BBC – Feb 23 – "I felt I was paying for a first class-service and that is what I got: privacy, successful introductions, kindness and efficiency." So says "Susan" of the thousands of pounds she spent signing up to The County Register introduction agency. Heather Heber Percy, founder of the County Register, says people's expectations are high. Gray & Farrar, one of the most exclusive agencies, states that "only the most eligible single people are accepted" and acknowledges that "we are certainly not right for everybody". While Karen Mooney, founder of the Sara Eden agency, says: "If people have unrealistic expectations, we don't take them on. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at us, we can't wave a magic wand." Services at the County Register range in price from £2K for 12 months' membership to £10K for 18 months' membership. At some other agencies, £10K is just the starting level.
Month: February 2011
CEO Noel Biderman And Sexy Ashley Madison Banned Ad
POSTCHONICLE – Feb 22 – "People don't stray because it is easy or convenient. Most stray because they are missing something in their relationship and feel they need or deserve more than their primary partner offers. Providing a service like ours does not make someone more likely to stray any more than increasing the availability of glassware contributes to alcoholism", said Noel Biderman, founder & CEO of Ashley Madison. Watch the video on The Post Chronicle Website.
By Mitch Marconi
See full article at The Post Chronicle
eHarmony Launches $7m Media Pitch
ADNEWS – Feb 22 – eHarmony has opened a review of its $7.2M media account, almost four years after launching in the Australian market. eHarmony currently works with AKA Media as its media agency, while creative is handled out of the US. In January this year, OMD was appointed as eHarmony’s media agency in the US, where it spends~ $90M in advertising annually. In Australia, ~650K singles had registered within the first two years of launch and the site boasts more than 30M members worldwide. However, in the local market, eHarmony is dwarfed by the Fairfax Media-owned RSVP.com.au, which claims to have ~1.5M singles. Other sites with significant membership include match.com.au, lavalife.com.au and spiceoflife.com.au.
By Prue Corlette
See full article at AdNews
Webcam Snapper App For Dating Sites
OPW – Feb 21 – An app called Snapper allows users to take photos from their webcam and use them in profiles on dating sites. Users can select the Snapper license they want here and then can add this coupon code OPW25 at checkout for 25% off the lifetime of their subscription. If you want the pro license enter the code into the further information field for the same discount.
Shaadi #39 On The Top 50 Most Innovative Companies
FAST COMPANY- Feb 20 - This is a list full of surprises, even though No. 1 pick is no surprise at all. Apple itself was once written off; but the company restored innovation to its proper place, and as you'll see when you open the gatefold to the right, our entire economy has benefited as a result. Shaadi dating site is #39.
Rank Name
01 / APPLE
02 / TWITTER
03 / FACEBOOK
…
05 / GROUPON
06 / GOOGLE
…
09 / ZYNGA
…
15 / FOURSQUARE
…
22 / EBAY
…
24 / LINKEDIN
…
26 / YANDEX
24 / LINKEDIN
…
26 / YANDEX
How Technology Has Changed Love And The Dating Game
WCTV – Feb 19 – While the technology age is bringing people together, it's also helped tear plenty of real-world relationships apart. Before the internet and cell phones, it was more difficult to get hard evidence of betrayal. A survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says one in five divorces cite Facebook as a factor in the marriage's failure. 80% of lawyers in that survey also say they've seen an increase in clients using social media as evidence in cases. Now thanks to the world wide web and a guy named Bradley you don't even have to break up with a cheating spouse, yourself. Idump4u.com allows people to pay a guy named "Bradley" to call their significant other and have the dreaded conversation for them. FULL ARTICLE @ WCTV
15 Fascinating TED Talks On Love & Sex
ONLINE CLASSES – Feb 20 - 1. Helen Fisher studies the brain in love
2. Mary Roach: 10 things you didn’t know about orgasm
3. Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet enables intimacy
4. Cindy Gallop: Make Love, Not Porn
5. Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability
6. Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds
7. Dan Dennett: Cute, sexy, sweet, funny
8. Eve Ensler on security: Most human beings crave security in one form or another, whether it’s from a job, home or more commonly, another human being.
9. Julia Sweeney has "The Talk": Sex can be a touchy subject, especially when it comes time to explain it to kids.
10. Diane J. Savino: The case for same-sex marriage
11. Virginia Postrel on glamour: Glamour and sex appeal go hand in hand, and men and women alike have been both seeking it out.
12. John Hodgman: Aliens, love — where are they?
13. Helen Fisher tells us why we love + cheat
14. Tony Porter: A call to men
15. Elizabeth Pisani: Sex, drugs and HIV
FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE CLASSES
Does Online Flirting Predict Offline Revolution?
PR NEWSWIRE – Feb 17 – While researching something else entirely, Badoo has discovered evidence of a striking correlation between online flirting and offline protest. "We were compiling a league table of the most flirtatious cities in each continent," explains Lloyd Price, Badoo's Director of Marketing, "ranking cities by the number of online flirtations initiated per month by their average Badoo user." Interestingly enough, the most flirtatious African city Tunis. Cairo was Africa's third most flirtatious city. And Africa's 2nd most flirtatious city is Algiers. One answer might simply be age. Badoo's users in North Africa are predominantly "Generation Y", in their twenties and thirties, like those spearheading the protests. And these protesters are wired.
The full article was originally published at Business Insider, but is no longer available.
PlentyofFish Appears On Britney Spears’ Video Clip
MEDIA DECODER – Feb 17 – Viewers have glimpsed the PlentyOfFish.com on computer screens in scenes in music videos from artists like Jason Derulo, Kesha and Lady Gaga. The brand also makes an appearance in the video for the new song by Britney Spears, “Hold It Against Me.” The director of the video is Jonas Akerlund, who also directed the Lady Gaga epic “Telephone,” which featured multiple brands in addition to PlentyofFish. This time, in Ms. Spears’s video, plentyoffish.com is the sole brand that is visible. Watch the video here. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA DECODER
Online Dating Sites A Haven For Criminals
IOVATION – Feb 17 – Twenty years ago, online dating wasn’t even a thought. Ten years ago, it was weird. Five years ago, it was new and exciting. Today, it’s as normal as milk and bread. As online dating gradually gained popularity and acceptance, scammers were coming up with ways to take advantage and perfecting their craft. And now it’s a full-time job for them. In the last 90 days, 230,000 fraud and abuse attempts were reported to iovation from dating sites alone, including:
• Spamming – 90,000
• Scams and solicitations – 30,000
• Inappropriate content – 20,000
• Chat abuse – 17,000
• Profile misrepresentation – 15,000
• Credit card fraud – 14,000
• Identity mining / phishing attempts – 12,000
iovation has many more categories specific to dating, including bullying, account takeovers, under age members, and so on. What’s unique to their globally shared system is that their clients can choose what to take action on or not. Dating sites can specify which type of behavior to protect their users from.
The full article was originally published at iovation blog, but is no longer available.