Month: June 2007

Disharmony, The New Tolerance

Posted on June 8, 2007

Eharmony_logoSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — June 7 — Last week, a lesbian filed suit against eHarmony.com for not serving individuals "based solely on their sexual orientation." When I asked why Carlson didn't simply go to another dating service, her lawyer evoked the image of Rosa Parks, noting that "nearly every step in civil rights law, you could have said the same thing…There is a big difference between the sites that allow the customers to self-select who they are looking for" and a site that makes the decision "to exclude a minority group." But the answer isn't to make eHarmony be what it is not, but to let others create something like eHarmony for gays and lesbians. Mark Brooks, spokesman for the gay online matchmaking service myPartnerPerfect.com, said of eHarmony: "I think they're having a bit of an unfair time of it. I think it's their right to have a niche focus, but they've not quite said the right thing, and their underlying tone has riled people up." 

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

Traditional Korean Marriage Meets the Net

Posted on June 8, 2007

Sunoologo TUSCALOOSA NEWS — June 5 — A growing number of matchmaking services in S.Korea rely heavily on the Internet and bill themselves as being more scientific than one-person shops. (e.g. Sunoo).  One customer listed 330+ pieces of information about herself including her blood type, pay, and the jobs and academic credentials of everyone in her immediate family. The site report ($21 cost) advised her to get married next year to a 33-year-old dentist or herbal doctor, and that August would be the best month to marry. For an extra charge the computer will scan a pool of 25,000 clients and send her the names of one or two suitable partners. More than 1,000 dating agencies operate in South Korea. In 2005, 51% of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s were unmarried, up 5% since 2000, and the birth rate is among the lowest in the world. South Korea remains very conservative when it comes to marriage. FULL ARTICLE @ TUSCALOOSA NEWS

The Need for a Sexual Facebook

Posted on June 8, 2007

THE HUFFINGTON POST — June 8 — We need a Facebook.com-like “social networking” site designed with the primary purpose of facilitating casual sexual encounters among educated young people. Online social networking as it currently exists is largely a waste of time because it serves no explicit pre-existing need and doesn’t help fulfill any goal except maybe the research of future, present, and past sexual partners.

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

Friendster Lives on in Southeast Asia

Posted on June 8, 2007

Friendster_logoWSJ — June 7 — Friendster (35 employees) is still live in the U.S., but nobody over here is taking much notice (including the company), because some 70% of the social network’s traffic now comes from Southeast Asia. It’s the most popular Web site in the Philippines and the second most popular site in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Forget Facebook, Friendster has firmly established itself as the second-most popular social network worldwide. It has a total 41 million Internet users in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia alone, according to Internet World Stats. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

myPartnerPerfect Opens New Door to Gay Love

Posted on June 8, 2007

Mypartnerperfectlogo PRESS RELEASE — June 8 –While hundreds of couples fill countless television spots with stories of how eHarmony helped them find each other, thousands of men and women have been turned away from the process because the long-term relationship that they were seeking was with someone of the same sex. Enter Patrick and myPartnerPerfect.com. "It was actually partially because of the discriminating policy of eHarmony that I founded myPartnerPerfect. For far too long the industry has neglected the gay community and their pursuit for life-partners….a large segment of the gay community is looking for something that can last a lifetime." Patrick has worked in the field of human sexuality since 1997 developing and cultivating relationships for the LGBT community. He has a B.A. in Psychology, an M.A. in Human Sexuality Studies and a PhD in Clinical Psychology. While at Saint John's University, Patrick conducted internationally recognized research on Human Mating Preferences.

The full article was originally published at E-MediaWire, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Media can call me at 212-444-1636 to arrange interviews with Patrick.

eHarmony Sued For Discrimination

Posted on June 7, 2007

Eharmony_logo_2BAY AREA REPORTER — June 7 — Carlson claimed that when she attempted to use the Web site in February 2007 she was "denied the ability to do so based on her sexual orientation." eHarmony allegedly violated California's Unruh Civil Rights Act. Said Schneider, with Schneider and Wallace. "Segregation in this country ended a long time ago and apparently eHarmony hasn't realized that gay rights is civil rights." Earlier this year a study, "The Close Relationships of Lesbians and Gay Men", by UCLA researchers, found that "lesbians, gay men, and heterosexuals seek similar qualities in their romantic partners. Regardless of sexual orientation, most individuals value affection, dependability, shared interests, and similarity of religious beliefs." LGBT dating services, such as the newly launched myPartnerPerfect.com and LavenderLiaisons.com provide services to gays and lesbians. In a statement released this week by Patrick Perrine, the founder of myPartnerPerfect.com and creator of its "Partner Perfect Compatibility" test, stated that he started the site "partially because of the discriminating policy of eHarmony."  Warren was quoted in USA Today, "We don't really want to participate in something that's illegal" when asked about providing matchmaking services to lesbians and gays, referring to the fact that lesbian and gay couples aren't currently legally allowed to marry, except in Massachusetts. FULL ARTICLE @ BAY AREA REPORTER

Dr Song Li, SinoFriends Founder/CEO – Video Interview

Posted on June 6, 2007

OPW INTERVIEW — June 6, 2007 — Dr Song Li is Founder/CEO of SinoFriends.com a.k.a. 96333.com, the oldest online dating service in China. He also runs Yeskee.com, one of the leading social networks. Here’s my video interview with Dr Li, the father of online dating in China. See About Us page at SinoFriends. – Mark Brooks

Dr. Li can you tell us more about the site that you run?
I'm the founder of SinoFriends Inc., which operates an online dating site 96333.com. We started about 2 years ago and now we have a database of about 5 million registered users. It's a paid online dating site with a business models similar to business models in the West. It's free to search and pay-to-communicate. Most of our paid users are professionals over 30 years old. We are based in Shenzhen, which is right across the river from Hong Kong.

How much are people paying on the site?
Our price is 999 RMB per year ($140) and we only offer yearly subscriptions. One of the major reasons that we do that is because in China most people don't have credit cards so therefore it's not possible to set up auto renewals, so we offer the annual fee. 

Match.com Does Mobile

Posted on June 6, 2007

Matchlogo WSJ — June 6 — Earlier this week, Jeff Blum was out buying a sandwich when his mind wandered toward his social life. So he got out his cellphone and sent a text message with his work ZIP Code to MeetMoi, a new mobile dating service. Within minutes, his phone received the profile of a woman who worked nearby, and the two began exchanging messages. Designed to be instant versions of Internet dating, many new services have capabilities that online-dating services haven't offered – such as letting you search for a date in a location you can update as you move around, and letting you chat with other people seeking a date while you're out and about. Match.com will soon launch a new mobile dating service that will allow its 15 million members to access their profiles and send messages to potential matches from their phones. Zogo connects users who want to talk by phone. Users log in through the browser in their mobile phone see a list of matches based on their preferences and can request a phone conversation. Jumbuck's Fast Flirting service is a mobile version of speed dating for around $3 a month. 3.6 million U.S. cellphone users accessed a dating service from their mobile phone in March, according to M:Metrics, a mobile research firm, up from 2.8 million in March 2006. FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ

This post also appears on MobileDatingWatch.

Vintacom Launches BET Interactive Dating Service

Posted on June 6, 2007

Thinkpartnershiplogo BUSINESS WIRE — June 5 — Think Partnership (Vintacom/Relationship Exchange) is providing BET Interactive with a custom online dating solution for visitors to BET.com to create relationships with fellow African-Americans throughout North America. Think Partnership powers the service through its Relationship Exchange solution. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: I’m finalising an overview of the top white label dating services.  Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com if you want a copy.  Seven white label dating services are included in the ~70 point analysis.

Online Dating Booming in Germany

Posted on June 6, 2007

Datingbycomputer JUST 4 BUSINESS — June 5 — In 2006 Germans spent 65.6 million Euros in order to find a mate on the internet, up 49% over 2005. Jupiter Research predicts another 29% increase in 2007 to 84.5 million Euros. A study was commissioned by the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM). In total there were on average 6.2 million people over the age of 15 visiting online dating services each month in the first quarter of 2007. Slightly less than in 2006 because of the growing popularity of social networking sites such as MySpace. But at the same time an always growing number of people are willing to spend money on online-dating. The number of users of online-dating services in Europe is expected to rise from 2.8 million in 2006 to 6.0 million by 2011. And from 246 million to 549 million Euros in the same period. One of the most important markets in this respect could be Germany. FULL ARTICLE @ JUST 4 BUSINESS