NEWS — May 16 — Legislation, sponsored by Senator Paul A. Sarlo,
would require any owner or employee of an international matchmaking
organization to apply for certification from the Division of Consumer
Affairs (DCA) and submit to a criminal background check to operate in
New Jersey. The bill S1813 now head to the full Senate for
consideration.
Month: May 2008
California Court Clears The Way For Gay Marriage
PRESS RELEASE — May 15 — The California Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on gay marriage, making California the second state in the country to allow same-sex marriage. "We at myPartner.com are so excited about today's California Supreme Court Ruling," says Patrick Perrine, myPartner founder, CEO and Relationship Expert. "For over 5 years we've been seeing more and more gay men looking to establish long term relationships. Our company is devoted to helping gay men find those lasting relationships."
OBC Spoof: eHarmony Ends ‘One Night Stand’ With Walk Of Shame
PR NEWSWIRE — May 15 — Contradicting its marriage-oriented brand, eHarmony ventured into unfamiliar waters last week by releasing a newsletter titled "Navigating the One Night Stand." The newsletter instructed singles how to engage in appropriate booty call etiquette. The ensuing backlash from members forced eHarmony to take the proverbial "walk of shame" back to their community and issue an apology. OnlineBootyCall.com, recognizing the special needs of this segment of the population, caters to proud singles who "enjoy being single." OnlineBootyCall pokes more fun at eHarmony's embarrassment by releasing its spoof of eHarmony's marriage compatibility advertisements.
The full article was originally published at The Earth Times, but is no longer available.
Meetic Plans To Double Earnings
BLOOMBERG — May 14 — Meetic, Europe's biggest Internet dating service, plans to double earnings in four years by charging more of its Web-site users and expanding in Germany and the U.K. Meetic, which bought DatingDirect in the U.K. and Neu.de in Germany in the past two years, may make "smaller, targeted'' purchases in Nordic countries such as Sweden or Denmark. Meetic's earnings jumped 52% to 26.5m euros ($41m) in 2007. Meetic is adding two new Web sites, one catering to women, one to young people.
The full article was originally published at Bloomberg, but is no longer available.
TRUE.com Increases Advertising Spend to $75 Million
PR NEWSWIRE — May 13 — TRUE.com intends to increase its advertising budget by approximately 70% to $75 million over the next year. TRUE ranks as one of the top spenders in Internet advertising across all industries, according to ClickZ Network, the largest resource of interactive marketing news. The expanded budget will primarily serve as a means to grow TRUE's awareness in key niche online markets.
The full article was originally published at Information Week, but is no longer available.
OmniDate Helps Daters Find Real Love In A Virtual World
CHICAGO TRIBUNE — May 11 — Paula Weisz's favorite place to take her dates is the Millennium bar. For her dates, she doesn't get dressed up, doesn't put on makeup, and doesn't even need to leave the comfort of her living room sofa. Weisz is among the growing number of people who are exploring virtual dating. "The gap can be filled by this simulated world that's safe, virtual and fun," said Ravit Abelman, who, with her husband Igor Kotlyar, founded both the OmniDate.com beta (showcase) site and the OmniDate program. "People can move from the online world into the real world and not be strangers." Through OmniDate, users choose avatars, that will represent them on their dates. Virtual dates can include touring a museum gallery, going to a bar, listening to the user's choice of music or even going to the beach. In 2006, researchers at the MIT Media Lab found that people who interacted with each other in the virtual world through avatars had better chemistry in face-to-face meetings than people who had only viewed profiles. Many sites, such as Woome.com and Speeddate.com, are using video chatting to make the online dating experience more realistic. But for some daters, being on video may be intimidating.
The full article was originally published at Chicago Tribune, but is no longer available. Also in COLUMBIA NEWS, THE TORONTO STAR.
Mark Brooks: Igor and Ravit have done a great job building a dating app that really gets daters more emotionally involved and connected. It's a lot more interesting than flat IM. OmniDate is a client of Courtland Brooks and sponsor OPW, btw. Let me know if you'd like a demo, or email Ravit directly.
Date.com Partners With Enlaso
MARKET WIRE — May 9 – Date.com and ENLASO, a provider of enterprise language solutions, partners to localize Date.com's network of dating sites into numerous languages. Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com will be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Before the end of 2009, Date.com plans to have its dating sites available in 18 languages to better accommodate its growing subscriber base from outside the US and to assist it in marketing itself internationally.
The full article was originally published at Marketwire, but is no longer available.
Customer Care Reputation Studied Online Before Making Purchases
RESEARCH BRIEF — May 5 — Among a new study "Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media," by the Society for New Communications Research, there is a growing group of consumers using social media to research companies.
59% of respondents use social media to "vent" about a customer care experience
72% of respondents research companies' customer care online prior to purchasing at least sometimes
84% of respondents consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their decision to do business with a company
74% choose companies/brands based on others' customer care experiences shared online
81% believe that blogs, online rating systems and discussion forums can give consumers a greater voice regarding customer careless than 33% believe that businesses take customers' opinions seriously
The full article was originally published at Center For Media Research, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Internet dating site users will often ask other users what sites work for them. So, the best way to increase your margins over the long term is to tune your dating site to it gets real results as fast as possible. That means culling your database regularly of dead profiles, and doing more with email marketing, and improving your compatibility profiling. Internet daters want dating sites to do the work. They want dates asap.
Marco Koeder On Mixi Internet Dating In Japan
OPW — May 9 — Marco Koeder, Executive Manager of Cybermedia, talks about what the Japanese do for internet dating in Japan at the Asian Social Networking and Internet Dating Conference.
Marco Koeder On The Use Of Avatars In Japan
OPW — May 9 — Whilst at the Asian Social Networking Conference in Tokyo today, I asked Marco Koeder, Executive Manager of Cybermedia, about the use of avatars on Asian SNS.