NY TIMES — Apr 27 — A growing number of people have found love on dating sites that pair members based on a specific shared interest or background, like Nerdsatheart.com, DateMyPet.com, STDmatch.net and Veggielove.com. "Singles are increasingly eager to narrow the audience and really target their needs," said Mark Brooks, a consultant who keeps his own blog, OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "It's the same reason why Procter&Gamble makes so many detergents. We are all drawn to things that cater to our very specific desires." According to Hitwise there are now 1,378 U.S. dating sites, up from 876 three years ago. Mr. Brooks estimates that 44% of those sites in the U.S. are niche sites, up from 35% in 2006. Large companies like Match.com, eHarmony, Yahoo Personals and SinglesNet.com have the general market cornered, Mr. Brooks said, "the only real entrepreneurial opportunities left in the online dating world lie in the niche market." FarmersOnly.com has attracted 90,000 members so far, 50,000 in the last year alone. One month's membership costs $15.95. Mr. Brooks said the most successful niche sites pair people by race, sexual orientation or religion. The 20 most popular dating sites this year as ranked by Hitwise include JDate, Christian Mingle and ChristianCafe.com, Manhunt, Love From India, Amigos, Asian People Meet, and Shaadi. "A few years ago, a company called Spark Networks was putting major funding into its general dating site, American Singles," Mr. Brooks said. "But when executives saw that the Jewish market was huge and relatively untouched, they switched gears and ratcheted up JDate." FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES. Also in THE LEDGER
Category: JDate
Niche Dating Sites Grow Steadily As Mainstream Ones Flail
TECH CRUNCH — Apr 24 — In the internet dating space, bigger is not always best. According to the latest U.S. numbers from Hitwise, the top niche dating sites are steadily gaining market share while their big mainstream counterparts stagnate. In March 2008, the top 5 overall sites held 7% less market share than they did in 2007 (Plentyoffish and Singlesnet were the only sites to buck this trend individually). Meanwhile, the top sites (Adam4Adam, Manhunt, Gay.com, BlackPeopleMeet, BlackSingles, BlackChristianPeopleMeet, ChristianMingle, JDate, and ChristianCafe.com) from the top five major niche dating categories made considerable gains. The biggest niche in terms of total traffic is casual dating, which consists of sites like Fling, AdultFriendFinder, and SexSearch. While the top 10 mainstream dating sites gained only 0.01% of total Internet traffic over the past year, the top three casual adult sites gained 0.07%. That's a hefty 56% increase in the traffic. (Authored by Mark Brooks)
FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
JDate Named Official Honoree In 12th Annual Webby Awards
PRESS RELEASE — Apr 24 — JDate, the dating site for Jewish singles, has been selected as an Official Honoree for the Social Networking category in the 12th Annual Webby Awards. Called the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, the Webby is the leading international award honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.
The full article was originally published at CNN Money, but is no longer available.
Keep Your Dictionaries Open
JEWISH EXPONENT — Apr 3 — Just a few weeks ago, the American Dialect Society named "subprime" the word of the year for 2007. Each year, scholars, linguists and lexicographers decide which new words should be formally entered into our dictionaries. Every now and then, euphemisms and slang from the world of singles yield some new words, too.
– Re-vite – This is when someone attempts to invite someone out on another date, usually after already being rejected.
– JDate-Live – JDate singles event.
– De-Harmonized – The process of being rejected by an online dating service.
– Shotgun Message – The practice of sending the same e-mail to every member of the opposite sex.
– E-jected – The process of breaking up with a partner or otherwise rejecting someone via e-mail, IM or SMS.
The full article was originally published at Jewish Exponent, but is no longer available.
