Mar 24 — I was in four Fox News interviews in February. Alas, there were no online videos to link to.
1. Fox News Orlando – mobile dating overview
2. Fox News New York – mobile dating overview
3. Fox News Washington D.C. – online dating safety
4. Fox News Los Angeles – online dating safety
I have news reels on the way for Orlando and New York. – Mark Brooks
Category: Courtland Brooks Press
Perils of Online Dating Prompt Safety Efforts
REUTERS — Mar 21 — Josie Brown never had a chance against her 6-foot-6-inch killer. John Gaumer, confessed and led Baltimore County police to Brown's body on February 7, listed his height and other attributes in his quest for dates on MySpace.com. "There are millions of people we're dealing with here and somehow people think they are all preachers," said Paul Falzone, CEO of Together Dating, a brick-and-mortar company that performs background checks on all members. Falzone says background checks result in 10% of applicants being rejected. For most of the 40 million people using Internet sites for dating and socializing each month, a disastrous 15 minutes over coffee at Starbucks is the worst they will suffer. Only a small percentage of "intimate partner violence" — nearly 700,000 such incidents were reported to the U.S. Dept of Justice in 2001 — originate from Internet dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, which monitors the dating industry. "To think a felon could find a victim, especially for a heinous crime, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do all I can do to prevent that," said Herb Vest, TRUE.com CEO. So far, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan have considered (background checks) legislation. Yahoo! and Match.com, the industry leaders with 6 million and 15 million monthly visitors respectively, continually stress dating safety. "The Internet has its dark side and they are not doing everything they can to keep sexual predators and gold diggers off these sites. If you don't police yourselves, the government will come in and police you," said Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey. "There are other ways to get to who that person is, rather than have the government ram a business model down your throat," said Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate. Webdate uses real-time video as a safety measure, allowing prospective dates to chat and get a look at each other via Webcams. Companies like Safedate and Honestyonline are springing up to run background checks for individuals. According to Dr. John Gray, education is the solution. "The warning signs often come out right away. Beware of someone who can solve all your problems or who comes on really strong," said Gray.
Must Love Dogs, Buddha, Caves
DENVER POST — Feb 28 — "There are certainly more niche sites coming online, because I seem to hear about more wackier new ones every day," says Nate Elliott, an online personals analyst with Jupiter Research. Some offer bells and whistles such as the video chat and mobile dating technology available at Webdate. Others like adultfriendfinder.com brazenly tackle subjects such as casual sex encounters and fetishes. Everybody has his or her "thing," whether it's a passion for Catholicism, a love of dogs or spelunking. The niche dating concept hinges on the idea that if you find someone with that same thing, you'll be more likely to foster a stronger connection. Cowboydating.com, Geek2Geek, SingleParentsMingle.com, BlackPlanet.com. Datemypet.com receives 50,000 visitors a month. "Niche dating is a solid model right now because [each site] has branding that's appealing," says Mark Brooks, editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. "But what you give up is more choice available on the larger, general-use sites. You've just gone from a pool of millions with everything under the sun, every age, every demographic to a pool of thousands." Larger general-use sites are updating search engines to allow users to pinpoint must-haves in their profiles. Match, Yahoo Personals and eHarmony together account for more than 50 percent of all online dating traffic. FULL ARTICLE @ DENVER POST
Must Love Dogs, Buddha, Caves
DENVER POST — Feb 28 — "There are certainly more niche sites coming online, because I seem to hear about more wackier new ones every day," says Nate Elliott, an online personals analyst with Jupiter Research. Some offer bells and whistles such as the video chat and mobile dating technology available at Webdate. Others like adultfriendfinder.com brazenly tackle subjects such as casual sex encounters and fetishes. Everybody has his or her "thing," whether it's a passion for Catholicism, a love of dogs or spelunking. The niche dating concept hinges on the idea that if you find someone with that same thing, you'll be more likely to foster a stronger connection. Cowboydating.com, Geek2Geek, SingleParentsMingle.com, BlackPlanet.com. Datemypet.com receives 50,000 visitors a month. "Niche dating is a solid model right now because [each site] has branding that's appealing," says Mark Brooks, editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. "But what you give up is more choice available on the larger, general-use sites. You've just gone from a pool of millions with everything under the sun, every age, every demographic to a pool of thousands." Larger general-use sites are updating search engines to allow users to pinpoint must-haves in their profiles. Match, Yahoo Personals and eHarmony together account for more than 50 percent of all online dating traffic. FULL ARTICLE @ DENVER POST
Techies, not Trekkies, Present the Future of Dating
COURIER POST ONLINE — Feb 28 — When I showed up in Miami Beach for the internet dating convention I found hundreds of modern-day Cupids — the people who run dating Web sites, speed dating companies, self-help services and matchmaking businesses. "There is a huge societal problem. People aren't finding the right matches. Marriages are failing," said Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "In some sense, we have a chance to change that." Dating companies really do believe their duty is to help people find happiness in a partner (or partners). John Gray, author of the biggest selling relationship book in the history of the world, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," was at the conference to deliver shocking news: "Men and women still don't understand each other." But the conference wasn't all about boring dating. There also was a lot of sex talk. More sites, like AdultFriendFinder.com and IWantYou.com, now deal with the sex side of dating. "No one talks about these groups, but they're there," noted Brooks, who knows more about online dating than anyone in the world. "We're in the business of love, but by default we're in the sex business." So what will dating look like in 10 years? According to Brooks, we will be carrying Star Trek devices with speech recognition capabilities that will allow searches for nearby dates anytime, anywhere.
