NEWSWIRE — June 19 — Bone Fish, the white label dating provider, has developed its product portfolio and created an exclusively-black (white label) network that allows coloured members to find other coloured members around the world. Michael Fitzgerald, director and co-founder of Bone Fish Ltd, revealed: "Some time back we recognized that the demand for a "true" black-network in the online dating sector was incredible – and we wanted to capitalise on that." FULL ARTICLE @ NEWSWIRE
Month: June 2008
Homosexuals’ Money Is No Good Here
ABC NEWS — June 19 — Some
businesses still don’t cater to homosexuals, ignoring a potentially
lucrative source of revenue, says Duke University economist Keith A.
Bender. One of the most well-known examples is eHarmony.com. "These
companies are cutting out a certain segment of the population that they
could be getting revenue from," Bender said. "Statistics I’ve heard say
that around 10% of the population expresses some homosexual tendencies.
There are 417,044 pairs of unmarried male partners and 362,823 pairs of
unmarried female partners living together in this country, according to
a 2006 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. FULL ARTICLE @ ABC NEWS
Mark Brooks: Its a branding decision. eHarmony is not for everyone. They could/should introduce a gay brand perhaps though or at least drive their gay traffic to a site that can look after them.
China Has A New Dating Site
CHINA NEWSWIRE — June 19 — http://www.yuanlaishini88.com is uniquely bi-lingual (English and Chinese) and targets the busy over 25 working professionals. Yuanlaishini88 .com decided not to allow advertising or sponsorships. To encourage growth they are offering free 1 year VIP memberships to the first 20,000 members.
The full article was originally published at China Newswire, but is no longer available.
Dating Service Accused Of Deceptive Practices
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC — June 18 — Attorney General Terry Goddard on Wednesday accused Great Expectations, a Scottsdale-based matchmaking service, of coercive sales tactics and deceptive practices to sell expensive dating services. Great Expectations, said the case has no merit and looks forward to going to trial. The Attorney General's office alleged that Great Expectations:– Misrepresented to consumers the overall number of participating members and members in certain age groups
– Told consumers that two to three marriages occurred among members every month when it had no credible basis for such statements
– Misrepresented to consumers that it had conducted a criminal background check on all of its members
– Used high-pressure sales tactics
– Showed potential new members written profiles and photographs of people they were not available for dating
FULL ARTICLE @ AZ CENTRAL
– Showed potential new members written profiles and photographs of people they were not available for dating
FULL ARTICLE @ AZ CENTRAL
OKCupid Spins Off Quiz Engine, HelloQuizzy
TECH CRUNCH — June 18 — OKCupid, a free online dating site, spun off
a new web property called HelloQuizzy that serves as both a destination
for user generated quizzes, and an engine for websites to integrate
quizzes into their own services. HelloQuizzy retains OKCupid’s playful
design and character. It also shares the same business model: driving
traffic back to OKCupid. When HelloQuizzy users sign up and take tests,
the site learns more about them. This gives HelloQuizzy the opportunity
later to suggest how OKCupid might help them find love or lust. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
Virgin And Match Get Into Bed
PR NEWSWIRE — June 18 — Virgin America, the California-based airline, partnered with Match.com to bring singles aboard the airline's "SuperFly" Wednesday night series for an evening of social networking and fun. Upon landing, the fun continued at Tao Lounge at The Venetian Las Vegas with a complimentary sponsored bar.
The full article was originally published at Trading Markets, but is no longer available.
myPartner.com Celebrates Recognition Of Love Between Men
PRESS RELEASE — June 17 — Today is a historic day for civil rights in the US. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will officiate the wedding a lesbian couple that has been together for over 50 years, making theirs the first legal gay marriage in California. "Gay men and women have always sought out long-term committed relationships and starting today, we will begin to see these unions recognized legally in California," said Patrick Perrine, Founder and CEO of myPartner.com. Since myPartner.com's launch in September of 2007, it has quickly grown to be the leading matchmaking service for gay men looking for true love – whether it's a long term commitment or marriage.
Social Networking Conference Agenda
OPW — June 17 — This will be the strongest Social Networking Conference yet, I think. It's at UCSF and Woz will be there! See you July 10th-11th.
Twitter – The Versatility of Social Networks – From Internet to Mobile to the Enterprise
Social Networking Watch – Mobile & Business Social Networking Primer
Woz – Chat on the New World of Mobile Social Networking
U.S.A.F/Roundarch – Social Media and the Military
Motorola – Internet Capable Mobile Phones for Social Networking
GM – How Fortune 100 Corporations are Embracing SOcial Networks
Deutsche Telekom – Panel: Advertising is not Enough – Is there a way telcos and Social Networking systems can create more value together?
IBM – Enabling Many Different Social Perspectives and Uses Within and Beyond an Enterprise
General Electric – How Fortune 100 Companies are Embracin Social Networks
Northwest Venture Partners – Roundtable Discussion – Current Investor Market for Mobile and Business Social Networking
Sybase365 – Bringing Mobile Messaging into Social Media
Piczo – Case Study: Protecting Members, Protecting Brands: Best Practives for Alleviating the Risks of UGC in Social Media
Multiply – Mobile Social Networking and the iPhone
Visible Path – Business Social Networking Panel Discussion
PerfSport – Social Networking Goes Mobile: Marketing Applications and Games
Telligent – Software & Social Platforms Delivering Web 2.0 Next Generation Portals to the Enterprise
Perey Research & Consulting – Market Research Report on Mobile Social Networking
Jigsaw – Business Social Networking Panel Discussion
Mzinga – Building and Sustaining a Business Social Networking Culture
Gemini Mobile Technologies – The Mobile Advertising Problem: Successfully Targeting Consumers
Neigborhood America – Building Online and Mobile Communities: Multi-Platform Marketing. Strategies and Tools for Building Enterprise Social Networks
RoundArch – Social Media and the Military
Bea – Software & Social Platforms Delivering Web 2.0 Next Generation Portals to the Enterprise
Faceforce – How Social Networking Websites are Changing Sales and Marketing
Optaros – Panel Session: Software & Social Platforms Delivering Web 2.0 Next Generation Portals to the Enterprise
Keibi – Case Study: Protecting Members, Protecting Brands: Best Practives for Alleviating the Risks of UGC in Social Media
Teens – Social Networks – A Teen Perspective
I'll be presenting on Thursday morning. Press passes are available. Reporters, please email mark@courtlandbrooks.com or call 212-444-1636 to ensure your pass is waiting for you before the event. Thanks. – Mark Brooks
OgilvyOne Wins eHarmony DM Account
MARKETING WEEK — June 16 – OgilvyOne has won the direct marketing account for eHarmony, ahead of its launch in the UK later this year. This latest win closely follows OgilvyOne's appointment to British Airways European and African digital account. It is estimated to be worth more than £2m and it is the first time BA has appointed one agency to handle the two regions, previously working with agencies on a project-by-project basis.
The full article was originally published at MarketingWeek, but is no longer available.
Top 5 Free Dating Sites
OPW — June 17 — It seems that there are more free dating sites starting than paid these days, but I can't help thinking that the growth of Plentyoffish.com is somewhat of an anomaly.
Here's the line up of the top 5 free dating sites on Compete (by visits).
I thought DateHookup was going to give Markus a run for his money but it seems their growth ran short of steam last month. Still, POF continues to surge as Markus chews on the UK market. I work for Markus and I've still not figured out how he does it. The answer I give is, POF has grown largely because 'it works.' They don't send bogus winks, or deny people access until they sign up. Dud profiles are kicked off the system regularly so there's less chaff for users to dig through before they get to the wheat. And the site is simple a la Craigslist (with the addition of ads).* Customer service is non-existant on the site, but its so darn simple, there's not an awful lot to need explaining, and because POF it's free there's no billing related issues to deal with. Can anyone stop this juggernaut? Google could, of course. But the dating industry would immediately stop its Adwords spends then, right! Your comments please. (Disclosure: POF is a client of Courtland Brooks) – Mark Brooks
*Talking of Craigslist, I worked with another site run by a one man band (hi Rob!) in 1999, called Hypermatch.com. We had a deal on the table with Craigslist for it to become the personals section on Craigslist. There were two stipulations, we weren't to make money from memberships, or from advertising. We were stumped, so the site was sold to EZboard who slowly killed it off.