PRESS RELEASE — Sep 29 — BharatMatrimony.com, Indian matrimony portal launch its services on Airtel, India’s leading
mobile telecom service provider. Airtel subscribers can access the matrimony
services with GPRS enabled handsets across the country. FULL ARTICLE @ OPEN PR
Month: September 2008
10 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Romance
PR WEB — Sep 27 —
1. Show each other the money – "In romantic relationships, communication is key," said Tasha Cunningham, creator of DontDateHimGirl.com.
2. Share the pain – Talk to your significant other about any concerns, fears or thoughts you might have about your finances.
3. Give up the goods – Cut back on dinners out and cook together at home instead.
4. Go date-free and still have fun – Plan dates with your sweetheart that don't cost a thing.
5. Don't fight over money
6. Don't hide money from your partner
7. Book a lavish vacation
8. Challenge each other to save
9. Do things for a dollar – Check out a dollar movie theatre, or hit a dollar store together for fun.
10. Retrain your brains – Train yourself to cut back on the things you both love
The full article was originally published at PR Web, but is no longer available.
PlentyofFish Passes 2 Billion Matches
PARADIGM SHIFT — Sep 26 — I saw this post from eHarmony this morning showing 1 billion matches since 2000. PlentyofFish passed 1 Billion emails this weekend at iDate in London. We also passed 2 Billion matches generated by our matching system since 2005 or so. Stay tuned for 2 major press releases in the coming weeks, both of which will have a major impact on the industry.
The full article was originally published at The Paradigm Shift, but is no longer available.
DontDateHimGirl.com Integrates Free Sex Offender Search
1888PRESS RELEASE — Sep 26 — DontDateHimGirl.com has implemented a new search interface on the site, created by PredatorBarrier.com, which will allow users to find out if the guy they're dating is a registered sex offender in the U.S. PredatorBarrier.com offers its services at no charge in the form of both traditional and mobile device portals.
The full article was originally published at 1888PressRelease, but is no longer available.
Japan’s Online Social Scene Isn’t So Social
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD — Sep 26 — The vast majority of mixi's roughly 15m users don't reveal anything about themselves. It's not just mixi. It's Japan. Fewer than half of Match's members in Japan are willing to post their photos, compared with nearly all members in the U.S. Google, which operates YouTube, has tried to convince the Japanese to loosen up, running events in Tokyo in which girls in miniskirts roam the streets with giant picture frames and video cameras, soliciting pedestrians to frame themselves and record a clip for the site. "When we did research in Japan, we found that the No. 1 reason for not using online dating is that they don't know if people are real or not," says Match.com's Japan president, Katsu Kuwano. The company hopes to make more people show themselves online by defining itself in a less Web-centric way. Match has also held offline events at Tokyo restaurants. FULL ARTICLE @ SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Interview With Darren Richards, Founder Of Dating Direct
GLOBAL EDGE — Sep 25 — Darren Richards grew Dating Direct from nothing into the UK's largest dating site with over 4m monthly users. He sold out to Meetic for £30m in 2007. He talks to Globaledge about his plans to repeat his success in the property portal market with PropertyIndex.com.
Q: How running a dating site compares to operating a property portal?
A: The challenges are actually very similar. Both businesses are about using the internet to bring people together, either on a date or introducing buyers to sellers in the case of property.
Q: You had first-mover advantage back in the nineties with Dating Direct. It must be very different working in such a saturated market?
A: We always put the user at the heart of the online experience and stayed two steps ahead of the competition.
Q: How do you plan to do this with PropertyIndex?
A: We have over 150,000 properties from over 1,000 agents. We offer agents very competitive pricing but we realise that we need to be more innovative, both in terms of our offering to consumers and agents.
Q: For example?
A: On the consumer side, we have a number of Web 2.0 innovations in the pipeline and we plan to go further than anyone else in this respect. I'm a big fan of sites like TripAdvisor.
Q: Is there anything you can tell me about your plans to improve your proposition to agents and developers?
A: Our lead numbers are growing rapidly at the moment which is ultimately what agents judge us on. Leads were up 70% between July and August and so far for September, we are 25% ahead of where we were last month. In terms of improving the proposition, we recently introduced featured positions and branding on a cost-per-click basis which is something most other portals don't do. Pay-per-performance is generally what agents want and we'll continue to innovate with this in mind.
READ FULL INTERVIEW @ GLOBAL EDGE
eHarmony: 1 Billion Served
EHARMONY BLOG — Sep 25 — Sometime this morning, eHarmony is serving its one billionth match. eHarmony's match ID turns ten digits sometime between 12 midnight and 3 am PST today. That's the number of pairings the system has made since it started off circa August 2000.
The full article was originally published at eHarmony blog, but is no longer available.
VIP Party Connecting Sugar Daddies With Gorgeous Girls
PR WEB — Sep 25 — SeekingArrangement.com, the sugar daddy dating site announces "SUGAR", the exclusive VIP party for wealthy sugar daddies, millionaires and gorgeous girls seeking arrangements. The event will be held in Las Vegas on December 3, 2008. Event ticket for men at the door is $2000, for girls $300. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB
HOT Or NOT Gets Face Lift
BUSINESS WIRE — Sep 24 — HOT or NOT have redesigned their website. The site now
includes more robust profiles that feature the company's proprietary
HOTLISTS brand affinity application, new virtual gifts, buddy lists and
faster access to HOT or NOT gossip and celebrity ratings. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE
Finding Love Is Still Worth The Investment
WASHINGTON POST — Sep 24 — Today an estimated 120,000 marriages a year
result from Internet matches, according to Online Dating Magazine. The population of U.S. singles 15 and older (the Census
Bureau’s age cutoff) grew to 119.9m in 2007 from 100.9m
in 2000 and 86.8m in 1990, according to census data. The U.S.
online dating market totaled $649m in revenue in 2006, according
to Jupiter Research, and is expected to reach $932m by 2011. Economists say it’s not that people are spending more on dating,
they’re just willing to spend it differently. "Before they were
spending money in bars " says
Emir Kamenica of the University of Chicago. Now, he says, at least some
of that money goes to dating services. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST