SOCALTECH – Nov 12 – Los Angeles-based matchmaking service Three Day Rule has expanded its services to the city of Boston, as part of a national expansion for the company, and now offers its services in Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago.
The full article was originally published at socalTECH, but is no longer available.
MARKET WATCH – Oct 30 – The operator of the largest online dating platform in China, announced that its Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Mr. Gaofei Wang as an independent director, effective October 30, 2014. Mr. Wang will replace Mr. Jianzhang Liang on the Audit Committee of the Board. Mr. Wang has served as Weibo's CEO since February 2014 and as Senior Vice President at SINA since May 2013.
CIO – Nov 11 – The the dating service has spent 5 years building a business intelligence platform. The 25TB data warehouse component employs IBM's Netezza TwinFin appliance and PureData System. A MicroStrategy-based analytics layer sits atop the data warehouse. IBM's SPSS predictive analytics package, the R machine-learning software environment and Informatica data integration software also augment the data warehouse. The tools feed dashboards, keeping eHarmony apprised of site usage and revenue trends. Data analytics identify features and functions users find most attractive on the desktop, to be introduced to the mobile app.
3DPRINT – Nov 12 – Through this Friday, life-size mannequins of Keron Knight and Michael Catuogno are on display on Bethnal Green Road, in London’s Brick Lane, in the window of “Guy Candy.” Interested women who pass by are invited to check out the men’s dating profiles on Match.com. More than 40 DLSR cameras scanned each man’s head in a booth setup to provide the 3D images. The final products were designed via iMakr software.
by Sarah Anderson
See full article at 3DPRINT
BBC NEWS MAGAZINE – Nov 11 – The book "London: The Information Capital" is a series of data portraits based on figures from the 2011 Census that reveal that singles in London make the move toward marriage by their 30s and tend to migrate from inner to outer London. The young and single prefer to live close to town in trendy areas like Hoxton and Clapham. Once people have started living with a partner, many prefer to move a little further away from the centre of the city, and finally settling in outer London as they marry.
SEEKING ALPHA – Nov 11 – Wall Street may be misunderstanding the company by not fully valuing Tinder's phenomenal growth prospects into its models. Moreover, the valuation of the company's shares are reasonable, trading for ~14 times earnings, 1.84 times sales, and also yielding a 2.1% dividend. IAC has a portfolio of more than 150 brands, which offers longs a major margin of safety. Unlike other companies, which hinge primarily on a single app, this company is spread over many internet sites across many sectors.
DNA INFO – Nov 12 – Dapper, a new matchmaking app, requires men to sign a "gentleman pledge," where they commit to use the app only for "real romantic connection". Men are charged $19 for each date. A woman is charged $9. Both men and women are sent a list of matches who are available at the same time they are. Mutually attracted pairs are sent information on where and when to meet for a date, and receive a free drink. Following each date, the woman is asked if her match "displayed any bad behavior." If the man is red-flagged three times, he is kicked off the platform. The app does not have a chat function.
JD SUPRA – Nov 11 – The initial complaint was filed in late 2013 against IAC by Internet model Yuliana Avalos, on behalf of herself and “all individuals” whose photos had been used without permission in fake dating profiles. In early 2014, the complaint was amended to substitute as plaintiffs the adult film actress Melissa Harrington. The complaint alleged trademark infringement, copyright infringement and various other counts. On October 30, 2014, the complaint was been dismissed.
FORTUNE – Nov 3 – Tang Yan started a Chinese social network called Momo that now has 60M monthly active users. He spent eight years at the news site of 163.com, one of China’s top Internet portals, eventually running it, before getting the idea for Momo when location apps like Foursquare were gaining popularity. Momo has become one of the most popular apps in China, and is planning an IPO that values the company at $3B. Momo brings in cash from some paid add-on features, and is exploring new business models, such as running ads from close-by restaurants and small businesses.
OPW – Nov 11 – Online Personals Watch is operated by Courtland Brooks. We're a freemium consultancy. We do quite a lot for the industry for free, like run OPW faithfully every day for the last 10 years, and a number of other 'intell-gathering' sites. We talk to the press and educate them on the industry and help executives consider ideas, and give feedback and connections within the industry. Our over-arching goal is to help grow the industry as a whole.
Beyond that, Courtland Brooks does strategy, business development and media relations. For the price of a marketing manager we provide access to a team of seasoned Internet dating professionals that I've recruited from the Internet Dating Conference over the years. Here's my video overview of Courtland Brooks. And here's our shiny new Courtland Brooks website.
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