PR NEWSWIRE – Oct 19 - Cupid has been collecting user behaviour statistics and now has decided to share some of its learnings from the data collected. Cupid found that the growth of the received ordinary emails (members send these to one another) shows a decrease in the number of payments and revenue from male profiles without a photo. Yet at the same time the average payment increases. This is closely related to the fact that customers who start spending more time on the site spend money on more advantageous packages. Admin messages work better to attract new users to the site. The more Admin messages sent, the greater the number of payments and revenue.
Month: October 2011
Service Spotlight: Interview with John Maitland, CEO of PhotoVerified
OPW – Oct 18 – Internet dating users don’t like showing up at dates to find they’re meeting someone they don’t recognize. The industry can do better to help users not have these nasty surprises. John’s helping with that cause. – Mark Brooks
You verify photos, how do you do that?
We have a patent pending system to combat the problem that it is easy to create fake personas online. PhotoVerified makes sure that photos are recent and authenticated by your system. Unlike other processes who have tried a similar thing ours involves a human element. Technical [solutions] help with filtering but every photo is looked at by one of our verifiers.
Where are your people based? You must have a low cost base in order to have real people. Are they offshore?
Our main base is currently in Toronto but we are looking at offshore data centers.
How do you make sure that the photos are really of the people who are on the service?
When you sign up our system generates a unique code for you to display in the photo you are going to send to us. We ask people to write their code down on a piece of paper using a black marker then we ask them to crumple up the paper and flatten it back out again. It is a lot harder to Photoshop a code into a crumpled piece of paper. This photo then goes to our verification system. Verifier doesn’t know the code. All they are seeing is a photo of a person and a code. They type in the code or reject outright for reasons such as person covering face. Assuming everything is good, verifier types in code and clicks accept. If code is incorrect and the system doesn’t recognize it then it escalates to another verifier. The first person could have just made a typo. Second verifier doesn’t know someone already saw this photo so if the next verifier types in correct code then its fine. If the code is bad again then it’s escalated to a manager who can see more info, possibly it’s just sloppy hand writing.
I love the crumpled up paper part, is that the part that’s patented? What part of the process have you locked down?
We don’t have a patent issued yet, it’s still pending but it is part of the patent as well as other technical details that allow us to filter out signs of potential manipulation. Other thing is that we use a timer so it limits the ability to manipulate.
What’s your service cost?
Less than if you were trying to do this in house.
PlentyofFish vs. PlentyMoreFish
OPW – Oct 18 – PlentyofFish were appealing for a declaration of invalidity for the UK registered trademark PlentyMoreFish. They argued that granting the trademark PlentyMoreFish in October 2007 was illegal and that it had left some consumers confused between the two services thus affecting the business of PlentyofFish in the UK.
Mr Landau, who approved the trademark, believed that on the 24th of April 2007, when PlentyMore applied for the trademark, PlentyofFish had no ’goodwill’ in the mind of the purchasing public in the UK. He found hits and visits to the website but no customers at that time.
PlentyofFish argued there was a proven trade connection between their website and the UK market and that visitors to the site should be viewed as customers as the site earns its money from advertising. However, the judge contended that a reputation is not enough and reminded PlentyofFish that this was case regarding the trademark of a dating site not advertising services. He said that since there were no paying customers in the UK before April 2007 then there was no ‘goodwill’ in the mind of the purchasing public and the case was dismissed.
See all posts on PlentyofFish
See all posts on PlentyMoreFish
Online Dating Matures: 5 New Sites That Will Get You Lucky
FOX NEWS – Oct 16 - For decades, the online dating scene was limited to a handful of trusty incumbents: think Match.com, LavaLife, eHarmony. But a bevy of new sites are looking to offer the granularity users are now craving.
Here are five sites offering a fresh approach to finding “the one” online.
1. Best Concept: HowAboutWe (400K dates posted. $28 per month)
– One of the fastest growing sites in the scene. Proposing a date gives singles an immediate topic of conversation for emails and way to connect.
2. Best Elite Site: Sparkology (Service has not opened to general public yet)
– The community is invite-only and men must be verified grads of top universities.
3. Best Mainstream Site: OKCupid (7M members)
4. Best Alternative: Ignighter (2M members)
– Allows groups of friends to collaborate on a group profile.
