FOX BUSINESS – Sep 7 - Nothing is off limits when it comes to the Internet. Fox Business checked in with four dating sites for married people.
AshleyMadison.com Started: 2001 Members: 11M in 15 countries, 7M in the U.S.
Q&A with Noel Biderman, CEO of Avid Life Media Q: When do you notice an uptick in traffic? A: The days after Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Q: Were you surprised at the response level/interest from people? A: Not surprised at all. The concept of relationships outside of the marriage has been around a long time, it is as old as marriage itself.
Q: Why do you think married people turn to a site like this? A: In today’s day and age, it’s very difficult to be married and faithful.
Q&A with Anthony Previte, CEO of FriendFinder Networks Q: Why married people turn to a site like this? A: The opportunity to cheat is the best with people you know. These are also the most dangerous because it's only a matter of time before your partner finds out. Sites like NoStringsAttached are safer.
MarriedSecrets.com Started: 2003 Members: “In the hundreds of thousands"
Q&A With Jason Baker, spokesperson. Q: Why do you think married people turn to a site like this? A: Often times the main theme is that people are looking to find an intimacy that they are not getting at home.
by Kathryn Tuggle The full article was originally published at Fox Business, but is no longer available.
OPW INTERVIEW – Sep 8 – Mamba.ru is Russia’s top dating site. They’ve turned their hand to social dating with their international social dating site Mamboo. Here’s our interview with the COO, Gloria Diez. – Mark Brooks
How was Mamboo started? We already had a sister service, Mamba.ru which is very popular in Russia since 2004. We have the only dating system in the world that keeps users 30 min online per visit. People from other countries contacted us asking for a similar service in their country. We decided it would be a good idea to create an international site.
You define it as social dating site. What is a social dating site? How is it different from an Internet dating site? I define social dating as any kind of system that allows the members to meet up with other people in a social atmosphere. We like to provide our users with the chance to meet their other half from among the network of friends they have. To find someone who belongs to the same peer/reference group as them and has the same social values. Social aspects are very influential in real life dating so we had to repeat that online.
How do you protect privacy at Mamboo? We understand users have to feel relaxed to meet new people. We give users options to set up their privacy. They disclose information that they are fine with. We never share our resource data with any 3rd party. 90% of our users confirm they are real people. They send us a message after we send a code to their cell phone so we know its an actual person.
How many active members do you have on Mamboo? We have 300,000 users. We are growing fast adding 2,000 members a day. OPW Editor Update: Mamboo is now claiming ~10,000 new members a day.
Are you advertising? We are starting to advertise. We are also beginning to become incorporated with subscription dating sites. We want to offer a different kind of dating to their users. We have also incorporated our services as a white label provider with other kind of websites such as ICQ.
Mamboo is mostly free; tell us about what you charge for? Mambo is a free dating site but we do offer other extra premium services such as gifts as part of our upgraded service to help grab the attention of someone who you specially like.
There are a few social dating services but there is one that you have a special interest in, in fact you share an investor, Badoo. How is Mamboo different from Badoo? The main difference is the social aspect. Badoo is a social network for meeting new people. Mamboo is an online dating service. Mamboo mission is to spread love around the world.
WSJ – Sep 7 - Jiayuan makes money primarily by charging users to exchange love notes through its website for two yuan each. Jiayuan is growing quickly, with Q2 revenue more than doubling from a year earlier to $12.9M and earnings growing at a similar pace. The move toward user fees comes as the online ad market is growing in China and getting crowded with sites seeking advertisers. The market still is small compared with that of the U.S. Total revenue from online ads in China reached $4 billion last year. The U.S. online ad market last year reached $26 billion. 80% of Jiayuan's revenue now comes from paid messaging.
PR WEB – Sep 6 – According to ComScore and Experian Hitwise, PlentyOfFish.com was consistently ranked as the most popular dating site by visits in the UK and USA every month, for the first half of 2011. In the UK POF had ~16M total visits each month and 54M in the USA. Their closest competitors averaged ~4M total visits per month in the UK and 27M in the USA. Overall, PlentyOfFish.com’s traffic accounted for 40.10% of all UK-based Internet dating traffic and 28.87% for USA.
WEBWIRE – Sep 6 – LovePlanet CEO Maksim Yurievich Khramov will speak at the iDate European Conference. The event takes place on Sep 29-30, 2011 in Moscow. LovePlanet.ru is a leading Russian website for love, friendship and chatting.
PR WEB – Sep 6 - WhatsYourPrice.com, the dating site where first dates are bought or sold, launches its certification program for college students. Single college students registering on WhatsYourPrice.com as Attractive members using their dot-EDU email address will automatically receive a free upgrade and become certified as an Attractive College Co-Ed.
OPW – Sep 6 – We protect sources. We're looking for insider news and tips. Got something interesting? We will not share your contact information with anyone. We respect embargoes, and we absolutely will honor your privacy. Send your news directly at tips@onlinepersonalswatch.com.
THE TIMES – Sep 5 - Badoo is a cross between a dating site and a social network, but is better known as the web's premier "hook-up service". It is most popular in Spain, other parts of Europe and throughout South America. Whereas social networks such as Facebook revolve around existing friends, Badoo concentrates on connections to strangers. Dating sites match people through their interests, but Badoo is mainly about proximity, as its app for smartphones reveals nearby users. The service is free to join and makes money through add-ons, or "superpowers" in the site's jargon.
MIAMI HERALD – Sep 4 - Some say social media like Facebook, Twitter are better for screening romantic partners than traditional dating sites. They’re better at giving you a full picture of the object of your affections. One way to help gauge someone’s credentials is to see if they have a profile on LinkedIn. "People tend to trust social media sites, since there’s a great deal of overlap between their online and offline friends," says University of Texas psychology professor Sam Gosling. "The impression people have of folks based on their Facebook profile tends to be pretty accurate."
by Joshunda Sanders The full article was originally published at Miami Herald, but is no longer available.
