THE GLOBE AND MAIL — Apr 5 – Lavalife has introduced Lavalife World Chat available through Skype. The service will allow singles to connect with other singles by creating profiles from personal voice recordings, listen to other profiles, exchange voice messages and join the Lavalife World Chat room. After downloading Skype, users can dial +9907LAVALIFE to find and talk to other singles around the globe.
The full article was originally published at Globe and Mail, but is no longer available.
IVEY INTOUCH MAGAZINE — Apr 3 — “Tele-personals,” known today as Lavalife, is one of the world’s oldest online dating services. The founding partners started out dabbling in the business of celebrity voice tapes for answering machines. They developed “Tele-classifieds" and soon found that personal advertisements had the most potential. Today, Lavalife offers its voice, Web and mobile services in more than 60 markets across the U.S., Canada and Australia. Sam Moorcroft discovered online dating services when he found himself single and unemployed in Toronto in the late 90s. He created ChristianCafe.com. The key to the success of ChristianCafe.com was filling a niche in the market. ChristianCafe.com has grown into a multi-million dollar operation, and is now celebrating its tenth anniversary online.
The full article was originally published at Ivey InTouch Magazine, but is no longer available.
OPW — Apr 1 — Marina Glogovac has worked with Lavalife since 2004, first as the Chief Revenue Officer and and then as CEO since 2006. She has stepped down as CEO of Lavalife. Ron Duke, whos was the CFO, is taking over as the CEO.
SMH — Feb 14 – Figures obtained from internet dating services show that in some age groups there are far more men than women searching for a partner online. RSVP reports that women are outnumbered by men 1.5 to 1 in their late 20s to mid 30s. On Lavalife, women remain in high demand even after they turn 50, when almost three times more men in that age group are logging on. FULL ARTICLE @ SMH
FOX NEWS — Feb 3 — There a plenty of fish in the sea, and nearly as many online dating sites. M&J investigate which services will help you find that perfect catch. M&J spoke to Dr. Gian Gonzaga from eHarmony, CEO of Lavalife Marina Glogovac and Mark Brooks from PlentyofFish.com.
Juliet: Dr Gian what are the components to making a successfully compatible relationship?
Dr. Gian Gonzaga: One thing relationship science has shown for the last 40 years is that people who are similar to each other on some important core personality traits, attitudes, values and interests are going to get along better.
Juliet: We’re going to move from E-Harmony to Lavalife.
Mike: Marina, I’ve heard this site called sort of the Sex and the City website.
Marina Glogovac: Yeah, we have 3 distinct communities- a dating community, a relationship community and an intimate community and that’s for people who are more open minded about exploring intimacy. The point is if you’re single you can quickly be surrounded by likeminded people who share your relationship goals.
Juliet: Next we’re going to look at PlentyofFish.com. What set’s PlentyofFish apart from all the other sites?
Mark Brooks: Well we heard a lot of talk about Plenty of Fish being free, free, free, but the real difference these days is it’s big, big, big. We have 900,000 people logging in every day. And we know now that 800,000 people a year are meeting and are in successful relationships because of PlentyofFish.com.
Juliet: Is there a science behind why you hook up so many people together?
Mark Brooks: The fellow who started the site is actually a math wizard and he’s observed the real world and he’s bottled the best of matchmaking. We have a chemistry test but there is a lot going on behind the scenes to match compatible people.
Stephanie: I’m a huge fan of PlentyofFish. Because it’s free and with the economy being down like it is, why not try a free site for 3, 4, and 5 months and then if it doesn’t work you can always pay later. And then take your saved money and go on a date.
Watch the show @ Mandjshow.com
PART 1
PART 2
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GLOBE & MAIL — Jan 29 — Lavalife, PlentyofFish, Match and PerfectMatch have seen their memberships soar after the stock-market plunge. Lavalife registrations are up 11% from last month, PlentyofFish enjoyed 77% growth in visits from Dec '07 through Dec '08. "Unlike the real world, dating sites offer the lovelorn a "completely refined, focused community", says Mark Brooks. Dating sites take care of the formalities. "If somebody wants to wander around and meet somebody, that's not a good idea on two counts: No. 1, it'll take them a long while and No. 2, they've got to get all the difficult questions out of the way." A survey by Florida-based Avalanche LLC – which operates international sites date.com, matchmaker.com and amor.com – found that 48 per cent of respondents were spending more time online or on the phone with a potential date before spending cash on a face-to-face meeting. Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, agrees that bad economic times force people to "reprioritize their goals in life." Paul A. Falzone, CEO of LoveAccess.com agrees. "People, when they're confronted with any type of dilemma in their lives, tend to want to migrate back to what's comfortable to them. They go back to eating their comfort foods, they crank up the heat by the fire instead of going out all night, and they want someone to be able to share things with." FULL ARTICLE @ GLOBE & MAIL
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CRAIN'S NEW YORK BUSINESS — Jan 18 — For the last four months of 2008, LinkedIn, which has 1.4 million members in New York state, reported an 11% increase in the number of connections made between users, a 10% boost in invites sent among members and a 9% uptick in page views. Facebook reached 150m+ active users earlier this month. Interactive One, which operates BlackPlanet.com, AsianAvenue.com and MiGente.com, has seen a 12% jump in uniques. Sign-ups from New York state residents on Lavalife.com were down 13% until the stock market meltdown, according to Marina Glogovac, CEO of Lavalife. New York membership increased 7% each month from the beginning of the 3rd quarter through the end of 2008. Although OKCupid met its goal of reaching $2m in revenue last year, Mr. Yagan admits that his site is vulnerable to a declining ad market. FULL ARTICLE @ CRAIN NEW YORK BUSINESS
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CNW — Jan 7 — Lavalife has launched the third annual search to find Canada's 10 most eligible singles with the smarts, looks and winning personalities to carry the title of Top Single. Lavalife's 2009 Top Singles Competition is presented by Colgate MaxFresh and is in partnership with LouLou and Glow magazines.
The full article was originally published at CNW Group, but is no longer available.
TORONTO DATING SOCIAL — Nov 30 — The first Toronto Internet Dating Industry Party for the owners and executives of the Internet Personals and Social Networking companies was held on November 25, 2008. This networking event was attended by 27 representatives of 15 dating technology companies. Companies that attended the Toronto Dating Social Party:
Date.com, OmniDate Inc., Dating Ad Network, Lavalife Corp., Epic Advertising, Canoe / Reseau Contact, ChristianCafe.com, Cupid.com, Talkster, Impact Mobile, Randodate.com, WorldFriends Networks, Personality Pro, Dating Essentials
The full article was originally published at Toronto Dating Social, but is no longer available.
GLOBE AND MAIL — Sep 15 — In a new era of divorce, approximately 25% of Canadians born between 1946 and 1964 are single. According to a poll by the American Association of Retired Persons, only 15% of single boomer women and 22% of boomer men are looking for someone to marry or live with. But they are looking for friendship. Since last year's launch of LavalifePrime, an online dating service for people 40 and over, 65,000 people have registered. "They're looking for people they can do activities with," says Agneta Owen, who helped launch the site. "I'm sure a lot are finding romance as well, but it's a lot less about getting married."
The full article was originally published at Globe and Mail, but is no longer available.