FORT MILL TIMES – May 29 – Zoosk announced a limited release delivery service, beginning today in most U.S. states, which allows users to deliver flowers, chocolates, and teddy bears to potential matches. A new “ship a gift” button notifies the recipient, who can accept the gift and provide a shipping address, or decline. Zoosk has 27M+ members in over 80 countries.
The full article was originally published at Fort Mills Times, but is no longer available.
THE HINDU – May 29 – TrulyMadly.com has launched as an alternative to traditional matrimonial sites. Young people in India are deciding who they want to marry, with parents coming in later for approval. Urban Tryst is a newly launched matchmaking site that sets up users on dates and throws in surprise ice-breakers. iBluebottle caters to young professionals and has a very stringent verification process. MatchMeCupid focuses less on horoscopes matching and more needs and values.
by Raveena Joseph
See full article at The Hindu
BETABEAT – May 30 – When it launches, Stitch will offer Tindy-style dating for those age 50 and older. The app does not have a chat feature, as baby boomers would rather speak on the phone. The number of 65-74 year olds accessing the web with a tablet increased from 5% to 17% between 2012 and 2013.
by Meredith Carey
See full article at BetaBeat
TECH2 – May 29 – Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report shows that Internet user growth has slowed down below 10%, while mobile data traffic is growing at a rate of 81% YoY, including ~20% video content. Mobile accounts for 20% of time spent, but claims only 4% of ad spending. Mobile advertising has grown by 47% this year, compared to 16% for Internet advertising globally.
Mark Brooks: I believe 2013 and 2014 are the first years in iDating history that revenues shrunk. But for the Internet Dating companies that have done a great job with their mobile apps, 2015 should be a banner year.
OPW – May 30 – Eli Finkel, professor of psychology at Northwestern, believes that new advances in psychology and technology can be leveraged to create a vastly more effective matchmaking algorithm. Scientific psychology is providing new insights into non-conscious synchrony, which is similarities in language and expressions between two people. It is a key factor in compatibility. Machine-learning and facial recognition technologies may soon be able to extract and analyze language style and physiological information from live video to measure non-conscious synchrony. In the near future, people could be able to have a series of video dates which are analyzed by computer and paired with subjective feedback to determine highly compatible matches with much greater success.
MARKETWIRED – May 29 - JDate has launched an upgraded mobile website, adding the Secret Admirer function from its desktop site, along with a redesign of its user interface. The “Yes-No-Maybe” model of Secret Admirer is licensed to a number of other apps.
WEBWIRE – May 29 – Snap Interactive CEO, Clifford Lerner, will speak at the iDate Mobile Dating Conference in Beverly Hills on June 4-6. Lerner will be on the final panel where iDating's most influential people debate on the direction of the business. Registration for the event can be made at http://www.idate2014.com/register-la-2014.php.
OPW – May 29 – You should really take an interest in wearable computing. It's the next step on from mobile, and its far more confusing. The best way to start getting your head around it is to go to Glazed Conference next week in San Francisco. Its just before iDate, which is in Beverly Hills.
I'll be attending and moderating a session at Glazed. I'll be speaking with the Global VP Innovation Strategy for the legendary design company, Frog Design.
Here's a special discount for OPW readers. 40% off.
– Mark Brooks
NY1 – May 27 – Niches provide a new take on speed dating events. Each event carries a theme, like 'Skinny Minny' for women size 0-8, and 'Size Matters' for women who like tall men. Participants are vetted at the door. There are other events based around physical appearances, professions, and sexual preferences.
by Jeanine Ramirez
The full article was originally published at NY1, but is no longer available.
PR WEEK – May 27 - eHarmony has hired Metro communications manager, Jemima Wade, as a PR manager, reporting to UK managing director Romain Bertrand. The company is increasing efforts to increase its share of the £2bn-a-year UK online dating market.