5. Most Buzzed About: Meexo
– Meexo isn’t out yet. Meexo is attempting to bridge the gap between location-based gaming and romance.
by Alex Liu
See full article at Fox News
See all posts on HowAboutWe
See all posts on Ignighter
See all posts on OkCupid
Dating Industry Mourns the Loss of Eric Holzle
IDATE – Oct 14 – We found out that Eric Holzle (Scientific Match CEO) passed away on August 21. Read the obituary. Eric was usually a "front row seater" at iDate. Soft spoken, extremely intelligent and hard working. Eric's presence will be missed by all in the dating industry. Mark Brooks Interview with him in 2009 on OPW.
The Wedding Bells That May Signal Financial Hell
CHINA DAILY – Oct 14 - So love and money? Which is the most important to a marriage? Some experts say that a recent interpretation of the Marriage Law is aimed at getting people to marry for love rather than money. Mu Yan, co-founder of Baihe.com, says that a survey of 100K single Chinese in 2009 found that for women personal income ranked third among the top three criteria in choosing a spouse. In another survey by Baihe.com, 71% of women said owning a house was a must for a man to get married; 48% of male respondents shared that view.
Wise Words with Laura Brashier, Founder of 2date4love
SPRINGWISE – Oct 13 - Having been diagnosed with cervical cancer 12 years ago Laura Brashier went on to found 2date4love, a dating service for singles who can’t have sex.
Q: Where did the idea for 2date4love come from?
A: I was discouraged from dating at all because I felt that most men wouldn’t sign up for a long term relationship that involved intimacy without sexual intercourse. I then started to think that there must be others out there who are in the same situation as me and 2date4love.com was born.
Q: What drove you crazy when building your business?
A: The most difficult part of building my internet business was finding a programmer and being able to communicate with them.
Q: What motivates you to keep going?
A: From something so life threatening and physically devastating, came something that’s good for the world. 2date4love.com is such a moving and emotional experience to read some of the letters and notes that the members have written to me, thanking me for being so brave and courageous.
A: From something so life threatening and physically devastating, came something that’s good for the world. 2date4love.com is such a moving and emotional experience to read some of the letters and notes that the members have written to me, thanking me for being so brave and courageous.
Q: If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
A: I’d probably start with a basic template for the back end of the website.
A: I’d probably start with a basic template for the back end of the website.
Q: If you weren’t working on 2date4love, what would you be doing?
A: I would be working towards my degree in Horticulture.
A: I would be working towards my degree in Horticulture.
Q: Tell Springwise a secret…
A: Not many people know that there are many diabetics who have a high incidence of sexual dysfunction. Mostly men, but a lot of women with diabetes are candidates for 2date4love.com.
A: Not many people know that there are many diabetics who have a high incidence of sexual dysfunction. Mostly men, but a lot of women with diabetes are candidates for 2date4love.com.
The full article was originally published at Springwise, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: 2Date4Love.com is Courtland Brooks first pro bono client. We're advising, and extending tools, know-how and connections. We love what Laura is doing, and the cause she serves.
Yahoo Offloads BharatMatrimony Holding Company Stake
ECONOMIC TIMES – Oct 12 – Yahoo has sold its stake in the company that owns the online matchmaking portal bharatmatrimony.com, valuing it at $190M. BharatMatrimony, which makes its money through subscriptions, competes with shaadi.com, jeevansathi.com and simplymarry.com, which is owned by the Times Group.
Top U.S. Websites, Including OKCupid, Share Visitor Personal Data
WSJ – Oct 12 - A study shows that 45% of the top 185 U.S. websites transmit identifying details about their visitors to at least four outside websites. The data transmitted was primarily a “username”. OKCupid sent the gender, age, zip code, relationship status and ‘drug use frequency’ to two companies that sell personal data in auctions, BlueKai and Lotame. Lotame confirmed that it has a data licensing relationship with OKCupid, but said it does not use data in the “drug use category.” BlueKai said that it does not buy or sell data attributes like “drug use frequency” from OKCupid.
Facebook Acquires Friend.ly
MASHABLE – Oct 11 - Facebook has acquired two-year-old social question-and-answer startup Friend.ly for an undisclosed sum. The Friend.ly team will join Facebook and focus on new products for the social network, while the Friend.ly site will continue to operate as a separate service. Friend.ly, a service similar to Formspring, raised $5.5M in Series A funding.
by Jennifer Van Grove
See full article at Mashable
Mark Brooks: Friend.ly was founded by Harvard and Stanford educated Ed Baker. It's a discovery engine to help people learn more about their current friends. A 'lite' idating app, of sorts. (Full Disclosure: Friend.ly was advised by the Courtland Brooks team)