Month: April 2009
Looking For Love And Finding AIDS
ABC NEWS — Apr 24 — Social networking sites connect friends, serve special interest groups and make it easier than ever before to stay in touch. But when the Internet is used for anonymous and unprotected sex — that touch can turn toxic. Some fear that online chat rooms and dating sites are becoming today's virtual bathhouses, where HIV/AIDS first percolated among gay men in the 1980s. More new infections occur among young people ages 13 to 29 than any other age group — precisely the demographic that uses the Internet for social networking. Public health professionals are turning to social networks as a tool to combat the high numbers of HIV/AIDS infection. Manhunt was the first dating site to address sexual health in 2002 with partner notification, outreach and research services on its Manhunt Cares page. Its directory lists hundreds of health clinics around the world where men can get face-to-face help. FULL ARTICLE @ ABC NEWS
Internet Dating Industry Weekly News – 5 Mins
Online Personals Watch News Summary #4, April 24th, 2009.
Skyecandy speed dating on Skype, Plentyoffish dumps IM, RSVP‘s Aussie business is up and SNAP / Are You Interested is also doing well. Chinese women turned off Caucasian guys, Ashley Madison goes mobile, iovation holds strong, and 7orbetter.com assures women aren’t disappointed.
Online Dating Takes An Upward Turn As The Recession Bites
NEW MEDIA AGE — Apr 23 — Since the onset of the recession in September 2008, online dating sites have been attracting new users like they were going out of style. In the UK, traffic to online dating sites grew 13% between September 2008 and February 2009, to attract just shy of 5m visitors and a reach of 13% of the total UK online population. The appetite for love apparently has been re-ignited from the ashes of consumer-capitalism, and continued site growth is expected into 2009. The most popular online dating property is currently Meetic, which attracted an unduplicated 1.4m visitors in February in combination with newly acquired Match.com.
The full article was originally published at New Media Age, but is no longer available.
Internet Dating Reflects Racial Stereotypes
OC METRO — Apr 23 — According to a recent report from UC Irvine, those who partake in online dating tend to observe racial stereotypes when searching for a mate. White men prefer Asian or Latina women, and white women prefer African-American and Latino men. The study suggests that white people hold the power when it comes to interracial dating. It is believed that the portrayal of racial stereotypes in film and television contribute to the dating preferences noted in the study.
The full article was originally published at OC Metro, but is no longer available.
Divorce In India Becomes More Common As Romance Gains Importance
GLOBAL POST — Apr 23 — For thousands of years in India,
marriages were contracts of servitude that sent a daughter off on a one-way
trip to her husband’s family home. Now, though, as women are gaining
independence through education and the workforce, a new cultural obsession with
romance and personal fulfillment has raised the bar for a happy marriage. India’s once
negligible divorce rate is being reported at 6%. Divorce laws are being relaxed,
and unfortunately the justice system is being abused as men and women alike are
trying to escape from unsatisfying marriages. At least among Internet users, the problem knows no geographical boundaries. About 60 percent of the 50,000 customers who have registered with SecondShaadi.com, an online matchmaking service for divorced Indians that launched a year ago, live outside India's five largest cities; more than a third live outside the 20 largest cities. FULL ARTICLE @ HUFFINGTON POST
Ashley Madison Launches Mobile Dating
PR NEWSWIRE — Apr 22 — The future of cheating has arrived in the form of mobile dating, courtesy of the world’s largest infidelity dating site. According to founder Noel Biderman, “Now with Ashley Madison Mobile, you're free to connect with your lovers throughout the day…on the train coming into work, waiting at the airport, or even late at night while your spouse is more focused on the TV than you." The product is currently in Beta testing, but several thousand users signed up within the first few hours.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
Internet Dating Conference Coming To LA June 25-26
PR NEWS CHANNEL — Apr 22 — The 5th annual west coast Internet Dating Conference will be held in Los Angeles on June 25-26, 2009 at the SLS Hotel, one of the newest and most popular hotels in Beverly Hills. iDate is the leading business trade show for the online dating, social media and matchmaking industries, focusing on management, technology, business strategies and marketing. Current speakers at the West Coast event are executives from Matel, Google, Millionaire’s Club, People Media, Messmo, Trilibis Mobile, Zoosk, Online Personals Watch and others.
The full article was originally published at PR News Channel, but is no longer available.
Online Christian Singles Community Launches Dating Site
PR NEWSWIRE — Apr 22 — JCMATCH, LLC recently launched a new Christian dating site, JCMATCH.COM, and is what they are calling “the most dynamic Christian singles community in the history of online dating.” In addition to the dating site, the company launched a charity, JCMATCH.ORG, with $1 from each monthly dating membership going towards this project. Finally, A Time to Love is the company’s online Christian relationship magazine that is available to JCMATCH members. The site claims to offer “even more features than the leading online dating sites” but does not elaborate.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
Skout Homepage Relaunch Reflects New Focus
TECH CRUNCH — Apr 20 — Skout has revamped and simplified
their homepage to reflect their new focus on location-based dating, which
shifted earlier this year. With one of the iPhone’s earliest dating apps, the
new homepage now serves as an extension of that app with simple navigation and
very basic functions. The updated ‘hotlist’ function allows you to follow
updates for people you find interesting in a very Twitter-like manner. Plans
are in the works for a new program called Skout OUT that will be implemented in
clubs and bars, and is beginning to white label its network. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH