Month: October 2009

Quepasa Launches New Dating Application

Posted on October 15, 2009

Quepasa logo new PRESS RELEASE – Oct 15 - Quepasa, one of the world's fastest-growing Latino social networks, launched its Papacito dating application. The launch of the Papacito app is part of Quepasa's overall monetization strategy which will focus on distributed social media and applications tied into Quepasa's virtual economy, which will facilitate both virtual gifting and purchases of VIP subscriptions within this new dating app and scheduled future apps.

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

Virtual Goods To Reach $1 Billion In 2009

Posted on October 14, 2009

Virtual-Goods-Total-US-Market-Size ONLINE MEDIA DAILY – Oct 14 - Virtual goods are turning into a real business. A new study estimates that the total U.S. market size for virtual goods will hit $1 billion this year, twice the 2008 amount. The report by Justin Smith, editor of InsideFacebook.com and Charles Hudson of Serious Business, also projects that virtual goods sales will reach $1.6 billion in 2010. 

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

FriendFinder To Complete IPO By End Of Year

Posted on October 13, 2009

Friendfinder inc logo XBIZ – Oct 13 – FriendFinder Networks intends to complete its IPO process by the end of the year. “The primary purpose of this offering is to repay some of our outstanding debt, including certain debt held by our affiliates, which we expect will decrease our interest expense and increase our flexibility with respect to our operations and growth strategy,” the company said in the filing. As of June 30, the company had ~$81M in debt at the parent level. It also had ~$442.1M in debt in connection with its acquisition of Various, which was the preceding parent operator of its FriendFinder websites.

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

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Social Networking Sites Dominate Mobile Web

Posted on October 13, 2009

Facebookmyspace logos READWRITE WEB – Oct 13 - A new report by Openwave shows that four of the top ten domains accessed via mobile devices are social networks Facebook and MySpace, Myxer, a ringtone creation and sharing site, and PlentyofFish. Oddly, the chart shows that MySpace beat out Facebook. Recent numbers from Compete showed MySpace traffic dropping from 55.6M unique visitors in August to 50.2M in September. Meanwhile, Facebook announced that they saw 65M visits from mobile phones in August, a huge rise from what was only 20M back in December 2007.

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

Chinese Girls Look For Mr Right In Online Apartment

Posted on October 13, 2009

Ipartment logo INDEPENDENT.CO.UK - Oct 12 – Chinese girls are testing men's capabilities of living together on a website called iPartment. iPartment lets users 'test-drive' each other in a virtual apartment, with obligations ranging from feeding the dog to maintaining the garden or going shopping. The site has attracted 20M users, 60% of whom are female, and now features ads by brands such as L'Oreal, Starbucks, or Adidas.

The full article was originally published at Independent.co.uk, but is no longer available.

Corp.Match.com (Not) Hacked

Posted on October 13, 2009

Match,com OPW – Oct 13 – Yikes, looks like corp.match.com has been hacked.  The corp.match.com page forwards to the home page of Globe Track Wireless, a provider of vehicle and asset tracking GPS devices.  Go to Match.com and you get "We're busy looking under the hood. Whew! It’s hard work mixing and matching dating algorithms, but we want to make sure you always get top-notch results. We’re sorry for any inconvenience. Please, check back later. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact us at customercare@match.com." Is this a hack? 

UPDATED 10/14/09 – Match.com wasn't hacked.  Here's the official word from Match.com, "With
the largest subscriber base in the U.S., Match.com is constantly upgrading its
infrastructure to provide members with the best possible experience. We planned
this short upgrade during the middle of the night – when traffic is at
its lowest –  to minimize the impact to our members. The upgrade will
enable us to continue to bring more industry-leading features to Match.com
members. A human error on our part led to the  redirect.”

UPDATED 10/14/09 – Tim Hauser commented on this post as follows…
"I am the CEO of a company that used to host corp.match.com as well as several of their other applications.  Once the contract was up we waited for 3 years and then reused that
IP address for another customer, Globe Track Wireless. Match.com was
not hacked. – CEO, HauserTech"

Hitwise U.S.A. Internet Dating Rankings Update

Posted on October 12, 2009

Hitwise logo new OPW – Oct 12 – The Hitwise rankings are in for September. PlentyofFish, Match.com, Singlesnet, Yahoo! Personals and DateHookup.com remained in their respective slots in the top five. eHarmony moved into the #6 position, bumping gay dating site Adam4Adam down a notch. TRUE stayed true at #8. SeniorPeopleMeet jumped up two spots to #9, just ahead of fellow People Media site, BlackPeopleMeet.

In the top 25, the biggest jumps were Mate1 (#15 to #12) and Zoosk (#20 to #17). The largest plunges were Mingle2 (#16 to #19) and Dream-Marriage.com (#19 to #22). Affair site Ashley Madison broke into the top 25, debuting at #24.

Match.com Appoints Mother To Ad Account

Posted on October 12, 2009

Match.com MARKETING MAGAZINE – Oct 12 – Match.com has appointed Mother advertising agency following a review of its advertising arrangements. Match.com spent about £6m on advertising in the UK across TV, outdoor and radio last year, according to Nielsen. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETING MAGAZINE

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Scams Cost Australia $1 billion

Posted on October 12, 2009

Scam picture AAP – Oct 12 – Around 6 million Australians have been exposed to some type of scam or fraud in the past 12 months, fleecing them of almost $1 billion. There were generally four types of scams – bogus lottery wins, money transfer scams, phishing and fake "get rich quick" schemes. But scams also took other forms, including fake job offers and inheritance scams, as well as romance scams.

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

WhiteLabelDating’s New Webcam Feature

Posted on October 12, 2009

Whitelabeldating logo WLD – Oct 9 -  One of the main
concerns of dating site members is that photos are out of date. To get
around this problem, WLD's new webcam feature allows members to prove
that they are who they say they are by uploading a photo to their
partner’s sites directly from the camera on their computer. This
photograph is then verified with a date stamp. 

See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com