Techies, not Trekkies, Present the Future of Dating
COURIER POST ONLINE — Feb 28 — When I showed up in Miami Beach for the internet dating convention I found hundreds of modern-day Cupids — the people who run dating Web sites, speed dating companies, self-help services and matchmaking businesses. "There is a huge societal problem. People aren't finding the right matches. Marriages are failing," said Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "In some sense, we have a chance to change that." Dating companies really do believe their duty is to help people find happiness in a partner (or partners). John Gray, author of the biggest selling relationship book in the history of the world, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," was at the conference to deliver shocking news: "Men and women still don't understand each other." But the conference wasn't all about boring dating. There also was a lot of sex talk. More sites, like AdultFriendFinder.com and IWantYou.com, now deal with the sex side of dating. "No one talks about these groups, but they're there," noted Brooks, who knows more about online dating than anyone in the world. "We're in the business of love, but by default we're in the sex business." So what will dating look like in 10 years? According to Brooks, we will be carrying Star Trek devices with speech recognition capabilities that will allow searches for nearby dates anytime, anywhere.
The Five-Year Itch
NEWSWEEK — Feb 27 — Feb. 27, 2006 issue – Mark Brooks, editor of consumer watchdog Online Personals Watch, says the industry stands at a crossroads. "I keep hearing that the industry is slumping," Brooks says. "No, it isn't, but we have got to get our act together." Online dating in the U.S. has reached what Jupiter Research analyst Nate Elliott calls "a point of critical mass."Last year the number of users posting online personals fell "marginally," according to Jupiter, and revenue growth is expected to drop to just 6% this year, down from 77% in 2003. The total U.S. market is now worth $521 million. (In comparison, online gambling sites took in an estimated $10 billion in worldwide revenue last year. Porn sites took in $2 billion in the U.S.) The European market is still growing in high double-digit rates. One reason for the slowdown is that the curiosity factor has worn off. Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK says the sites are now focused more on getting current visitors to sign on as paying customers. This love slump is a bit of mystery. Indeed, it may be just a lull. Brooks predicts that the industry will see "a huge upswing" as sites add new services like Web-camera dates, help arranging dream dates and psychological profiling that attempts to find you a soulmate, not just a hunk with the right hobbies and salary profile. Others say the industry needs to move beyond just dating. Bill Tancer, Hitwise GM global research, says e-dating is following the normal trajectory of Internet businesses. "There is an environment of hypercompetition where markets are born, grow, plateau and decline, [but] it's not that the activity itself is going to go away." Instead, he predicts, dating sites will evolve into broader forums for social networking. There are signs this is already happening. Meetic is offering a mobile-phone network called Superlol, allowing users to form groups around common friends and interests.
