Category: Match.com

Match.com Sex Offender Screening Only Partial Solution

Posted on May 31, 2011

Match logo new IOVATION BLOG – May 29 – After being sued by a woman who was abused by a man she met on Match.com, the online dating site created a system to check registered users against sex offender registries. While this system will filter out some sex offenders, it won't catch them all. It is still up to online daters to be cautious and protect themselves. Registered users are recognized by their credit card, though additional measures likes device recognition could also be used to block known offenders.

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

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IAC Offers to Buy Out Remainder of Meetic for 15 Euros/Share

Posted on May 30, 2011

Meetic matchcom loga REUTERS – May 30 – InterActiveCorp's Match.com unit offered to buy all of the outstanding shares of Meetic for 15 euros a share. Match.com already owns 27% of the French online dating service. Meetic is valued at 347 million euros, or $497 million. The offer is 7.3 times EV/EBITDA, with a PE ration of 13.9. Match has no plans to delist Meetic.

by Christian Plumb
See full article at Reuters

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Match.com Sex Lawsuit Sent Back to State Court

Posted on May 24, 2011

Court building MY FOX LA – May 23 – In what is being billed as a victory for Carole Markin who says she was raped by a man she met on Match.com, a federal judge today sent her lawsuit against the Internet dating site back to state court. Match.com attorney Robert H. Platt said after the hearing that Markin has little chance of winning the case regardless of the venue. Officials at Match.com have said the company would begin cross-referencing members against the National Sex Offender Registry.

See full article at My Fox LA

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Zoosk Takes on Match.com and eHarmony in the UK

Posted on May 24, 2011

Zoosk logo new MARKETING WEEK – May 24 - Social dating community Zoosk aims to boost its profile in the UK by investing in marketing throughout the year in a bid to compete with Match.com and eHarmony. Zoosk will roll out multi-platform campaigns even outside dating sites’ traditional “on-peak” periods that tend to fall around the new year and Valentine’s Day.

by Lara O'Reilly
See full article at Marketing Week

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The Big Business Of Online Dating

Posted on May 10, 2011

AD AGE – Feb 14 – Online Dating is clearly big business: In the U.S. alone, internet dating is a $1.3 billion market, and PlentyofFish alone had 122M visits in January, according to Experian. The number of people scrambling for romance via online dating starts growing in November and peaks at Valentine's Day. "People realize sitting around the Thanksgiving table with their family and think, 'Hey, I don't have my other half' or 'My sister's married and I'm not,' so it's a cyclical event," said Mark Brooks, dating industry consultant at OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. The sector has also seen some matchmaking of its own: Just a few weeks ago, Match.com purchased OKCupid. Mr. Brooks said that Match.com has been acting like the Google of the dating world and gobbling up smaller dating sites at a quick pace.

Love Bytes tab by Irina Slutsky
See full article at Ad Age

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Power User Feedback: Hey Match, You Missed This Profile

Posted on May 10, 2011

Matchcom Fake profile part 2 OPW – May 10 – Could this be a scammer, or just a cheap six figure earner who doesn't want to pay a membership fee. Either way, it should have been caught by Match's profile approval team. One of our power user panel members tells us…

"As you can see our lovely very handsome "widower" that makes $150k+ as a "construction worker" clearly puts in his profile that he "can't reply to any messages, due to connection problems"….but tells the women to put some contact info in code so he can "keep in touch"…….etc.  It's a shame a guy that makes 150K can't afford to sign up like the rest of us. The real question is how does a profile like this get approved to be up to begin with?"

See also: 1  2

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Harvard Runs eHarmony Vs Match Survey On Misrepresentation

Posted on May 3, 2011

Eharmony match loga OPW – May 3 – A little birdie tells us that Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society is running a survey on iDating on Survey Monkey here. 

1. What online dating sites do you currently subscribe to?
2. Why did you subscribe to this/these site(s)?
3. Do you think eHarmony subscribers have a greater likelihood to be more honest in their profiles because of the extensive survey questions they’re required to answer versus users on a site like Match.com where subscribers can say whatever they want in their profiles?
4. Do you think the format of user profiles — and the extent to which users can choose which information they want to fill out in these profiles — affects how honest or deceptive people are on the dating site you use currently?
5. Based on the current dating site you subscribe to, do you think the structure (the way the site is designed) influences fellow subscribers to be more honest or more deceptive in their profiles?
6. How accurately does the content in your profile represent you?
Answers (scale: 1 to 5: 1 being inaccurate, 5 being 100% accurate)
7. Are you satisfied with the dating site you currently subscribe to?
8. On the site you currently subscribe to, do you believe others misrepresent themselves to any degree?
9. Do you think the site you currently subscribe to uses false (i.e. paid actors to talk about their dating services) advertisements in their marketing campaigns?
10. How would you identify your gender?
11. How would you identify your current relationship status?
12. How would you identify your sexual orientation?
13. Are there any dating sites you refuse to subscribe to?
14. Do you have any comments or feedback regarding this survey, the site you belong to or anything else regarding online dating?

Update – this was for a Harvard Extension School course.

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Match.com Does Verification Checks In Japan

Posted on May 2, 2011

OPW – Apr 29 - Match has been doing verification checks in Japan for a while, it seems.   Fernando posted on this in December 2010. Members can upload 'certificates' which show their employment background checks, among other things. 

SearchMenwithcertificate1
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Match.com Is Crunching The Data Of Love

Posted on April 29, 2011

Match.com logo dalsi BUSINESSWEEK – Apr 29 – Match.com's secret: Watch what users do, not just what they say. Amarnath Thombre is Match.com's VP of strategy and the keeper of the site's matching algorithm. He works with 12 mathematicians and analysts, including a chief statistician. Netflix, Amazon, and lots of other Internet companies use mathematics to recommend products based on user behavior. The big difference with Match.com: its subscribers are in a rush to find a paramour. "I could make pretty accurate predictions about a woman who has been on the site for five years," Thombre says. "It's a lot harder when she's on the site for five days." When people first sign up on Match.com they fill out a questionnaire. That's where Thombre's biggest challenge arises: Bad data. Users exaggerate their IQs and lowball their waistlines. Match.com has found that 49% of men who insist on a woman who wants children actually chase prospective mates who don't particularly care. "They will say, 'I'm only interested in guys between the ages of 18 and 30,'" Thombre sighs. "The next thing you know they are e-mailing a 38-year-old." Thombre's algorithmic remedy: pay more attention to the choices users make on their site than what they say they want.

by Devin Leonard
See full article at Businessweek

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