Category: All UK & Europe

European Online Dating: An ‘Ideal’ Web Business

Posted on April 24, 2006

Meetic_2INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE / NY TIMES — Apr 24 — Mark Simoncini, Meetic CEO, built a company in four years with 17 million profiles in 13 countries speaking nine languages.  The idea behind Meetic emerged in 2000, after Simoncini sold iFrance, iEspana and iDeutschland to Vivendi for 182 million Euros ($224 million).  Meetic raised 100 million Euros from its October IPO.  Annual results released in March showed a doubling of revenue to 43 million Euros in 2005 (net profit 5.7m Euros).  Both Meetic and Match claim to have the largest online dating community; each has roughly 275,000 users on the Continent.  Simoncini argues that the American approach to relationships gets lost in translation overseas.  Match.com has local sites for 31 countries in 18 languages.  Europe's acceptance of such dating services has been accelerated by the proliferation of social networking, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch.  "The Europe online dating scene is still in the growth phase, which is why I am basing myself out of Prague right now," said Brooks.  "American sites have had some trouble moving into other cultures,  which has opened opportunities for Meetic as well as single-country players in Europe."  Meetic last year started Ulteem.  A high-end service costing 99 Euros for a three- month subscription.  Meetic recently bought Lexa (100,000 users), a dating service in the Netherlands and Yeeyoo (4 million users), a youth-oriented Chinese site.  Competition among youth-oriented sites like Superlol is fierce.  FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Mark Brooks: Meetic started Ulteem to compete with Parship.de, in similar fashion to Match starting Chemistry.com to compete with eHarmony.

Online Dating in Switzerland is Blossoming

Posted on April 18, 2006

SwissflirtchSWISS INFO — Apr 14 — The most popular Swiss dating agencies – swissflirt, friendscout24, meetic and match.com – each have up to 260,000 registered users.  Switzerland’s population is ~7.4 million – with ~five million over 18.  The top 20 worldwide dating sites receive ~90 million hits a month.  Swissflirt, which claims to be Switzerland’s largest dating site, has ~90,000 female users and twice as many male users.  FULL ARTICLE @ SWISS INFO

Mark Brooks: Europe is hot!  I’m in Prague right now.  Expect more Euro content and luminary interviews.  😉

Estonian Social Network Rate.ee; Sold 51%

Posted on April 10, 2006

Rateee_1TELEKOM — Apr — EMT, a subsidiary of Eesti Telekom, purchased 51% of Serenda Investment OÃœ which owns Rate.ee.  49% of rate.ee belongs to Andrei Korobeinik, the founder.  Rate.ee is the biggest social network in Estonia and connects 360,000 users. The aim of the acquisition is to provide and expand telecommunication and multimedia services. The complete transaction is valued ~40 million kroons / 2.5 million Euros. 

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

Mark Brooks: Do you know of other non-english social networks?  If so, please comment…

Online Dating Grows 30% Within Three Months

Posted on April 5, 2006

Datingdirect_5NET IMPERATIVE — Apr 4 — Online dating has grown by more than 30% since December 2005 with ~ten million users seeking partners online during February 2006 – ComScore, The UK online dating market grew 30% to 9,495,000 uniques in February compared with December. DatingDirect.com was the most visited sites with one million uniques accounting for 11% of the UK industry total. Yahoo! Personals was second, followed by Loopylove.com and Match.com.

Mark Brooks: Hitwise graciosuly provide OPW the monthly UK rankings.  See left bar.  You can get to OPW more easily using opw1.com btw. 

European Women to Pass Men on Internet Use

Posted on March 31, 2006

CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH — Mar 31 — The EIAA Digital Women Report reveals that within the next year women will be online more than men. Women's use of different media is evolving as they are interacting with the internet through blogging, ecommerce and instant messaging. 

The full article was originally published at Center For Media Research, but is no longer available.

Love in a Cold Climate

Posted on March 21, 2006

Isle_of_wight_walking_festivalHEALTH TELEGRAPH — Mar 20 — Tired of indoor speed-dating, singles are seeking out mates on country walks.  Welcome to the speed-dating walk.  The idea started when the Isle of Wight Tourism was looking for something new to publicise this year's annual walking festival in May and noticed that loads of singles always turned up for walks.  FULL ARTICLE @ HEALTH TELEGRAPH

Mark Brooks: Hikes, wine tastings, speed dating and table for six dinners are my favorite singles events.  I started http://www.ace-club.com in 1998 in Silicon Valley and the club still runs 20+ events a month.

Sexy Hoax Turns Into Dating Fad

Posted on March 13, 2006

REUTERS — Mar 11 — A British internet journalist set up a website two years ago filled with fictional accounts from friends who claimed to have used Bluetooth technology to make contact for a chat, romance or even sex — a practice the site dubbed "toothing."  News organizations across the world, including Reuters, The Guardian, the BBC and Wired News, fell for the story and reported that "toothing" had taken off among commuters.  A year later the journalist behind the site published an online confession claiming it was an elaborate hoax to prove he could create a new sexual buzzword.  "I tried some tests on the underground and pubs and found lots of cell phones were turned on and used for 'toothing,' which was strange because I thought it was a joke too," said a Milan DJ.  To play, you need you need to activate the Bluetooth facility available on your mobile phone, which will then show a list of people within a few yards who are also active. Then write a message and press send.  Young men in Dubai have been using the technology to contact women in public places, according to the BBC's website. 

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

Invite the Gang for a Night of Online Dating

Posted on March 10, 2006

Teamdating_3USA TODAY — Mar — TeamDating and eTwine (in the USA) and Compa (in the UK) users can sign up in groups of two or more and correspond with other duos, trios or quartets. Group online dating is safer than traditional Internet dating.  "You do everything else with your friends," says Ray Doustdar, president of Los Angeles-based TeamDating. "Why not online date with your friends?"  Since launching last August, Teamdating.com (free for now) has grown to just over 5,000 members on about 2,000 teams mostly in New York and Los Angeles. About 65% of members are ages 25-35, and almost 70% are women. eTwine has 5,000-members and just began group dating. So far, 30-40 groups have registered.  FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Mark Brooks: I created ace-club.com in 1998 to help small groups of people, professionals typically 30-45, 50% female, get out and play.  It's a singles club that won't admit to being a singles club and enjoys a healthy little membership in the Silicon Valley.

Wi-fi set to Re-Wire Social Rules

Posted on March 10, 2006

Wifi_to_rewire_social_rulesBBC NEWS — Mar — In some British cities, plans are advancing to set up so many hotspots that entire neighbourhoods become wi-fi enabled. One of the biggest will be in London's Square Mile; it will give more than 350,000 workers always-on access to the net. Dr Jo Twist, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said once the net is ubiquitous like power and water, it has the potential to be "transformative". The divide that separates people from their online lives will utterly disappear. Restaurant reviews could be tagged to buildings. "If we have a ubiquitous, cheap or free wireless network that our portable and mobile devices can access, therefore skipping the need for a pricey PC, then that could be incredibly empowering for lots of people. It could be really empowering and it could help encourage innovative uses of that network which enliven our public spaces as well as our networks with each other," said Dr Twist.  FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS

Mark Brooks: As I said at the mobile dating convention…we're going to go 'Star Trek' eventually.  Ubiquitous connections with talking PDA pads complete with voice recognition.  I'd give it ten years.  What will online dating look like in 7-10 years?  Your comments please.  I'll start the ball rolling on this one…

Bebo the Top Social Networking Site in the U.K.

Posted on February 23, 2006

BebocomPR WEB — Feb 22 — A record 1.5 million U.K. students visit Bebo in December, surpassing MySpace for the first time, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.  "In just seven months, Bebo has grown to become the most popular social networking site for students in the U.K., and we are rapidly gaining ground in Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand," said Michael Birch, Bebo CEO.  There are 22 million registered Beboers worldwide.  RELEASE @ PR WEB