Mark Brooks: Reporters are writing about the demise of the online dating industry, which is very unfortunate. I believe we are, indeed, at a turning point. To get to 'online personals 2.0' we need to add services and refine our sites to help put people in front of people more quickly, in greater numbers and with better matches. (i) Personality profiling holds high promise, but needs more research. Profiling companies should embrace academic resources and share data with them. Let's lose the 'magic box' approach. Users are becoming more sophisticated and want to know how personality profiling works. Let's tell them. And, if you're going to offer personality profiling, show matches what potential failure modes/conflicts their relationship might be susceptible to, and educate them on how they might communicate and deal with those conflicts. (ii) Add events. They're a pain to coordinate, but are a great way for people to meet and have some instant gratification. They can buy a ticket and meet a roomful of singles immediately. Then they can go and check the profiles of the people they have chemistry with to see if they are a match on preferences such as 'want kids?' (iii) Improve safety. Let's advise users more clearly. They should: 1. not share contact info, 2. meet in a public place, 3. let someone know where they are going and call in to them after one hour. Background checks are a long way from being foolproof, but are better than nothing, and worth considering. (iv) Remove dead and unresponsive profiles, or at least indicate they are unlikely to respond. Anyone who has not logged in or has not responded to a message for 4 weeks should not be listed as a live profile. Let's set expectations realistically. It's good for the industry in the long haul. (v) Consider adding/partnering with matchmaking services for the users who have money, but are time starved. People are paying $50 a month for profiling sites (i.e. eHarmony.com, TRUE.com, PerfectMatch.com) because they have money and want some handholding. Let's up the ante. (vi) Improve search. A friend of mine is Indian. He only wants to meet women who are interested in Indian guys. He'd like reverse search please. Niche sites are popping up for every imaginable preference. Generic sites need to broaden search criteria and functionality or have the niches further incur on their membership revenues. (vii) Add content. Do you know your audience? Really? Then engage them with targeted, mind blowing content that lights their fires, educates and keeps them hooked on your site. Match partnered with Dr Phil. Community Connect, Gay.com and Nerve.com know content. Guide, engage and captivate your users. (viii) Find targeted advertising partners. Find offers with top level brands to improve your brand. Yahoo + Starbucks. There's some great branding affinity there. Brand = Trust. Advertising on online dating sites doesn't tend to bring in much money, but it CAN improve your brand trust and capital if you find the right partners and negotiate suitable offers. Extend your brand into the real world.
Online dating is not taking a downturn. $516 million U.S. online dating industry revenue for 2005 barely scratches the surface of the market potential. Industry revenues are growing. We have a nation of lovelorn singles poised and pleading for guidance and assistance. The integrity of our sites can be improved, insofar as how we deliver on our core promise of putting people in front of people. Observe the real world, bottle the best of what you see, improve on it. The online personals world has improved on the real world in the past by offering better search (i.e. asking the important questions up front), offering multiple modes of convenient communication (i.e. email, IM, chat), and through profiling for compatible matches (i.e. asking more than just a few questions…). Your comments please…
Google Sparks Privacy Fight
The full article was originally published at San Jose Mercury News, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks – The government is treading a fine line, but I don't have a problem with them seeing aggregate search results and URL's, as long as they can't snoop on individuals. I was interviewed on the subject by the Associated Press for this National TV news piece (first person to comment).
Date and Switch?
The full article was originally published at 7 News Boston, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Sites will typically bubble up expiring profiles in searches. Nothing new there. However, product managers, employees, please make sure to delete test profiles. The profile used in this video looks to me like a test profile. Not date bait, but a profile that an employee might put up to test the site. I can see 3rd tier, one-man-band sites succumbing to the temptation of using date bait to raise their conversion rates out of the ashes. Match, Yahoo, nah! I have great respect for these companies and their integrity. As an industry, I think we need to freeze profiles from search results that are completely unresponsive after 20 contacts/2 weeks.
Is it Love or a Lie?
MIAMI HERALD — Dec 18 — Beth, a leggy brunette and successful lawyer who lives in Dallas, says she enjoys clubbing and rollerblading. But some of these women don't even exist according to a Coral Springs businessman who alleges that Yahoo Personals posts fictitious profiles, date bait. Lawmakers in Texas, Virginia, Michigan, California and Florida are weighing legislation that could make it a crime to misrepresent oneself on a dating site, or fail to inform consumers that they offer background screening for their customers. Analysts say matchmaking sites believe that they can patrol themselves. Most of them use 'report this profile' options to report problem subscribers to a team of 'abuse' monitors who look for risqué photographs, insincere profiles, and users looking for a place to advertise their own business. Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, concedes that there is endless potential for abusing the rules. But, he said, that doesn't mean the site owners should be subject to government monitoring. He calls the suits against Match and Yahoo 'ridiculous.' 'If you were sitting in a product development meeting [at Match or Yahoo] and said, 'Hey, let's just have someone do that,' (send bogus emails), that person would be fired,' Brooks said.