NY TIMES – Feb 11 - It is love in the time of ones and zeros, the rudimentary language of computers. Never-answered messages, explicit requests for sex, fake bios, outdated photos and insults are ubiquitous. Subscribers to dating sites are forced to come up with a list of their desires. Red hair? Yes or no. Over 30 O.K.? Please check a box. The result is that millions are now trained to be dismissive based on detailed and sometimes arbitrary criteria. At OkCupid.com, however, it is left up to members to suggest dating criteria, and the result is an astonishing example of the need by some to quantify the ideal mate. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
Month: February 2010
IMVU Partners With Zoosk
PRESS RELEASE – Feb 11 - IMVU, an avatar-based social network and virtual world where people meet and interact in 3D, partners with Zoosk to bring the dating service to IMVU. To join the Zoosk service within IMVU, members age 18 and over will simply click the "Dating" link under the Community tab. From there, they will follow the step-by-step instructions to create an account. FULL ARTICLE @ PR LOG
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Sex Sells, But Not On The Open Market
MINYANVILLE – Feb 12 - Not only does the Internet offer "dating" sites
for every preference, it also offers them at every price range.
According to Forrester Research, the dating market was worth $957M in
2008. According to a poll by Online Dating Magazine, eHarmony is
currently the preferred site with Match.com following closely behind
it. Avid Life Media and FriendFinder are bringing in revenues through a
plethora of niche dating sites that tend to lean toward the risqué.
Both companies recently decided to shelve their plans for initial
public offerings due to concerns over the current market. Avid Life
Media had been planning a $57M IPO on the Toronto Stock Exchange in an
effort to raise money to buy Moxy Media, an online advertising sales
company. Documents filed for the IPO showed the company earned $8M in
2009 on sales of $30M, with 15% of those revenues coming from members
of AshleyMadison, the cheating site. FULL ARTICLE @ MINYANVILLE
See all posts on eHarmony See all posts on AshleyMadison
See all posts on Match.com See all posts on FriendFinder
Love At First Site
SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE – Feb 11 - Internet dating is not only more common; it’s also becoming the norm—no different than, say, meeting a partner at a bar or party. Kate Bilenki, PlentyOfFish.com’s “director of love,” revealed that her free site gets 1.8M hits from the Garden State on a monthly basis. A 2007 study eHarmony found that 19.4% of respondents met their spouse through the Internet, a 5.3% increase from 2005. “It’s time and money saving,” Bilenki says. ”With online dating, you don’t spend $50 on drinks or dinner or a movie.” There is also the advantage of finding people outside of the usual circle of friends, said Whitney Casey, relationship expert for Match.com. The other big draw is the enhanced comfort level that occurs when you take the “blind” out of “blind date. “You can pre-screen people pretty well before you meet them,” Bilenki says. “If you want tall dark and handsome, you can punch that into the search criteria and, voilà—there it is.” There are niche dating sites that can point you in the right direction such as TrekPassions, RepublicanSingles, VeggieConnection, DateAGolfer, WealthyMen and more.. FULL ARTICLE @ SOUTH JERSEY MAGAZINE
See all posts on PlentyofFish See all posts on TrekPassions
See all posts on eHarmony See all posts on DateaGolfer
See all posts on Match.com See all posts on WealthyMen
From Cougars To Dog Lovers, You Can Find A Match
NBC – Feb 12 – Ronnie Ann Ryan, known to her followers as "The Dating Coach," and author of "MANifest Mr. Right," says 12% of today's marriages start in cyberspace. Ryan often sends her clients to sites like match.com and plentyoffis
See all posts on Match.com See all posts on CougarLife
See all posts on PlentyofFish See all posts on AshleyMadison
See all posts on JDate
Brits Don’t Splash The Cash On Valentine’s Day
DAILY STAR – Feb 12 – Less than one in 12 say they look forward to Valentine's Day and nearly three-quarters won’t even bother sending a card. A survey by mysinglefriend.com shows just how unromantic Britain has become. 67% are on the lookout for “the one”, while 40% admit to regularly sleeping with women on the first date. Almost all of those surveyed believe the lovers’ day has become too commercialised while only 8% actually look forward to it.
The full article was originally published at Daily Star, but is no longer available.
Lovesick: Hooking Up Over A Shared Disease
NBC CONNECTICUT – Feb 12 – Special interest dating sites have sprung up based on mutual
health issues, especially STDs. Some sites offer a twist by promising
to match parties interested in amputee devotion. Dr. Suzanne Miller, a
clinical psychologist and director of behavioral medicine at
Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, understands the drive. “Finding
somebody similar to you in terms of having that personal disease
history, understanding what it means to you psychologically and
physically,” can have a very comforting effect." FULL ARTICLE @ NBC CONNECTICUT
Looking For A Job?