JDate: In-Faith Dating
PHILADELPHIA JEWISH VOICE — Feb 26 — The Council of Jewish Federations's 1990 National Jewish Population Survey reports that an astonishing 47% of American Jews who married between 1996 and 2001 have done so outside their faith (in 1970, only 13% of American Jews intermarried). With over 600,000 active members, JDate is by far the world's leading Jewish online dating site. JDate is unique in that it also measures the users' religious compatibility by allowing preferences in adherence to the laws of kashrut, frequency of attendance of synagogue, and the form of Judaism practiced, if any. FULL ARTICLE @ PHILADELPHIA JEWISH VOICE
The Cut-and-Paste Personality
WALL STREET JOURNAL — Feb 15 — Among the 125 million people in the U.S. who visit online dating and social-networking sites are a growing number of dullards who steal personal profiles, life philosophies, even signature poems. Hugh Gallagher, a 36-year-old writer in New York, is one of the copied. Match.com has more than 50 profiles with parts of Mr. Gallagher's college entrance essay. In a recent Engage.com's survey of more than 400 online daters, 9% of respondents copied from another person's profile. A search on Match.com brought up more than 90 profiles with such lines as: "I want an opposite. A yin to my yang," or "You know that woman who is the first person on the dance floor at every party? That's me." They were cribbed from sample profiles posted at E-Cyrano.com by dating coach and profile writer Evan Marc Katz. JDate.com's recently released online dating tips include the advice: Look at what everyone else is saying and then SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT".
The full article was originally published at WSJ, but is no longer available.
Traditional Matchmaking Takes A Twist With JDate
SUMMIT DAILY — Feb 8 — Travel excursions, like JDate's five-day trip to the slopes of Breckenridge for Valentine's Day, bring singles together in a laid-back setting at a fun destination. JDate launched in 1997 to immediate success. From there they grew to offer other niche online dating services, specifically targeting religious, ethnic, geographic or special interest groups, including Christian Mingle or BlackSingles. But it's only on JDate, that members are integrating their online activity with offline trips. It began with smaller events like cocktail parties and cooking classes, but soon moved to events like skydiving, bungee jumping, along with trips to Israel, Cancun and Breckenridge. FULL ARTICLE @ SUMMIT DAILY
Mark Brooks: Events are a double edged sword. Done well, they are a great way to get people talking and a nice differentiator. But mediocre events can be very detrimental. As a dating site owner, your best bet is to partner out for events, to professionals events hosts. Take a cut. Don't try and build your own events company. It will just sidetrack you from your core business. FastLife is a quality speed dating company that is looking for dating site partners, btw.
Rabbis Play Online Cupid To Help Jews Marry Jews
REUTERS — Jan 21 — Marrying outside the faith is an issue for many in the U.S. Jewish community. U.S. rabbis are turning to an on-line dating service to help Jews marry Jews. As a result a few rabbis have started offering subscriptions to their congregants on JDate, an online network dedicated to hooking up Jewish singles. I've had 14 people take up the offer since October, said Rabbi Donald Weber of Marlboro, New Jersey. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
JDate / Spark Networks For Sale
NY TIMES — Jan 4 – The owner of JDate.com, Spark Networks, is in early talks with buyers that include Yahoo, eHarmony, IAC/InterActiveCorp (Match.com), and News Corp. (MySpace). Analysts suggested that a suitor might pay as much as $185 million for the company. According to comScore Media Metrix, Spark had 2.45 million unique visitors in November 2007, ranking it No. 4 among personal sites behind Yahoo Personals, Match.com sites and Singlesnet.com. Spark reported $6.56 million in net income with revenue of $68.85 million for 2006. "JDate is the best example of a successful niche dating site on the planet," said Mark Brooks, who follows the industry and is author of the blog OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "It's a very attractive target," Mr. Brooks said, adding that for social (dating) sites to work well, "the big sites need to get bigger. The more people on a site, the more the site has to offer." FULL ARTICLE @ NEW YORK TIMES
Search for a (Jewish) Mate Gets Complicated
JEWISH EXPONENT — June 08 — According to Jewish Distinctiveness in America: A Statistical Portrait, '72-'80, 75.4% of Jews were married, as opposed to 64.6% from 1991-2002. According to the "National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01" 48% of 25-34 year-old Jewish men are married. (59% for all men). 64% of 25-34 year old Jewish women are currently married. (70% for all women). JDate claim 70,000 active users.
The full article was originally published at Jewish Exponent, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: JLOVE was started by Joav Cohen (founder of date.ca) recently, btw.