Month: March 2012

Korean, Educated And Female? Find A Matchmaker

Posted on March 17, 2012

Duo korea logoREUTERS – Mar 15 – As women in South Korea have become better educated, with five times as many now getting advanced degrees as in 1995, they have also become more choosy and are less likely to settle for the role of meek spouse traditionally expected of Korean women. The age at which Korean women are getting hitched has risen by an average 4.1 years over the past 20 years to 28.9 years, according to Statistics Korea. At DUO, a matchmaking firm, its 26K members can choose between five different membership programmes with fees from 1.08M ($888M) won to 8.8M won. In a bid to attract clients, the site displays the average annual income of its male and female customers, as well as statistics on their professional standing. Overall, the industry is estimated to be worth 100 billion won.

by Jin Kyu Kang
See full article at Reuters

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Doubts Linger Over Genetic Test

Posted on March 17, 2012

Genepartner logo newMEDILL REPORTS – Mar 14 – GenePartner claims that for $249 and a cheek swab, it has the formula to match clients with those who are genetically compatible. After ordering a collection kit, the participant gives a saliva sample and mails it to GenePartner. Approximately two weeks later, results quantifying genetic compatibility with others who have also taken the test are available. It rates genetic compatibility in five areas: overall results, level of attraction, type of interest, symmetry of attraction and probability of a successful pregnancy. Genetic compatibility alone is only half the equation in maintaining a healthy relationship. "There may be truth in genetic attraction, but to me that would be an initial attraction and from there it would depend on compatibility in character and the ability to keep a relationship happy," said Joanna Hakimi, a licensed marriage and family therapist at Symmetry Counseling in Chicago. Eli Finkel, a social psychologist at Northwestern University, who has done extensive research on online dating services and briefly covers GenePartner in his work, is highly skeptical of the premise behind the idea. "Anytime there’s a new technology that comes out, dating is usually around 10 seconds behind," he said.

By Gloria Oh
The full article was originally published at Medill Reports, but is no longer available.

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PR Opportunity In Subscription Site Insider

Posted on March 15, 2012

Subscription site insider logoOPW – Mar 15 – The research team behind Subscription Site Insider’s Dating & Matchmaking Benchmark Report is looking for dating and matchmaking sites using a paid membership business model to profile in Subscription Site Insider.

If you fit this description, you’ll want to take advantage of this valuable and safe PR opportunity – they’ll raise your profile in the industry but will not reveal any data about you that you’re not comfortable with.

If you’re interested, send an email to our minalb@subscriptionsiteinsider.com. Be featured in Paywall Times and Subscription Site Insider and they'll include valuable links back to you!

Match Is Australia’s Top Online Advertiser

Posted on March 14, 2012

Match logo newMUMBRELLA – Mar 14 – Several of the biggest online advertisers in Australia are dating sites, data released by ComScore suggests. The biggest online display advertiser in Australia is Match, with be2. Facebook is by far the biggest publisher of online ads. IAC accumulated ~276M ad impressions, according to the data. be2 delivered 190M ads in Australia.

See full article at Mumbrella

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theComplete.me Social Dating Network Launches In Beta

Posted on March 14, 2012

Thecompleteme logo new March 2012PR WEB – Mar 13 – Social dating network, theComplete.me, launches Beta site. Members can meet each other through the real interests, experiences and friends from eight social networks, and via images and videos pulled in from around the Web. Founded by Brian Bowman (CEO), former VP Product Match.com & VP Community Yahoo!, and Shashikant Joshi (CTO), former Founder/CTO Perfode, theComplete.me startup team and Board of Advisors include Fran Maier, Co-founder of Match.com, Trish McDermott, former VP Public Relations Match.com, and other former Match.com and Internet executives.

See full article at PR Web

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Looking For Location-Based Love

Posted on March 13, 2012

Location based loveBETAKIT – Mar 13 – According to Juniper Research, the mobile dating market is expected to grow to $1.4 billion by 2013, and startups are poised to take advantage of that growth. A recent study by Skout noted that 69% of people were comfortable meeting up with someone they met on their iPhone, and 40% were using a mobile dating service while out at bars, clubs and restaurants. The U.S.-based app also lets romance-seekers view “hotspots” on Google Maps as a fiery glow, representing what locations are currently trending. Grindr uses geolocation to enable users to find other men within close proximity. This is accomplished through a user interface that displays a grid of user pictures, arranged from nearest to farthest away. Tapping on a picture will display a brief profile for that user, as well as the option to chat, send pictures, and share one’s location. Sharing location-based data brings up the question of safety. Ian Bell is the founder of Tingle, a dating app for iPhone. He said the idea of using location in a dating app can make users wary. Tingle tracks a user’s location and shares their proximity, as opposed to a specific location, when users pass near one another.

by Asif Khan
The full article was originally published at Beta Kit, but is no longer available.

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Downside Of Online Dating: More STDs, Some Experts Say

Posted on March 12, 2012

Online dating male-female-symbols-on-keyboardNATIONAL POST – Mar 11 – The growing spread of sexually transmitted disease in Canada may be at least partly the result of the Internet dating boom. The phenomenon seems particularly relevant to middle-aged and older people. According to a Leger Marketing survey last year, a quarter of Canadians have taken part in Internet dating, and 16% had sex with someone they met online. Middle aged and older people can be even less likely to use condoms, as the women are often beyond worrying about pregnancy, and the men are more prone to impotence and fear hampering their performance. Officials with the Ontario and Alberta health departments, however, said they have not uncovered hard evidence of a link between the popularity of online dating and the rise in STDs. As long ago as 2004, however, a research team at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta reported that 43% of the women they surveyed had had sex with someone they met first online, and tended to have a high rate of sexually transmitted infections.

by Tom Blackwell
See full article at National Post

Meexo: The Uncreepy Dating App

Posted on March 12, 2012

Meexo_slideLAPTOP MAGAZINE – Mar 11 – Meexo, a new app selected as a finalist for the SXSW Accelerator Competition, is completely mobile. Meexo also emphasizes privacy. “Each person’s account is tied to their particular device,” Meexo CEO Romain David explained, “and they’re only allowed to make one account per device—although they can sign in through multiple devices.” This acts as a safeguard against people making multiple accounts and posting fake photos and details about themselves. Users can connect the app to their Facebook account in a kind of reverse “find friend” feature. The app also attempts to solve the problem of getting too many messages from others, especially women from interested men. When users join the network, they receive virtual currency, but spend some of it when they message other people. This forces them to be more selective about who they approach.

by Davey Alba
See full article at LAPTOP Magazine

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