OPW – Feb 12 – We've updated the iDating industry job listings again. Here are some sample job listings that we thought were interesting:
Be2
Legal Counsel – Focus Internet Law
Group General Counsel – Focus Corporate Law
eHarmony
Director, Executive Office / USA – CA, Pasadena
Project Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
International Product Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Digital Marketing / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Marketing Intelligence & Insights / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Business Intelligence / USA – CA, Pasadena
PR Associate / UK – London
Sr. Director, Finance / USA – CA, Pasadena
FriendScout24 (description in German)
Product Manager Online / Germany – Munchen
Match.com, Chemistry.com, People Media
Sr. Marketing Director / USA – TX, Dallas
VP Marketing & Acquisition / USA – TX, Dallas
Online-Buddies
Director of VP, Program Management
Chief Technology Officer
PerfectMatch
Full Time Member Service Representatives / USA – WA, Bothell
Spark Networks
Database Administrator / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
World Singles
Chief Technology Officer / USA – CA, Aliso Viejo
Yahoo! Personals
Project Manager (Yahoo! Personals Japan)
Director, Business Development and Strategy
Zoosk
Senior Financial Analyst / USA – CA, San Francisco
For the full listing, go here.
Do you have an idating job offer which is not included? Please, send the details (company, job title, location, link to details) to petra@courtlandbrooks.com and we will add your offer to the list.
iDating Industry Job Offers (February 2010)
Be2
Legal Counsel – Focus Internet Law
Group General Counsel – Focus Corporate Law
International SEA Manager
Customer Service Agents / Germany – Munich, Luxemburg
Web Designer / Armenia
More info: http://corporate.be2.com/jobs, contact: jobs@be2.com
Blackbox Republic
Marketing Operations Manager
Marketing Campaign Manager
More info: http://www.blackboxrepublic.com/about, contact: jobs@blackboxrepublic.com
Catholic Match
Editor/Public Relations Coordinator
Web Applications Programmer
More info: http://www.goacolyte.com/company/jobs.shtml
eHarmony
Sr. Java Engineer / US – CA, Pasadena
Research Interviewer / US – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Linux System Administrator / US – CA, Pasadena
Director, Executive Office / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Software Engineer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Project Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
Offline Marketing Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
International Product Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Front-End Developer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Contract Web Development Engineer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Digital Marketing / USA – CA, Pasadena
Release Engineer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Marketing Intelligence & Insights / USA – CA, Pasadena
Director, Business Intelligence / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Web Designer / USA – CA, Pasadena
PR Associate / UK – London
Marketing Specialist / UK – London
Email Marketing Specialist / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Director, Finance / USA – CA, Pasadena
Account Manager / US – NY, New York
Account Manager / US – CA, Pasadena
Trainer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Web Designer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Manager, PR & Social Media / USA – CA, Pasadena
Data Analyst / USA – CA, Pasadena
QA Engineer (Front-End) / USA – CA, Pasadena
QA Engineer (Back-End) / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. QA Automation and Tools Engineer / USA – CA, Pasadena
Sr. Online Marketing Manager / USA – CA, Pasadena
Search Marketing Analyst / USA – CA, Pasadena
Risk Management Processor / USA – CA, Pasadena
Research Assistant / USA – CA, Pasadena
Customer Care Agent / USA – CA, Pasadena
Manager, Risk Management / USA – CA, Pasadena
FriendScout24 (description in German)
Quality Software Tester / Germany – Munchen
Product Manager Online / Germany – Munchen
Web Analyst / Service Controller / Germany – Munchen
Junior Software Developer / Germany – Munchen
Various Internships, student jobs
Global Personals (Webdate, Fling, WealthyMen)
MySQL Database Administrators / USA – FL, Miami
Strongmail Engineer/Administrators / USA – FL, Miami
PHP/LAMP Programmers
Internet Graphic Designers
Linux Systems Administrators
Internet Affiliate Sales Managers/Online Media Buyers
More info: http://www.globalpersonalsmedia.com/careers.html
Lavalife
Sales Manager / Canada – Toronto
Customer Service Representative / Canada – Etobicoke
