Month: October 2010

Patti Stanger’s Ex-Employee Starts Her Own Matchmaking Agency

Posted on October 20, 2010

Patti-chelseaMODERN MOM – Oct 19 – Chelsea Autumn was Patti Stanger's go-to employees. After eight years working for loud-mouthed Patti, Chelsea has had enough. She is starting her own matchmaking agency called "Queen of Hearts." Chelsea says that while she is grateful for the opportunity she had, Patti "treated people like crap", adding that "karma is a bitch." Well, it's pretty obvious that Patti could be a tough employer, but her bitchy persona is what got her into the biz and made her uber successful.

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

Virtual Dating Expands Into Social Networking

Posted on October 19, 2010

Boonex dolphin PR WEB – Oct 19 – BoonEx, a provider of social networking software, has released a virtual dating feature, developed by OmniDate. Virtual dating is fun and safe way for people to get to know each other in a virtual environment, such as a virtual cafe, before meeting in person. Users interact through photo-realistic 3D characters, which respond naturally to the typed text (e.g., typing LOL makes an avatar laugh). They can even blow a kiss or reach over and touch the hand of the other avatar. Companies using the Dolphin platform, BoonEx flagship product, can now activate virtual dating on their websites. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

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Ashley Madison Targets Adulterers In Europe

Posted on October 19, 2010

Ashley madison logo new CANOE.CA MONEY – Oct 18 - Controversial infidelity website AshleyMadison is launching across Europe this month. CEO Noel Biderman said the European response has been “mind-blowing” with 600K clicks on the German site and 100K members already signed up to the U.K. service. After Germany, Ashley Madison will land in Austria and Switzerland before hitting France, Spain, South America and Asia next year.

The full article was originally published at Canoe.ca Money, but is no longer available.

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Lead Generation And iDating Directories

Posted on October 19, 2010

Jay-Weintraub OPW – Oct 19 – There's a great interview on Mixergy with Jay Weintraub who runs the LeadCon shows which see ~3500 attendees a year. He points out a few sites that are doing well with Lead Gen. I recommend affiliates help users discern which idating sites they should be using with honest and forthright reviews. That kind of affiliate idating guide/site is still a great rarity unfortunately. – Mark Brooks

Read the full post on FrequentFlirters.

Merchants Of Dissatisfaction

Posted on October 19, 2010

6a00d83451b31569e20133f2f512b5970b-800wi SETH GODIN'S BLOG – Oct 17 – Many marketers are able to sell their wares by making us dissatisfied with what we already have.  It's not that far from, "This will make you happy!" to "You're unhappy/ugly/lonely/using obsolete technology, better buy this which will help fix the problem." FULL ARTICLE @ SETH GODIN'S BLOG

Mark Brooks: Daters are more choosy these days. Why? Just have a look at this picture! Magazines run glossy ads with pictures of women, and men, with unobtainable physiques. This is a major problem for our personal satisfaction levels. Firstly, we feel like we're inferior because we look nothing like the images we see in magazines. i.e. I don't have 'cut' abs. Secondly, I think many singles aspire to meeting people like the ones they see in magazines. Forget it! They don't exist.  

Is this good or bad for the idating industry?

What Your Personality Says About Your Love Life

Posted on October 18, 2010

MSN.COM – Oct 15 – Helen Fisher, a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, can determine your personality and your characteristics within a relationship. After pouring over 40,000 responses to a questionnaire she developed for chemistry.com, fisher believes she's solved the riddle of romantic chemistry and has zeroed in on four different personality types based on chemicals in our brain. In her book "Why Him? Why Her?", she characterizes four dominant traits – Explorers, Builders, Directors and Negotiators – that guide who you’re attracted to and how you can use that knowledge to find lasting love. Throughout this book, Helen fisher has offered many comments on how each primary personality type thinks, courts and loves; described some of their tremendous assets (and challenges) on a date and in a relationship; and discussed how each might improve their partnerships. FULL ARTICLE @ MSN.COM

Online Dating Surges In Ireland

Posted on October 18, 2010
Maybefriends-logo-big INDEPENDENT – Oct 17 - Online dating is becoming the norm for young singles in Ireland. Jill McGrath, managing director of Maybefriends.com, tells me how over the last year she has seen a tremendous growth in the 28–35 age group — and how it is now the largest age group on the site. "The site database has grown by 30% since January of this year, with the younger age group making up ~53% of this growth. While Ireland is not quite at US and UK levels yet, where it is almost mandatory for singles to be on a dating site, Jill believes we will be there within the next 18 months or so. FULL ARTICLE @ INDEPENDENT

Mark Brooks: Maybefriends competes with Anotherfriend for pole position for the top Irish paid dating site.

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EasyDate Poised For Rapid Growth

Posted on October 18, 2010
Easydate logo male DAILY MAIL – Oct 16 – EasyDate was founded five years ago by Bill Dobbie, an entrepreneurial Scot who already knew a fair bit about the potential of the internet, having set up and sold an online DVD rental business. Dobbie was looking for a new venture and hit on online dating. Since then, internet dating has mushroomed and EasyDate has developed into a company valued on the stock market at £85m. EasyDate operates in 29 countries and recently bought cupid.com in the US. ~20% of the group’s revenue comes from outside Britain and Dobbie hopes to increase that to 50% in the next few years. Analysts forecast rapid growth for the firm as profits are expected to more than double from £2.3M in 2009 to £5.2M this year and £8.5M in 2011. FULL ARTICLE @ DAILY MAIL

Mark Brooks: I made the intro for EasyDate to Cupid.  ;-)

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Mobile Payments New Opportunity For Both Merchants And Fraudsters

Posted on October 15, 2010

Iovation blog logo IOVATION BLOG – Oct 14 - A recent study by Javelin Strategy & Research found that fraud losses from mobile payments as a percentage of total revenue were 1.13% compared to the 0.83% for online-only merchants and 0.86% for multi-channel merchants. iovation protects online businesses and their end users against fraud and abuse and will lead the Mobile Anti-Fraud Roundtables at the Mobile Shopping Summit on October 25 in New York.

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

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eHarmony To Move To Santa Monica

Posted on October 15, 2010

Eharmony-logo SM MIRROR – Oct 14 – eHarmony is moving to Santa Monica after the City Council changed an outdated ordinance which outlawed match making services from operating in the city. eHarmony is leaving their current Pasadena location for the roomier location and a closer proximity to other technology firms. In order to move to Santa Monica the council had to look at an ordinance dating back to the 1950s forbidding matching making services that were lumped together with escort services. The council voted to update the ordinance now that online dating services are much more acceptable. FULL ARTICLE @ SM MIRROR

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