Month: January 2013

Dr. Neil Clark Warren Receives Lifetime Achievement Award At iDate

Posted on January 22, 2013

Eharmony neil clark warren idate awards postBUSINESS WIRE – Jan 21 – Dr. Neil Clark Warren, Founder and CEO of eHarmony, received the Lifetime Achievement Award last week at the 2013 iDate Conference in Las Vegas. This prestigious award honors Dr. Warren’s vision and leadership in bringing more than 35 years of clinical experience to create a relationship site using a scientific process developed on the basis of 29 Dimensions® of Compatibility as the determining factor in the success of a long-term relationship.

The full article was originally published at Businesswire, but is no longer available.

See all posts on eHarmony

Facebook Unleashes Cupid Potential

Posted on January 18, 2013

Facebook introducing graph searchUSA TODAY – Jan 17 – Facebook is becoming an online love connection — or maybe a meat market. Facebook's new Graph Search, in limited beta release, extends searches for singles on the network to friends of friends. The new feature, primarily for finding what friends "Like" from music to food and more, is expected to be available more widely over the next few months. It offers a speedy way to sort potential mates. Men will be able to hunt for single women who live in their locale and like a particular taco stand, action movies and sports teams, for example. Dating norms, however, have already taken root on Facebook. People have long-perused the photos and postings of members in the game of attraction, says Julie Spira, a digital-dating maven who runs CyberDatingExpert.com. "It's the world's largest social network, and they could be the world's largest dating network if they want to go there," Spira said. The Search Graph, for now, only culls "Like" selections and has yet to tap into profiles or News Feed data.

by Scott Martin & Jon Swartz
See full article at USA Today

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

LikeIt.com Raises $500K

Posted on January 18, 2013

Likeit logoPR WEB – Jan 18 – People Discovery site theComplete.me raised $500K in financing from Western Technology Investment and relaunched as LikeIt.com. Similar to Facebook’s new Graph Search beta product, LikeIt enables social people discovery, helping users connect to others who are talking about the things they like and share their attitudes. The LikeIt social graph, already ~20M people strong, expands people search beyond the Facebook network, allowing users to easily aggregate interests and activities from eight other social networks.

The full article was originally published at SF Gate, but is no longer available.

See all posts on LikeIt

This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.

Why Facebook’s Graph Search Needs To Be Mobile Right Now

Posted on January 18, 2013

Facebook app iconDIGITAL TRENDS – Jan 18 – Facebook unveiled Graph Search this week, and the new feature makes Facebook all the more powerful in the hands of users. Graph Search is a confusingly desktop-only affair right now. LinkedIn, Yelp, Foursquare, and even OkCupid have a few things to worry about since Facebook has now planted itself firmly in all their wheelhouses. Presently, Facebook has ~1 billion users. 600M of those are mobile users, and ~100M only use the site on their mobile devices. Such users will want to find the best restaurants and best night spots, not from home, but when they’re already out and about. With yesterday’s rollout of free calling via Messenger for iPhone, Facebook can now officially stand alongside the likes of Skype as a true VoIP solution.

by Kwame Opam
See full article at Digital Trends

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Zoosk Finds Love On YouTube

Posted on January 18, 2013

Zoosk logo new Dec 13ONLINE MEDIA DAILY – Jan 18 – Zoosk launched a Heart Friend puppet campaign video, their first YouTube-only social push with no traditional media support on television, radio or print. Since launching in December 2007, the company has grown to ~50M users in 70 countries, and is available in more than 25 languages. The company has received to date $40.5 million in funding, according to Wedbush Securities.

by Laurie Sullivan
See full article at Media Post

See all posts on Zoosk

Hinge.co: New Facebook Dating App

Posted on January 18, 2013

Hinge logo new Jan 13WASHINGTON POST – Jan 18 – Hinge.co launched this summer as the love child of Facebook and Friend-setups. Justin McLeod, CEO came up with the idea after eyeing a cute girl in one of his Harvard Business School classes and later finding that they had a dozen Facebook friends in common. Together with Bennett Richardson, CMO, and Matt O'Donnell, CTO, Hinge was born. Facebook users sign up for the Hinge game and by answering a series of questions such as "Who throws the best parties?. The game develops a list of compatible friends of friends.

by Veronica Toney
See full article at Washington Post

See all posts on Hinge

Facebook’s Big Announcement Doesn’t Justify A $30 Price

Posted on January 18, 2013

Facebook nasdaq pictureSEEKING ALPHA – Jan 17 – Since dropping below $20, Facebook stock has
rallied and is currently trading ~ $30 per share. Facebook launched a
new product on January 15th: the "Social Graph" which, will allow users
to find people and things that they might be interested in based on
their own social network and those of their friends. The user-focused
company never answered how this service will benefit shareholders, but
the tech media had a few ideas.

  • It's a social marketing tool that lets users discover and use the same
    businesses and products as their friends- like Yelp  or Angie's List,
    only social. As a result it's easy to see Facebook creating value from
    this use of Social Graph.
  • It's a recruiting tool, competitive with Linkedin Corporation.
    LinkedIn is barely profitable and while revenue growth has been very
    high we suspect that it might be overvalued as well.
  • It's a free
    dating site. It's extremely difficult to imagine such a business being
    worth half that figure even under the Facebook banner.

by Matt Doiron
See full article at Seeking Alpha

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

The iDate Awards Winners 2013 Were…

Posted on January 18, 2013

Mark Brooks And Dr Neil Clark WarrenOPW – Jan 18 – The 2013 iDate Awards
took place at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas last night. We were honored with the presence of eHarmony CEO, Dr. Neil Clark Warren who received the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Award winners:

– Best Up and Coming Dating
Site
   HowAboutWe

- Best Marketing
Campaign
   iHookUp.com

- Best Affiliate
Program
   eLove.com

- Best Payment System
   SafeCharge.com

- Best New Technology
   DatingFactory.com

- Most Innovative
Company
   eLove

- Best Matchmaker
   Julie
Ferman, eLove 

- Best Dating Coach
   Nancy Miller Chen (eLove)

– Best Niche Dating Site
   ChristianConnection.co.uk 

- Best Mobile Dating
Site
   Grindr

- Best Dating Software & SAAS Provider
   DatingFactory.com

- Best Dating Site
Design
   Cupid.com

- Best Dating Site
   Cupid.com

Operators Of Japanese Dating Site Arrested For Making $22M With Fake Profiles

Posted on January 18, 2013

With-handcuffsJAPAN DAILY PRESS – Jan 17 – Seven people from Fukuoka Prefecture have been arrested and charged with fraud. They are suspected to have operated an online dating service that used fake profiles and made off with US$ 22M. The dating site, named DEAiBBS, went online in 2005 and advertised that it had around 120K users. Investigations led by the police revealed that 80% of that number may not be real people.

by Ida Torres
See full article at Japan Daily Press