NYULOCAL – Nov 2 – DateMySchool (DMS) expanded to 600 campuses nationwide. DMS only started last November, and has grown to 55K members.
by Jocelyn Silver
See full article at NYULocal
Month: November 2011
Cupid’s Impressive Growth
THE MOTLEY FOOL – Nov 1 - It floated on AIM in June 2010 as Easydate. That caught the eye of easyGroup's lawyers and the company agreed to change its name to Cupid, having acquired companies of that name in the UK and US. International expansion has been boosted by recent acquisitions in Germany and Brazil. In the first half of this year, the company met its objective of earning 50% revenues from outside the UK. Revenues were nearly tripled to £25.4M, and operating profit doubled to £3.9M. The company now has ~34M members in 39 countries, but only a tiny proportion of those generate revenues. There were 460K monthly subscribers in June 2011, up from 324K last December. More than 40% of users now access the company's services through mobile devices or its Facebook app.
Matchmakers In Wings As Singles Rise
JAPAN TIMES – Nov 1 – The number of unmarried people is on the rise and Japan continues to be troubled by a low birthrate and an aging society. According to the internal affairs ministry's 2010 data, 71% of men aged between 25 and 29 were single. Also, in 2010, 46.5% of those between 30 and 34 and 34.6% aged between 35 and 39 were also unmarried. Meanwhile, single women are also on the increase. Does the rise in singles mean more people don't want to wed? No. According to 2005 data by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research on singles, it shows that ~90% of all men and women want to marry at some point. According to a 2006 survey taken by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the estimated matchmaking market size was ¥50 billion-¥60 billion with 600,000 single male and female clients. More business-oriented omiai agencies have emerged, including Zenkoku Nakodo Rengokai, which was set up in 1970 and currently has 1K matchmakers nationwide.
Match.com And Diane Von Furstenberg Team Up
PR NEWSWIRE – Nov 1 - DIANE, the designer's new fragrance, and the message "Be the woman you want to be!" will co-host three unique styling events offering Match.com members exclusive expert advice on how to dress for success using three popular first-date scenarios: cappuccinos, cocktails and dinner. These events will be held in DVF retail stores located in three key markets: New York City, Dallas and Miami.
iDate Awards Nominations Extended Until Friday November 4th
WEBWIRE – Nov 1 – The nominations will be accepted until this Friday for the third annual iDate Awards. The iDate Awards highlights both the people and companies who exemplify the best and most innovative aspects of the Internet Dating and Matchmaking Industry.
Twelve categories exist for the first annual awards:
Best Dating Site
Best Matchmaker
Best Software Provider
Best Mobile Dating Site
Best Dating Site Design
Best Dating Coach
Most Innovative Company
Best New Technology
Best Payment System
Best Affiliate Program
Best Marketing Campaign
Best Up and Coming Dating Site
PayPal Advice From The Trenches
OPW – Nov 2 – A friend informed me how he'd been locked out of PayPal recently. They reinstated his account after a week, but it consumed his time and mental bandwidth for a good portion of the week. Here's his advice on using PayPal.- Mark Brooks
Typically PayPal seems fine with brands and big companies for the most part (to the best of my knowledge). They tend to bully the smaller guys, especially if you are putting less than $1 million through PayPal in a year. As a business you don't really have a choice to not use PayPal, as not having it as an option lowers conversions, but it is good to have a backup. Ideally getting their credit card details directly rather than relying on a third party to take those for you. You'll need this backup in case you do run into issues so you can flick a switch and still be able to take payments without showing PayPal as an option.
- Make sure you have a rep/manager at PayPal, and communicate with them.
- Keep your info in PayPal up to date, including the business information bit which is in the edit profile section. I think they use that info in their auto-fraud triggers so it is good to have it active and up to date.
- If they do screw you, then just take legal action immediately, while pursuing polite and friendly calls to reason with them. They push the legal boundaries and will make peace to stop it going to court.