DATAGENICS – Nov 23 – Nick Berry recently presented at iDate in Paris. He did some analysis on facebook users, and their maritial status. Below is a summary of some of his work. In the USA, 62.9% of people specify their relationship status on their profiles. Each country is different in its level of exposure. For instance, in Turkey only 41.6% of facebook users specify their relationship status. The amount of single people varies considerably with age, and also by gender. Below is a chart showing the breakout of US facebook users by gender, age and the percentage that are Single.
Month: November 2010
Users Watching TV And Simultaneously Surfing
OPW – Nov 23 – Have you ever watched TV, and surfed at the same time. The simul-surfing trend is rising, according to an article in Businessweek. The TV has been losing attention to the internet, so some TV networks are using this simultaneous viewing behavior as a way to draw people into digital discussions around the content they're viewing. It's also proving lucrative. A Nielsen study found that ~60% of TV viewers simul-surf, and viewers spend 3 hours 41 mins a month watching TV and simul-surfing. Bravo has been encouraging simul-surfing and has seen digital ad sales improve notably. Companion viewing is also seen as a way of countering the rising DVR and Netflix threat to ad sales. Miso, Get Glue, and Play Philo are jostling for attention as stand-alone simul-surfing TV communities. But hey, shouldn't dating sites latch onto this trend? Certain TV shows would be natural partners for white labeled dating sites. – Mark Brooks
Do Matchmaking Sites Identify Psychopaths?
OPW – Nov 22 – The Economist ran an article about Psychopaths, and I got to wondering… Do matchmaking sites test for psychopathy? When a man is interested in a woman he needs to demonstrate two things. 1. He's interested in her. 2. He's safe. Dating sites have a hard time communicating #2. No problem with #1, but #2 is more elusive. TRUE runs a background check to see if paying members are felons or sex offenders. But, does anyone run a test to check for psychopathy I wonder? It turns out, psychopaths aren't so easy to identify. They usually know exactly what they should do in ethical/social situations, but they don't. In the Economist article, Dr Ermer and Dr Kiehl of the University of New Mexico use something called the Wason test to identify prisoners who are psychopaths. The test poses questions in the form of a social contract. i.e. 'if you borrow the car, you have to fill the tank.' Psychopaths fail this test at higher rates than regular people. This card test is disarming and entertaining enough to be integrated into personality profiles, I think. What do you think? – Mark Brooks
Smartdate Scores Another €3.5 Million
TECH CRUNCH – Nov 22 - Smartdate announced a €2M round in Feb of this year so that people can start dating friends of their Facebook friends. But now Smartdate has raised an additional €3.5M with the fonders of PriceMinster, Pierre Kosciuscko-Morizet and Pierre Krings. Smartdate is rapidly developing and already has a 25 person team in place. The company is very similar to Zoosk in that it is basing its online dating service on Facebook. Smartdate has users connecting via Facebook Connect and requires that you be at least 18 in order to access the Smartdater community. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
Mark Brooks: Smartdate started out with a 300k Euro round, then quickly added an additional 1.7m Euro in February.
Head Of eHarmony Seeks Something Long-Term
WSJ – Nov 22 - U.S. growth has slowed in the past few years at eHarmony.com, which has annual revenue of ~$250M. eHarmony must constantly advertise. In August, it started a $30M ad campaign. Mr. Waldorf was an early investor in eHarmony and served on its board from the beginning. He was named CEO in 2006. Q: How has the economy affected your subscription base?
A: On days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 100 points or more, eHarmony saw ~2% increase in the number of pages people viewed on the site
A: On days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 100 points or more, eHarmony saw ~2% increase in the number of pages people viewed on the site
Q: So why is growth slowing in the U.S?
A: Still a lot of people who, before they make a decision to use eHarmony, want to exhaust all the other alternatives.
Q: Do the Census findings that marriages are on the decline spell problems?
A: I don't think anything in the data indicate that fewer people are looking for long-term, quality relationships. If anything, I think there's been an increase in the rate of cohabitations.
Q: Why keep same-sex matches separate from the regular site?
A: It lets us target that demographic specifically.
Q: You've been expanding overseas. Does your matching technology change when you go into different countries?
A: You have to redo the matching algorithm. There are some cultural aspects around relationships that can change.
A: You have to redo the matching algorithm. There are some cultural aspects around relationships that can change.
Q: Are some international markets more difficult?
A: The biggest challenge is customer acquisition. In other countries, eHarmony doesn't have the benefit of brand recognition.
Q: How can you address that?
A: Last year, we were about to launch continental Europe ourselves. Instead we invested in eDarling. They know how to operate in multiple countries with so many different languages and regulatory issues. In Asia, we will look seriously at partnerships.
Q: Are you making money overseas?
A: In Australia, which is our first non-North American market, we are getting to kind of break-even, which is great.
Q: Are social-media websites like Facebook a threat?
A: There's room for all of us.
FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ
More Married Women Are Having Affairs
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Nov 22 – The recent Way We Are Now nationwide survey conducted by Relate showed that 34% of women admitted to being unfaithful, compared with 32% of men. Paula Hall, a sex and relationships counsellor, says: "Traditionally we believe a woman who has an affair is looking for emotional intimacy, whereas men are looking for sex. But that's outdated. The automatic place to turn to is the internet. David Miller, who runs Loving Links, an online dating service and one-to-one introduction agency for 'nice, middle-class attached people', has noted a huge increase in younger female clients.
The full article was originally published at Telegraph.co.uk, but is no longer available.
Beaumont Attorneys Take On Match.com
BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE – Nov 21 – Terry Smith is suing Match.com for "unfair and deceptive trade practices," claiming he was cheated out of subscriber fees because after his subscription lapsed, the company sent him misleading messages purporting to be from beautiful women who wanted to talk to him. On multiple occasions Smith re-subscribed to the service, only to find he did not have unread message. A spokeswoman for Match.com said: "We have not seen the complaint but we believe the claims are frivolous and have no merit." The petition has yet to be delivered to Match.com, let alone certified as a class-action lawsuit, but it has the potential to involve all Texans who've had experiences similar to Smith's. FULL ARTICLE @ BEAUMONT ENTERPRISE
Similar Traits Don’t Always Lead To ‘Happily Ever After’
WASHINGTON POST – Nov 21 – eHarmony.com have built businesses around the belief that people with similarities make better matches in the long run. OppositesConnect.com is betting the reverse is true. Two years ago, Dyrenforth, a professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, examined data that had been collected by demographers in Australia, Germany and Britain. In all, 11,625 married couples were included in the study. The traits Dyrenforth looked at were extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness to experience – often referred to as "The Big Five" by psychologists. She found that people with high levels of all those characteristics were more likely to be happy with life in general and with their relationships. Emotional stability seemed to be a crucial component for personal happiness. People who have spouses with high levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability were more likely to be happy in their relationships and with life as a whole. As for sharing common characteristics? It didn't seem to matter much. FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST
New App For Canadian Singles
POSTMEDIA NEWS – Nov 20 – Singles Around Me is a new app developed by Ottawa entrepreneur Chris Klotz. The app allows two singles to send short messages to one another to set up a meeting. While accessing the basic app is free, Klotz plans to charge for more advanced features such as sending longer messages or having access to a personal e-mail box.
The full article was originally published at Canada.com, but is no longer available.
The Science Behind Profile Pictures
OPW – Nov 21 -There is a science to which photos attract the most attention. Sam Yagan, CEO of OKCupid, explains the importance of a good profile picture.
Q: How did you collect the data and what are some of the most surprising things you’ve discovered?
A: We grabbed 7,000 pictures and manually went through and tagged each photo on 3 really important characteristics – face expression, where the picture was taken and how suggestive the picture was.
Q: What were the most surprising things that you found?
A: The first was it doesn’t really matter if you smile or not and it doesn’t even matter whether your face is clear in the picture. The most surprising thing is it doesn’t really matter how pretty the picture is. What really matters is if it starts a conversation. “A picture is worth a thousand words".
Q: What about gentlemen? Do the same rules apply? Do women want to see men flirting with the camera? Does it matter if the man is up on a mountain or in the backyard or whatever?
A: So some of the rules are the same and some are different. One tip for men, don’t look straight into the camera. Women don’t like men who stare at them at bars and women don’t like men who stare at them online. If you have good abs show them off.
Q: How often should one update their profile?
A: Pretty regularly, keep your profile fresh and interesting.