FT – Feb 14 – Inga Verbeeck is head of European operations at Berkeley International, a dating agency for the very wealthy. Berkeley membership costs a minimum €10K a year. Berkeley has grown in 10 years from 300 to 3,000 members. Ms Verbeeck says the plan is to reach 10K members within three years, including a move into same-sex dating. The business has opened offices in Brussels, Paris and Milan and will add Geneva, Amsterdam and Copenhagen this year. It also has a small presence in the US that it aims to expand. ~60% of Berkeley’s members are women and roughly the same proportion are divorced. Vetting potential members normally takes a couple of weeks. 1 in 10 applicants is politely turned down, usually because they have unrealistic expectations.
Month: February 2013
How Realistic Is Finding Love By Crunching Data?
OPW – Feb 14 – Eli Finkel, of Northwestern University, speaks to the “CBS This Morning” co-hosts about the online dating trend.
Mobile Apps Tap The Changing Face Of Online Dating
USA TODAY – Feb 13 – The mobile dating revenue is projected to double over the next five years ($415M). There is a site for everybody, many with their own apps as well. The niches range from ethnic, religious or age-based to sites for occupations (FarmersOnly.com) or eating preferences (VeggieDate.org). For gay men, there's Grindr.com and Stagg, DateMyPet for pet lovers. With the dating industry moving so rapidly, the phrase "online dating" will soon disappear from the lexicon, says Sam Yagan, CEO of Match. "The idea of differentiating online and offline in five years will be anachronistic," he says. Nielsen reports that the number of Americans using apps or a mobile version of a dating site was 13.7M in November 2012, more than double the previous year's 5.8M. Mark Brooks, a consultant who has studied the industry from its infancy, says the online and mobile dating industry is more than just a business: "Going from where it is now and where it's going to be in the next 20 or 30 years time, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a business — outside of the medical industry — that will have more impact on society."
by Sharon Jayson
See full article at USA Today
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Celebrate Being Me Not We This Valentine’s Day
NORTHERN STAR – Feb 14 – Last year RSVP, Australia's largest online dating site, released their report profiling Aussie singles. The report showed that Aussie singles are mostly happy singles. Men (35%) and women (45%) most enjoy about being single is their independence, followed by the freedom to be spontaneous 18% of men and 14% of women most enjoy this element). Generation Y is the most likely group to enjoy being single (72%), followed by Baby Boomers and older (68%), and then Generation X (59%).
Why Online Dating Is Struggling To Go Global
THE DAILY BEAST – Feb 14 – Different countries date differently. Cupid Plc burned a lot of money when it tried to expand its BeNaughty website with becoquin.fr in France and gibsmir.de in Germany. Match.com sold its entire European business to the French site Meetic.com. These companies were sometimes felled by practical idiosyncrasies such as offering credit cards as the sole payment method in Europe, not knowing that only 25% of Germans own them. Australians take a more relaxed approach to dating. “In Australia you can never really be sure if you are on a date or you are just hanging out as friends,” says Katrina, an Australian who spent a year in Texas. Taiwan offers a more conservative scene. Potential partners are mainly set up through friends, and romance must be found within one’s social circle. Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, predicts that the Chinese online dating industry alone will generate $350M in revenue in 2014, and forecasts growth in developing markets such as Russia and Latin America. Gian Gonzaga, chief scientist for eHarmony, sent out thousands of questionnaires in countries including Brazil, Australia, and the U.S. “We found Brazilian couples value passion the most,” Gonzaga says. “The importance of similar levels of spirituality is highest in the States.” eHarmony then adjusted its websites’ algorithms to reflect Gonzaga’s findings.
by Ella Delany
See full article at Daily Beast
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Edmonton Couple Wins $100,000 In POF Wedding Contest
CTV EDMONTON – Feb 13 – David Mazur and Andrea Ellis met on POF. The couple entered a contest put on by the site, for a chance to win $100K towards a dream wedding. On Wednesday, the couple found out they had beat out thousands of couples from around the world for the ultimate wedding prize. Markus Frind, founder and CEO of Plenty of Fish, says January and February are typically the busiest months of the year. “~80% of people are now using a mobile app or mobile device for meeting people or arranging dates and last year, the start of last year, everyone was doing it on a desktop or on a computer so it’s totally changed in the span of 12 months,” Frind said.
Foodie Dating Sites
OTTAWA CITIZEN – Feb 14 – Sites like Singles with Food Allergies and Veggie Connection offer an online platform for those seeking romantic partners with similar diets or food restrictions. Jeff Nimoy is the founder of SamePlate.com, which seeks to pair up prospective partners based on foods they do or don't like.
by Lauren La Rose
The full article was originally published at Ottawa Citizen, but is no longer available.
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App Helps Facebook Friends Get Benefits
SF GATE – Feb 13 – Bang With Friends is a controversial app that, is supposed to be no-nonsense way to learn which of your friends is interested in having sex. The app lists Facebook friends, allowing a choice of males, females or both. Clicking a "Down to Bang" button below each profile picture sends a message. Both sides are notified only if the prospective banger responds, and then it's game on.
Facebook: The Third Wheel In Relationships
PR NEWSWIRE – Feb 13 – A Valentine's Day survey conducted by Abine, the makers of DoNotTrackMe,
found that more than one-third of people give their account usernames
and passwords to the person they're dating. 40% of people have looked at
their significant other's emails or other private messages. 30% have
reviewed their partner's browsing history. 12% say they've posted
"intimate details" about their relationship online. After a break-up,
most people (63%) de-friend or block their exes on social media sites. Facebook is by far the most popular online platform for sharing intimate details about one's relationship.
See full article at PR Newswire
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
Las Vegas iDate Photos Now Live
OPW – Feb 14 – Check out the photos from the Internet Dating Conference in Las Vegas and the iDate Awards. Well done to all the speakers, Marc Lesnick and his team.
