BUSINESS WIRE — Feb 5 — According to the January, 2007 OkCupid.com survey: 57% of respondents said Valentine’s Day is "just a Hallmark holiday" with only 1% deeming it "very important to have a date."
Month: February 2007
Singles Downplay Valentine’s Day
BUSINESS WIRE — Feb 5 — According to the January, 2007 OkCupid.com survey: 57% of respondents said Valentine’s Day is "just a Hallmark holiday" with only 1% deeming it "very important to have a date."
Trends in Online Dating
SEEKING ALPHA — Feb 4 — The chart below ranks online dating services by member activity. Match.com moved up one spot in rank. While it's not shown in this chart, total traffic to the site grew more than 50% from November to December. Yahoo Personals member visits increased by 13% from November to December. eHarmony member activity declined. Interest in online dating services starts to grow right around Christmas. These sites saw about a 13% change in visitors and visits since the week of the December 10th.
The full article was originally published at Seeking Alpha, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Compete.com (along with Quantcast.com) are worth checking for site traffic intelligence, if you're not already using Hitwise, Comscore or Nielsen//NetRatings.
Trends in Online Dating
SEEKING ALPHA — Feb 4 — The chart below ranks online dating services by member activity. Match.com moved up one spot in rank. While it's not shown in this chart, total traffic to the site grew more than 50% from November to December. Yahoo Personals member visits increased by 13% from November to December. eHarmony member activity declined. Interest in online dating services starts to grow right around Christmas. These sites saw about a 13% change in visitors and visits since the week of the December 10th.
The full article was originally published at Seeking Alpha, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Compete.com (along with Quantcast.com) are worth checking for site traffic intelligence, if you're not already using Hitwise, Comscore or Nielsen//NetRatings.
Online Dating in Pyongyang
ECONOMIST — Feb 1 — North Korea’s dictator, Mr Kim, believes there are three kinds of fool in the 21st century: smokers, the tone-deaf and the computer-illiterate. One of his young compatriots said, "Officially, our computers are mainly for educational and scientific purposes," he says, before claiming: "Chatting on our web, I also met my girlfriend." N.Korea launched a nationwide intranet in 2000. Known as Kwangmyong ("bright"), it has a browser, an e-mail programme, news groups and a search engine. Only a few thousand people are allowed direct access to the internet. FULL ARTICLE @ ECONOMIST
Online Dating in Pyongyang
ECONOMIST — Feb 1 — North Korea’s dictator, Mr Kim, believes there are three kinds of fool in the 21st century: smokers, the tone-deaf and the computer-illiterate. One of his young compatriots said, "Officially, our computers are mainly for educational and scientific purposes," he says, before claiming: "Chatting on our web, I also met my girlfriend." N.Korea launched a nationwide intranet in 2000. Known as Kwangmyong ("bright"), it has a browser, an e-mail programme, news groups and a search engine. Only a few thousand people are allowed direct access to the internet. FULL ARTICLE @ ECONOMIST
Patent Infringement Suit
SEATTLE PI — Feb 2 — Yahoo has been accused in a lawsuit of infringing a U.S. patent on a way to match users’ personality profiles. Spark Network Services (not Spark Networks) also named Match.com and eHarmony.com as defendants in the suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago. The complaint asks for damages based on the companies’ profits from the sites and the duration of infringement. FULL POST @ SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Mark Brooks: Spark Network Services was started in 1994 and supplied it’s radio partners with the (IVR) Voice Personals platform, MatchLink through 800 and 900 numbers. They have nothing to do with Spark Networks. I was surprised Spark went with that name given the branding proximity with Spark Networks .
Here’s some info on the patent…
U.S. Patent 6,272,467
Inventors: Durand; Pierre E. (Chicago, IL), Low; Michael D. (Evanston, IL), Stoller; Melissa K. (Kenilworth, IL)
Assignee: Spark Network Services, Inc. (Evanston, IL)
Filed: January 16, 1997
This patent relates to an automated method for identifying compatible matches where participants are identified by a profile of traits and a set of criteria desired in at match. The invention utilizes two-way matching of selected criteria, which measures not only how compatible the potential match is with the desired traits of the user, but also how well the user fits the potential match’s idea of the perfect match. One embodiment of the invention further refines the matching process by asking the user to identify and rank which criteria the user considers to be the most important in a match and then weighing those criteria more heavily in the matching process. LINK TO PATENT
Patent Infringement Suit
SEATTLE PI — Feb 2 — Yahoo has been accused in a lawsuit of infringing a U.S. patent on a way to match users’ personality profiles. Spark Network Services (not Spark Networks) also named Match.com and eHarmony.com as defendants in the suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago. The complaint asks for damages based on the companies’ profits from the sites and the duration of infringement. FULL POST @ SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Mark Brooks: Spark Network Services was started in 1994 and supplied it’s radio partners with the (IVR) Voice Personals platform, MatchLink through 800 and 900 numbers. They have nothing to do with Spark Networks. I was surprised Spark went with that name given the branding proximity with Spark Networks .
Here’s some info on the patent…
U.S. Patent 6,272,467
Inventors: Durand; Pierre E. (Chicago, IL), Low; Michael D. (Evanston, IL), Stoller; Melissa K. (Kenilworth, IL)
Assignee: Spark Network Services, Inc. (Evanston, IL)
Filed: January 16, 1997
This patent relates to an automated method for identifying compatible matches where participants are identified by a profile of traits and a set of criteria desired in at match. The invention utilizes two-way matching of selected criteria, which measures not only how compatible the potential match is with the desired traits of the user, but also how well the user fits the potential match’s idea of the perfect match. One embodiment of the invention further refines the matching process by asking the user to identify and rank which criteria the user considers to be the most important in a match and then weighing those criteria more heavily in the matching process. LINK TO PATENT
New Legislation to Curb Online Predators
EARTH TIMES — Jan 31 — Social networking sites will be able to check their lists of registered users against a federal list of sex offenders in terms of new regulation proposed by the U.S. Congress in a bid to curb the online activities of sex predators. While this provision does not make it mandatory for the websites to undertake the countercheck, the legislation introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday requires convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail and IM addresses with law enforcement authorities. Offenders who fail to register their online identities with the registry will face up to 10 years in prison. If the offender is on supervised release from prison, the individual’s probation would be revoked. FULL ARTICLE @ EARTH TIMES
Mark Brooks: I’m not a fan of legislation in the online dating space but this seems like good news. The online dating and especially the social networking industry could/should tap into this database. One of my predictions for 2007 was that two more top ten dating sites would add optional background checks. Here’s more news on the subject…
Bill to Curb Online Sexual Predators Criticized
SF GATE — Jan 31 — Last month, MySpace teamed up with the security firm Sentinel Tech to create a database technology to remove sexual offenders from online communities. This week, it donated the technology to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. MySpace is currently beta-testing the technology, and has already removed a few known sex offenders from its site. As for the bill’s intent to stop age misrepresentation, Internet safety experts say nice try, but hardly enforceable. Parry Aftab, a cyberspace attorney and executive director of the 8-year-old WiredSafety.org, said only "the stupidest" online predators would use their registered online monikers, she said. And "while there’s a lot of stupid sexual predators, it’s easy to get around." Critics want MySpace to increase its minimum age to 16 and require that parents confirm their children’s ages. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE
New Legislation to Curb Online Predators
EARTH TIMES — Jan 31 — Social networking sites will be able to check their lists of registered users against a federal list of sex offenders in terms of new regulation proposed by the U.S. Congress in a bid to curb the online activities of sex predators. While this provision does not make it mandatory for the websites to undertake the countercheck, the legislation introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives Tuesday requires convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail and IM addresses with law enforcement authorities. Offenders who fail to register their online identities with the registry will face up to 10 years in prison. If the offender is on supervised release from prison, the individual’s probation would be revoked. FULL ARTICLE @ EARTH TIMES
Mark Brooks: I’m not a fan of legislation in the online dating space but this seems like good news. The online dating and especially the social networking industry could/should tap into this database. One of my predictions for 2007 was that two more top ten dating sites would add optional background checks. Here’s more news on the subject…
Bill to Curb Online Sexual Predators Criticized
SF GATE — Jan 31 — Last month, MySpace teamed up with the security firm Sentinel Tech to create a database technology to remove sexual offenders from online communities. This week, it donated the technology to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. MySpace is currently beta-testing the technology, and has already removed a few known sex offenders from its site. As for the bill’s intent to stop age misrepresentation, Internet safety experts say nice try, but hardly enforceable. Parry Aftab, a cyberspace attorney and executive director of the 8-year-old WiredSafety.org, said only "the stupidest" online predators would use their registered online monikers, she said. And "while there’s a lot of stupid sexual predators, it’s easy to get around." Critics want MySpace to increase its minimum age to 16 and require that parents confirm their children’s ages. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE