaptopTIME — Jan 19 — HonestyOnline takes the lie out of online. "It's an extra layer of protection to determine if a guy is Jack the Ripper with three wives," said William Bollinger, EVP National Background Data, a database used by HonestyOnline. At iDate 2007, vendors demonstrate ways to meet, court, virtual date and even marry without ever leaving home. OmniDate can place you in a virtual restaurant with an animated date. On Mobilove, I scrolled through profiles and sent text messages. Already 500,000 Americans have posted their pictures and mini profiles on their cell phones, and users are growing by 20% every month, according to Mobilove VP Nils Knagenhjelm. Thanks to Vumber you can get many numbers with only one phone. If the person dialing one of the numbers turns out to be a less than desirable caller, poof! the number disappears with a few keystrokes. "You can vanish without a trace," said Geoff Schneider, Vumber's EVP. Plenty of Fish, with 400,000 hits a day, was created by Markus Frind, who still runs it out of his apartment. He figured out people essentially exaggerate on profile answers. He follows a more sensible creed: actions speak louder than words. For example, Susie says she wants a solid, stable man who earns $100,000-plus but keeps clicking on profiles of muscle-bound bad boys. Plenty of Fish makes sure she meets plenty of underemployed weightlifters, and some of the stable ones she ignores. "People don't even realize we do this. They just know they are getting results," said Frind.  Chris Walker is experimenting with behavioral matchmaking. An early innovator, he started in the 1960s with punch card computer dating. After years of matching people, he now focuses on how people choose to spend their time. "The personal touch still blows away everything else out there," says Paul Falzone, CEO of The Right One and Together, an old-school matchmaking dating service. 

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

Internet Dating 2.0

Posted on January 21, 2007

LaptopTIME — Jan 19 — HonestyOnline takes the lie out of online. "It's an extra layer of protection to determine if a guy is Jack the Ripper with three wives," said William Bollinger, EVP National Background Data, a database used by HonestyOnline. At iDate 2007, vendors demonstrate ways to meet, court, virtual date and even marry without ever leaving home. OmniDate can place you in a virtual restaurant with an animated date. On Mobilove, I scrolled through profiles and sent text messages. Already 500,000 Americans have posted their pictures and mini profiles on their cell phones, and users are growing by 20% every month, according to Mobilove VP Nils Knagenhjelm. Thanks to Vumber you can get many numbers with only one phone. If the person dialing one of the numbers turns out to be a less than desirable caller, poof! the number disappears with a few keystrokes. "You can vanish without a trace," said Geoff Schneider, Vumber's EVP. Plenty of Fish, with 400,000 hits a day, was created by Markus Frind, who still runs it out of his apartment. He figured out people essentially exaggerate on profile answers. He follows a more sensible creed: actions speak louder than words. For example, Susie says she wants a solid, stable man who earns $100,000-plus but keeps clicking on profiles of muscle-bound bad boys. Plenty of Fish makes sure she meets plenty of underemployed weightlifters, and some of the stable ones she ignores. "People don't even realize we do this. They just know they are getting results," said Frind.  Chris Walker is experimenting with behavioral matchmaking. An early innovator, he started in the 1960s with punch card computer dating. After years of matching people, he now focuses on how people choose to spend their time. "The personal touch still blows away everything else out there," says Paul Falzone, CEO of The Right One and Together, an old-school matchmaking dating service. 

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

Pals Playing Matchmaker

Posted on January 21, 2007

CoupleMERCURY NEWS — Jan 18 — Singles on the lookout for a partner are setting aside Internet searches and returning to the matchmaker. Unlike the gossipy Yenta of "Fiddler on the Roof," today’s matchmakers are often tech-savvy amateur cupids who run through a range of social circles. Relationship expert Jeff Cohen, author of Dating Inc., says that the diminished novelty of online dating, along with the perception that not everyone is completely honest in their profiles, has prompted more people to put their faith in a matchmaker and try blind dating. "In the last five or so years, online dating was huge, but now you’re starting to see a shift back to this way of meeting people," says Cohen.

Mark Brooks: Match is moving towards high end, hands on, matchmaking. Will the movie ‘Hitch,’ with Will Smith, inspire a new billion dollar industry in the USA? 

Pals Playing Matchmaker

Posted on January 21, 2007

CoupleMERCURY NEWS — Jan 18 — Singles on the lookout for a partner are setting aside Internet searches and returning to the matchmaker. Unlike the gossipy Yenta of "Fiddler on the Roof," today’s matchmakers are often tech-savvy amateur cupids who run through a range of social circles. Relationship expert Jeff Cohen, author of Dating Inc., says that the diminished novelty of online dating, along with the perception that not everyone is completely honest in their profiles, has prompted more people to put their faith in a matchmaker and try blind dating. "In the last five or so years, online dating was huge, but now you’re starting to see a shift back to this way of meeting people," says Cohen.

Mark Brooks: Match is moving towards high end, hands on, matchmaking. Will the movie ‘Hitch,’ with Will Smith, inspire a new billion dollar industry in the USA? 

IceBreaker Allows Cell Phone Users to Meet Anytime, Anywhere

Posted on January 18, 2007

PR NEWSWIRE — Jan 16 — IceBreaker's Crush or Flush(TM) provides flirt, chat, and the ability to meet local people with similar interests from a cell phone. "According to Frost and Sullivan, the mobile dating segment is projected to grow at 62% a year through 2009," said Jake Seid, General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Revenues for the online dating category are estimated at nearly $600M in 2006 and are growing exponentially. FULL ARTICLE @ SYS CON

Mark Brooks: Flirty chat is where the money is. Mobile dating service from the likes of Lavalife, Webdate and Match only contribute hundreds of thousands each quarter to this $600 million. SMS services make more money. But, $600 million a year!? That number seems very lofty.

IceBreaker Allows Cell Phone Users to Meet Anytime, Anywhere

Posted on January 18, 2007

PR NEWSWIRE — Jan 16 — IceBreaker's Crush or Flush(TM) provides flirt, chat, and the ability to meet local people with similar interests from a cell phone. "According to Frost and Sullivan, the mobile dating segment is projected to grow at 62% a year through 2009," said Jake Seid, General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Revenues for the online dating category are estimated at nearly $600M in 2006 and are growing exponentially. FULL ARTICLE @ SYS CON

Mark Brooks: Flirty chat is where the money is. Mobile dating service from the likes of Lavalife, Webdate and Match only contribute hundreds of thousands each quarter to this $600 million. SMS services make more money. But, $600 million a year!? That number seems very lofty.

Digital Matchmakers Get Down to Business

Posted on January 18, 2007

Logo2007_6MIAMI HERALD — Jan 16 — The online dating industry needs to start stealing tricks from younger and nimbler websites. That seemed to be the message floating through the hallways at iDate, the annual conference of the Internet dating industry. 350 participants were at the iDate (and Social Networking Conference). Dating sites (think Yahoo Personals and Match.com) are seeing users poached by social networking sites. While those sites are not specifically designed to find a date, that is how they are being used, said Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane. ''Traditional online dating sites are feeling the pinch,'' he said. Of the Top 10 dating sites in the United States, seven saw a declining number of unique visitors throughout 2006, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. At the same time MySpace overtook Yahoo as the world's busiest website. But the poison is the antidote, said Jones. By stealing pickup lines from social networking competitors — such as allowing users to link to their MySpace profile or upload slide-shows from sites such as Flicker and Rockyou — the industry can woo back admirers. Just a few years ago, anyone with a server, a black book and the verve could launch an online dating site, said Mark Brooks, the publisher of Online Personals Watch. Now the market is crowded and competitive, and the only hope for newcomers is to generate heaps of buzz and tap unexplored niches. Or, as Brooks sums it up: "Word of mouth marketing and differentiate — or die.'' Date.com CEO Meir Strahlberg said he didn't see any need for a radical reinvention to keep up with the MySpaces of the world.

Mark Brooks: iDate2007 was hands down the best internet dating conference yet. I felt there was more energy at this conference than last year. The halls were full of top level business schmoozing. The Royal Palm Hotel was more expensive but far more comfortable than last year. Worth the extra, and the location was perfect. It was walking distance to the convention center, and right on the beach. The convention center was a higher standard venue in many ways but we need to change the room orientation next year. Wide rooms work better than long rooms. The keynote presentations were packed out and the multi track system worked well. However, next year it would be great to have a distinct social networking track and a distinct internet dating track. That would encourage greater SNS participation and 500+ attendees. I think 75% of the attendees were dating focused this year. We'll see more social networking interest at the July conference in California. Your comments please…

Digital Matchmakers Get Down to Business

Posted on January 18, 2007

Logo2007_6MIAMI HERALD — Jan 16 — The online dating industry needs to start stealing tricks from younger and nimbler websites. That seemed to be the message floating through the hallways at iDate, the annual conference of the Internet dating industry. 350 participants were at the iDate (and Social Networking Conference). Dating sites (think Yahoo Personals and Match.com) are seeing users poached by social networking sites. While those sites are not specifically designed to find a date, that is how they are being used, said Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane. ''Traditional online dating sites are feeling the pinch,'' he said. Of the Top 10 dating sites in the United States, seven saw a declining number of unique visitors throughout 2006, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. At the same time MySpace overtook Yahoo as the world's busiest website. But the poison is the antidote, said Jones. By stealing pickup lines from social networking competitors — such as allowing users to link to their MySpace profile or upload slide-shows from sites such as Flicker and Rockyou — the industry can woo back admirers. Just a few years ago, anyone with a server, a black book and the verve could launch an online dating site, said Mark Brooks, the publisher of Online Personals Watch. Now the market is crowded and competitive, and the only hope for newcomers is to generate heaps of buzz and tap unexplored niches. Or, as Brooks sums it up: "Word of mouth marketing and differentiate — or die.'' Date.com CEO Meir Strahlberg said he didn't see any need for a radical reinvention to keep up with the MySpaces of the world.

Mark Brooks: iDate2007 was hands down the best internet dating conference yet. I felt there was more energy at this conference than last year. The halls were full of top level business schmoozing. The Royal Palm Hotel was more expensive but far more comfortable than last year. Worth the extra, and the location was perfect. It was walking distance to the convention center, and right on the beach. The convention center was a higher standard venue in many ways but we need to change the room orientation next year. Wide rooms work better than long rooms. The keynote presentations were packed out and the multi track system worked well. However, next year it would be great to have a distinct social networking track and a distinct internet dating track. That would encourage greater SNS participation and 500+ attendees. I think 75% of the attendees were dating focused this year. We'll see more social networking interest at the July conference in California. Your comments please…

Userplane Launches Ad Revenue-Sharing Program; Dating Site PlentyofFish Hauls in ‘Significant’ Revenue

Posted on January 18, 2007

Logo_plentyoffish_8BUSINESS WIRE — Jan 16 — Userplane, a subsidiary of AOL, today announced that PlentyofFish, the world's top free dating site, has joined Userplane's new ad revenue-sharing program. Userplane now enables text-based ads within its private-label chat and IM tools. It then splits any resulting revenue with participating sites. PlentyofFish has more than 1 million daily visitors and is ranked by Hitwise as a top five dating service in the U.S. Since 2004, its members have used Userplane Webmessenger(TM) to initiate, on average, more than 100,000 IM sessions and exchange millions of text and audio/video messages per day. Userplane's ad network delivers more than 1 billion ads per month.

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

Mark Brooks: I think Markus ruffled some feathers on the final panel when he said that he wasn't interested in making more money. There were more than a few gasps around the room. Quite a few of the people I talked to were interested in starting free dating services…but something doesn't quite compute. Markus is one guy. He's an efficiency engineer and prides himself on being able to run his site on less than ten servers.  He makes a modest CPM on his advertising and gets massive amounts of traffic in comparison to other free dating sites. I say, power to Markus. Place an ad on his plain Jane site and let him upsell to your paid dating site. Or, if you want to convert your paid dating site to a free dating site, start by firing everyone and ripping out 90% of your servers and features. 

Userplane Launches Ad Revenue-Sharing Program; Dating Site PlentyofFish Hauls in ‘Significant’ Revenue

Posted on January 18, 2007

Logo_plentyoffish_8BUSINESS WIRE — Jan 16 — Userplane, a subsidiary of AOL, today announced that PlentyofFish, the world's top free dating site, has joined Userplane's new ad revenue-sharing program. Userplane now enables text-based ads within its private-label chat and IM tools. It then splits any resulting revenue with participating sites. PlentyofFish has more than 1 million daily visitors and is ranked by Hitwise as a top five dating service in the U.S. Since 2004, its members have used Userplane Webmessenger(TM) to initiate, on average, more than 100,000 IM sessions and exchange millions of text and audio/video messages per day. Userplane's ad network delivers more than 1 billion ads per month.

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

Mark Brooks: I think Markus ruffled some feathers on the final panel when he said that he wasn't interested in making more money. There were more than a few gasps around the room. Quite a few of the people I talked to were interested in starting free dating services…but something doesn't quite compute. Markus is one guy. He's an efficiency engineer and prides himself on being able to run his site on less than ten servers.  He makes a modest CPM on his advertising and gets massive amounts of traffic in comparison to other free dating sites. I say, power to Markus. Place an ad on his plain Jane site and let him upsell to your paid dating site. Or, if you want to convert your paid dating site to a free dating site, start by firing everyone and ripping out 90% of your servers and features.