Month: October 2011

Study: Perceptions of Ideal and Former Partners’ Personality and Similarity

Posted on October 6, 2011

Internet dating science logo INTERNET DATING SCIENCE – Oct 6 – Internet Dating Science, a new service by Courtland Brooks, summarizes the best academic papers so you can improve your idating site, and help users make better connections. The results of this survey suggest that having a partner with a similar personality is a good thing for a relationship but it is not necessarily an exciting or important part of picking a future ideal partner.

FULL SUMMARY

Dr Brenner: Based on this information, you should:

  1. Educate your members about the power of attraction and how it can affect their judgement of what someone’s real personality is.
  2. Assist your members to understand the value of personality similarity when they are seeking long-term relationships.
  3. Provide members with a valid way to gauge if their personality is suited to a prospective date.
  4. So as to not appear out of touch or boring, do not overemphasize personality similarity in marketing and branding efforts as members will likely only value it to a moderate degree.

Plentyoffish.com to Grow Through Global Buys

Posted on October 6, 2011

PlentyofFish MERGER MARTKET – Oct 6 – PlentyOfFish.com has set aside $15M to acquire companies in dating, mobile and the daily deals space. POF revenue is estimated at $20-$30M. Markus said POF is not for sell at the moment. Noel Biderman, president of Avid Life Media, parent company of Ashley Madison, said Avid would absolutely acquire POF.

Frind compared POF's valuation to Badoo, which he said is £2 Billion. Cupid also could consider buying POF. Cupid has 34M members in 39 countries, and generated revenues of $25M in the six months. An IPO is also a possibility for POF. Frind maintained that POF is focused on buys and so far has made several acquisitions and investments this year, launching offeron.com, its new daily deals business.

See all posts on Plentyoffish

Second Love at First Click

Posted on October 6, 2011

Senior dating NY TIMES – Oct 6 - Now, people 55 and older are visiting dating sites more than any other age group — up 39% in the last three years, according to Experian Hitwise. Greg Liberman, CEO of Spark Networks said that for the first eight months of this year, Spark had a 93% YOY increase in new members 50+ across all of its dating sites. Niche sites like SilverSingles and OurTime (which also includes dating profiles from SeniorPeopleMeet.com and SeniorsMeet.com) are capitalizing on the demand.

by Stephanie Rosenbloom
See full article at NY Times

See all posts on SparkNetworks

Card Dating Still Thriving After One Year

Posted on October 5, 2011

Flipme dating cards BOSTON MAGAZINE – Oct 4 – Since its debut one year ago, the card dating trend is still going strong. The two dominant companies in this niche are Cheek'd and FlipMe, which provides users cards similar to business cards with short sayings and a hyperlink to a private online profile. Another company called MeSayingHi has also carved a share of this emerging market. Time will tell if this trend goes mainstream.

by Shannon Fischer
See full article at Boston Magazine

See all posts on Cheek’d  
See all posts on FlipMe

New Internet Dating Site Profile Pages

Posted on October 4, 2011

OPW logo z banneru OPW – Oct 4 – We're considering creating profiles for dating sites on OPW and could use your feedback on what you'd like to have listed in the profiles. Here's what we have so far. Please let us know your thoughts on tweaks and additions by commenting. Thanks.

  • Dating site name
  • Link to it´s website
  • Owned by
  • CEO´s name
  • Business address / public contacts
  • Number of employees
  • Link to a blog
  • Short profile of the company / general info, history, etc…
  • Date started
  • Traffic
  • Investments
  • Acquisitions
  • Financial results (public companies)

Should You Buy Profiles for Your Virgin Dating Site?

Posted on October 3, 2011

Question mark COURTLAND BROOKS – Oct 3 – Starting up your own dating site has become something that almost anyone can do. You may decide to give away free memberships and run extensive marketing. Some dating sites are opting to buy profiles. Courtland brooks conducted a survey of 6 companies (SalesProfiles.com, Evercurrent.com, Saledatingprofiles.com, Saledatingprofiles.net, Buyprofiles.com and Profilenetwork.com) who claim to sell active profiles. The majority of the profile sellers refused to say where they get their profiles from and Saledatingprofiles.net even became aggressive and left the chat when we tried to push the issue. Of all of these providers, only one is worthy of any attention, Buyprofiles.com. We DO NOT recommend buying in mass profiles.  But if you succumb to buy profiles you should only keep them on your site for 3-4 weeks in conjunction with a considerable advertising  We DO recommend doing co-reg deals with other sites. You need to be ready to spend some money to stock the shelves with people, real people, before you'll be able to sell anything and start making money. More about Profile Selling Companies Study on Courtland Brooks blog.

Age Verification on SawYouAtSinai.com

Posted on October 3, 2011

Sawyouatsinai logo THINKING CLEARLY – Oct 3 – Jewish dating site SawYouAtSinai.com recently announced age verification process on their site. The site uses US public records to verify the age of its members. Age verification is believed to provide a more comfortable and honest dating environment online.

by Patricia Ridgeway
The full article was originally published at Thinking Clearly, but is no longer available.

Blendr Social App Raises Fears

Posted on October 3, 2011

Blendr logo BOSTON HERALD – Oct 3 – Blendr, a new location-based app, is raising concerns that it could be used to prey on teens. Blendr, which doesn’t bill itself as a dating app like Grindr, lets users know how close they are to others by relying on a smartphone’s GPS or Facebook’s location software. But child advocates aren’t viewing the new app as just a way to make friends and review places. When asked for its position, the company pointed to a 2010 statement: “As an added protection, we encourage parents to add Apple’s parental controls to their children’s iPod Touches, iPhones and iPads to help ensure that their children cannot access 17-and-over sites and apps. Grindr strongly condemns the inappropriate and criminal use of our service and actively cooperates with local authorities on any alleged illegal activity on our service.”

by Cameron Sperance
The full article was originally published at Boston Herald, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: LBS enabled idating is a double-edged sword. But ultimately, it will take off.

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See all posts on Grindr

Mobile Online Dating Apps Get Local

Posted on October 3, 2011

Match.com logo dalsi BOSTON.COM – Oct 2 - According Match.com's research conducted, one in five new relationships begins with an online connection. Thanks to mobile apps like Blendr, StreetSpark, Loopt Mix, How About We, OkCupid’s new “Locals” feature, keeping up with online dating is as simple as updating a Facebook status. As always, users should approach online dating like real-life dating. Some apps also have safety features built in. Blendr lets users adjust settings to hold back information and offers a “location toggle” to fudge the accuracy of location mapping. StreetSpark won’t reveal user's exact location unless both parties agree to “ignite.”

See full article at Boston.com

Mark Brooks: Guys are less concerned, women more concerned about LBS.  But the sheer utility and fun and real worldliness of  the whole experience will help drive LBS idating into ubiquity.

See all posts on Match.com

eHarmony Ad: ‘As My daughters Say, Get on It’

Posted on October 2, 2011

MUMBREALLA – Sep 29 - The Hallway has launched a TV campaign for eHarmony  – the first Australia-made ad. Rather than focus on finding love, the ads look at the experiences to be gained from online dating.

See all posts on eHarmony