More info: corp.lavalife.com/web/corp/careers
Match.com, Chemistry.com, People Media
Sr. Consumer Insights Analyst / USA – TX, Dallas
Finance Intern (MBA) / USA – TX, Dallas
Member Services Phone Representative (People Media) / USA – AZ, Chandler
Sr. Finance Manager / USA – TX, Dallas
Sales and Marketing Coordinator / USA – CA, Los Angeles
Sr. Marketing Director / USA – TX, Dallas
Sr. Online Marketing Manager (People Media) / USA – CA, Los Angeles
Sr. Search Marketing Manager / USA – TX, Dallas
VP Marketing & Acquisition / USA – TX, Dallas
Sr. Application Engineer – Cold Fusion Developer / USA – AZ, Chandler
Sr. Customer Care Training Manager / USA – TX, Dallas
Finance Manager / USA – TX, Dallas
Sr. Quality Assurance Engineer / USA – TX, Dallas
More info: http://www.match.com/cp/careers/CurrentOpenings.html
MyPartner
Senior Ad Sales Manager
Online-Buddies
Director of VP, Program Management
National Sales Executive
Bilingual Customer Service Representative
Bilingual Customer Service Supervisor
Senior Systems Engineer
Senior Web Engineer
Chief Technology Officer
PerfectMatch
Full Time Member Service Representatives / USA – WA, Bothell
Part Time Member Service Representatives / USA – WA, Bothell
Shaadi
Customer Relations Officer / India – Mumbai
Web Developer / India – Mumbai
Software Engineer / India – Mumbai
Senior Software Engineer / India – Mumbai
SEO Expert / India – Mumbai
Telecalling Operator / India – Mumbai
Spark Networks
Database Administrator / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
Software Engineer / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
Senior Web Developer / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
SpeedDate
Senior development and architecture positions
QA/Testing
User-interface/Web Design
Front-end Develoment
Project Management
Marketing
Various Internships
To learn more, email: jobs@speeddate.com
WhiteLabelDating
Front-end Developer/Designer / UK, Windsor office
Administrative Executive
Rail Developers / UK, Windsor office
Cold Fusion Developer / UK, Windsor office
WooMe
System Admin / UK – London, USA – Los Angeles
IM Engineer / UK – London
Fronted Guru – HTML/CSS/javascript/AJAX / UK – London
Site Operations Manager / USA – Los Angeles
Community Manager
Site Operations Analyst / USA – San Francisco
Senior Django Developer / UK – London
Dev Intern / UK – London
Marketing Intern / USA – Los Angeles
More info: http://www.woome.com/woome/jobs/#sysadmin
World Singles
Greek Speaking Customer Service person / USA – CA, Aliso Viejo
Chief Technology Officer / USA – CA, Aliso Viejo
Yahoo! Personals
Interaction Designer
Design Researcher
Web Developer
Architect
Senior Software Engineer (also for Yahoo! Personals Japan and International)
Engineering Manager
Product Manager
Project Manager (Yahoo! Personals Japan)
Marketing Manager
Director, Business Development and Strategy
Senior Finance Manager
More info: http://personals.yahoo.com/us/static/jobs#pm-pjjpn
Zoosk
Affiliate Manager / USA – CA, San Francisco
Marketing Manager – Facebook Media Buying Specialist / USA – CA, San Francisco
Marketing Manager – SEM Specialist with Google Content Network Expertise / USA – CA, San Francisco
Business Inteligence Architect / USA – CA, San Francisco
Release Engineer – Tools Developer / USA – CA, San Francisco
Software Engineer – Backend / USA – CA, San Francisco
Software Engineer – Flex / USA – CA, San Francisco
Software Engineer – Business Intelligence / USA – CA, San Francisco
Sr. Software Engineer – Data / USA – CA, San Francisco
User Interface Developer / USA – CA, San Francisco
Internaction Designer / USA – CA, San Francisco
Customer Service Representative / USA – CA, San Francisco
Senior Financial Analyst / USA – CA, San Francisco
Lead Software Engineer – Mobile / USA – CA, San Francisco
Software Engineer – Services / USA – CA, San Francisco
Software Engineer in Test – Services / USA – CA, San Francisco
More info: http://www.zoosk.com/jobs.php?from=footer
Match.com vs. PlentyofFish
MASHABLE – Feb 11 – There are hundreds of dating sites to choose from.
However, this week’s faceoff pits the two biggest dating sites against
one another: PlentyofFish vs. Match.com. PlentyofFish is the world’s
largest free dating site. It has made millions solely through ads and a
staff of fewer than five, and is led by the founder, Markus Frind.
Match.com, on the other hand, has 20+ M users, hundreds of millions in
revenue, and is owned by IAC. Is Match more effective at helping find
true love, or does PlentyofFish provide the best chance at
romance? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think. Polls close
on Valentine’s Day, 12:00 p.m. PT. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE