NY TIMES – Apr 7 – Yoke.me, a new online dating start-up, pulls in data from Facebook and then generates matches with people from users' extended social circle, based on common interests. Sites and apps like OKCupid, eHarmony, Skout, PlentyofFish and Match.com have attracted loyal followings. But in a world where we can pay someone for lunch by tapping two phones together and stream live television over a tablet computer, the de facto model of browsing through static profiles on a Web site or in a mobile app can feel comically outdated. It may not be a problem that software can solve on its own, said Eli Finkel, a professor of social psychology at Northwestern University. “Technology is not the way to figure out who is compatible and will never be,” he said. The system that eHarmony has built is “based on years of empirical and clinical research on married couples,” said Becky Teraoka, an eHarmony spokeswoman. They include “aspects of personality, values and interest, and how pairs match on them, that are most predictive of relationship satisfaction.” While Professors Finkel and Reis question the value of algorithms, they do say that online dating is useful because it can broaden the pool of people you come across on a regular basis. But Kevin Slavin, a game developer who studies algorithms, says those sites are already starting from a flawed base. The digital personas we cultivate on Facebook are often not very indicative of who we are, he said. Rob Fishman, who helmed the development of Yoke.me, says he views the service as an icebreaker.
Month: April 2012
Restriction Of Sex Offenders From SN, Gaming And Online Dating
SALON.COM – Apr 9 – A push is under way to restrict registrants from social networking, virtual gaming and online dating. On Thursday, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that through an initiative dubbed “Operation: Game Over,” several major gaming companies had removed the profiles of more than 3,500 registered sex offenders in the state. The day before, a Louisiana bill forbidding registered sex offenders from using social networks was approved by a state House committee. Late last month, Match.com, eHarmony and the Spark Networks signed a “joint statement of business principles” to attempt to screen out registered sex offenders. As anyone who has ever watched TV news knows, some offenders use the Internet to victimize children, but the threat is overblown, according to research from the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. Bullying poses a greater threat online than sexual solicitation, and children’s greatest threat of sexual abuse comes from someone they know — a relative or family friend — not from a stranger on the other end of his or her Xbox. It’s important to acknowledge that these attempts are easily circumvented by those willing to break the rules: For example, to make it onto a gaming platform, a New York state sex offender only has to create a new username that officials don’t have on file. Sure, it’s now a crime to do so — but so too is abusing children. Similarly, the online dating sites are only screening out sex offenders who provide identifying information that matches what is on the registry.
by Tracy Clark-Flory
See full article at Salon
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This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Naughty America Partners With AshleyMadison.com
XBIZ NEWSWIRE – Apr 6 – Naughty America partners with Avid Life Media, operators of AshleyMadison.com. Paying members of Naughty America will now find a co-branded site within the members' area showcasing AshleyMadison.com, as well as CougarLife.com, a dating site geared toward older women seeking younger men, and vice versa.
by Bob Johnson
See full article at XBIZ Newswire
Google Should Halt Dating Ads Until They’re Sure None Are Fronts For Human Trafficking
SEARCH ENGINE LAND – Apr 6 – Google says it’s spending “millions of dollars” to police AdWords ads to ensure they’re not contributing to human trafficking, but the head of a victim’s rights group seems to believe that’s not enough. Philip J. Cenedella of the National Association of Human Trafficking Victim Advocates (NAHTVA) says they should, “stop all of these ads until they can guarantee 0.0% of the providers of the services are NOT trafficking victims, exploited women, men, girls and boys.” The challenge is the sheer number of ads that Google deals with on a regular basis and, even though the company does both manual and algorithmic reviews, bad ads seem to slip through all the time.
Match.com Sues ‘Adult Dating’ Site XXXmatch
PAID CONTENT – Apr 5 – Match.com that promises “Love is complicated, Match.com is simple” is taking issue with a website that claims “Love is complicated, sex is simple.” In a trademark suit filed in Virginia federal court, Match claims the adult matchmaker has no right to use the names “xxxmatch.com” or “eroticmatch.com.” Match is asking for a court order forbidding the use of “xxxmatch” or the slogan “Love is complicated, sex is simple.” Match also wants the defendants, who are based in California and the Caribbean, to turn over their profits.
Urban Social Migrates To WhiteLabelDating.com
WLD.COM – Apr 4 – An established dating brand since 2004, Urban Social decided to migrate their dating site to the WhiteLabelDating.com platform so they could solely focus their time and budget on marketing and promotional activities. WhiteLabelDating.com will provide all of the back-end requirements such as the dating software, payment processing, customer support and hosting infrastructure.
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Skout: From Deadpool’s Door To $22M Funding
TECH CRUNCH – Apr 3 – Eighteen months ago Christian Wiklund’s company Skout was down to three people after burning much of the $4.6M it had raised since being founded in 2007. Wiklund and his co-founder Niklas Lindstrom put their heads down. They changed the app to focus on young people who wanted to meet strangers and singles who wanted to flirt. Skout’s new app came at a very lucky time in the market. The app supports ~300M messages per month and it’s signing up ~1M users per month. So on the back of this turnaround, Skout is raising $22M in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz. With the funding, Skout plans to find a new office that will hold 120 people.
by Kim-Mai Cutler
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
Dating Factory Partnership Conference To Take Place At Next iDate
PRESS RELEASE – Apr 3 – Dating Factory will host a partnership conference on June 20, 2012, prior to the iDate Mobile Dating Conference. The Dating Factory partnership event is a 3 hour session specifically for operators and affiliates of Dating Factory private label software.
‘Words With Friends’ Turns To Love
DALLAS MORNING NEWS – Apr 2 – Few players go into online games such as "Words With Friends" looking for love. But the ability to "chat" within the contests can spur flirtations much like those in any other setting. While online dating sites let potential couples pre-gauge compatibility, online gaming, with its fictitious user names, lacks that initial openness. "Gaming contexts involve more anonymity and fantasy than online dating sites, which have pressures for honesty and accuracy in self-presentation," said communications professor Jennifer Gibbs of Rutgers University, who has studied the phenomenon. Courtships, then, proceed cautiously.
by Marc Ramirez
See full article at Star Tribune
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Zoosk Launches Couple Profiles
THE NEXT WEB – Apr 2 – Couples can now build their joint profile on Zoosk and share their lives together. The combined account has a ‘Romantic Moments’ feature that can act as a repository for images, updates and comments on events like anniversaries, vacations, special moments and more. Zoosk is available in 25 languages and has members in ~70 countries. The company was founded in 2007 by Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr.