OPW – Dec 17 - Courtland Brooks / Online Personals Watch will be increasing its exhibit at iDate 2012 to a 20' booth for iDate Miami. iDate has been our marketing and business development mainstay since 2005. If you want to build your exposure with the internet dating industry executive, I recommend exhibiting. Courtland Brooks business is entirely dependent on it. If you're putting the time in to attend and want to meet the idating industry, you may as well pack a Skyline booth and exhibit as well. Exhibiting costs $5,475 (see options) and includes 3 conference passes.
Month: December 2011
Global Personals: Ranked In The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100
WLD – Dec 16 – Global Personals UK, the parent company of WhiteLabelDating.com, has been ranked 28th place in the prestigious Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100. The league table has become the definitive barometer of private company growth and features a host of well-known brands including Cath Kidston, Ella’s Kitchen, Jack Wills, Joules and Patisserie Valerie; plus many emerging companies in a range of industries.
Special Matchmaking Pre-Session At iDate
WEBWIRE – Dec 15 - A special pre-session has been added for the Internet Dating Industry Super Conference. The event takes place on January 23-30, 2012 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Julie Ferman, Chief Relationship Expert with Cupid’s Coach & eLove will produce and emcee a special full day session for matchmakers on January 23.
Update: iDate SuperConference – Rates rise after today (Friday, Dec 16th). Registration is at http://www.idate2012.com/form-1-miami.php.
Baihe Implements Real Name Policy
PENN OLSON – Dec 15 – Starting today, the Chinese dating website Baihe.com is requiring new users to register their real name upon signup, which will be verified by also inputting their national ID card number. It raises the prospect of privacy concerns and potential ID theft that might be off-putting to some people. But BaiHe – which means ‘Lily’ in English – will have presumably considered that this move might actually be reassuring to users who are looking to meet genuine candidates for marriage (which is the main purpose of the site, not ‘dating’ as such).
by Steven Millward
The full article was originally published at Penn Olson, but is no longer available.
eHarmony Launches eHarmony Premier
EHARMONY BLOG – Dec 15 - Below are the features in detail:
- Ultimate Guarantee: If members is not satisfied with eHarmony experience during their initial 12 month subscription eHarmony will extend them membership for up to 12 months.
- Pause Account: Members may pause the service once for up to 3 months.
- 3 Free Memberships to Share: eHarmony will supply new members with 3, one-month basic memberships in the welcome email.
- Relationship Starter Package: Great tips and expert advice about online dating.
- Hand-Selected Matches: eHarmony relationship specialist team will select 10 additional matches.
- Assisted Match Communications: Identify up to 10 matches and we’ll start the introduction for them by sending an initial message.
- Profile Advisor.
- Premium Personality Profile.
The full article was originally published at eHarmony blog, but is no longer available.
Matchmaker Interview, Maria Avgitidis, CEO Of Agape Match
OPW INTERVIEW – Dec 15 – The internet dating industry should get to know the matchmaking industry a bit better. I thought you’d like some insight, so I interviewed Maria Avgitidis who runs Agape Match in New York.
Agape Match is nominated in three categories at iDate 2012– Best Matchmaker, Most Innovative Company, and Best Dating Site Design.
Why matchmaking? What did you do before?
I come from several generations of matchmakers. I didn’t pick matchmaking! It picked me! After completing my Bachelors of Science at the American College of Greece in International Business and European Affairs, I briefly worked at the US Embassy of Athens before accepting a job in NYC and beginning my graduate studies at New York University in Global Affairs. In the end, my fascination with people’s behavior and interaction would ultimately help pave the route to becoming a matchmaker.
What's your most challenging client been, to date?
Challenging is such a relative term. So many of my clients are awesome and amazing, who let me do my job instead of dictating, which leads to successful relationships. The most challenging clients I have had are those who fail to accept the realistic expectations I have tried to communicate from the beginning.
How are you marketing out your services?
I would attribute about eighty percent of my company to word of mouth. It is an incredible tool. Additionally, I rely heavily on editorial pieces and my singles events, especially within the Greek community, which is my core demographic. Moreover, I’m invested in social media. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr… Finally, Google search has been really good to me.
How do you want to work with idating sites?
I receive hundreds of requests from Greeks in the international diaspora and Greece every month. As a niche dating site, I believe there is certainly room to expand within the iDating world, attributing many of the elements I already use. I am looking forward to the 2012 iDate Conference in Miami to further explore these routes.
9th Annual Miami iDate Dating Industry Super Conference
WEBWIRE – Dec 14 - Now in its ninth year, iDate Miami is the annual Mecca for CEOs in the online dating, matchmaking, dating coach, mobile dating, niche dating and dating affiliate market. iDate 2012 will commence on January 23 and runs through January 30 with the following schedule:
- January 23: Pre Conference Sessions
- January 24-25: Seminar & Exhibit Hall
- January 26: Post Conference Session
- Jan 27-30: iDate Networking Cruise to the Bahamas
The pre-conference sessions include:
OPW Session: An introduction to starting an online dating business
McQuown Session: An in-depth session on the business of niche dating
Matchmaking Session: An in-depth session on the business of match making
Nerve.com Introduces A Hip Dating Site
NY TIMES – Dec 14 - Before there were hip dating sites like OkCupid, Grindr and Grouper, there was Nerve Personals, the racy dating section of the online magazine Nerve.com. They slowly faded into obscurity as younger, sleeker rivals arose. Nerve then teamed up with a site called FastCupid to handle the day-to-day operation of the personals. When that partnership expired earlier this year, the company decided to throw its hat back in the ring with a revamped site and concept, called Nerve Dating, which is available to the public beginning Wednesday. To design the new site, the company looked to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Interactions are based around status updates and mini-reports about meals eaten, concerts watched and places visited.
SinglesAroundMe Launches GaysAroundMe
PR WEB – Dec 14 – The popular global LB mobile dating app SinglesAroundMe launches a customized version for gays called GaysAroundMe. The main feature of GaysAroundMe is a search tool called "GAM" which shows singles from 100 feet to 100 miles of your current location worldwide. Results are displayed on a geographical map, where users can then view pictures and profiles and send winks and messages to begin flirting.
The full article was originally published at SF Gate, but is no longer available.
ChristianMingle.com Grows By 2 Million In 2011
MARKETWIRE – Dec 14 – ~2M singles joined ChristianMingle.com this year. Now, with over 5M registered members, ChristianMingle claims to be the largest and fastest growing online community for Christian singles.
The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.