HUFFINGTON POST – Dec 14 - Google Zeitgeist — the search engine's annual online presentation of the year's top "trending" and "most searched" terms — includes a list of the top 10 most searched dating sites.
by Christina Huffington
See full article at Huffington Post
WSJ
– Dec 7 – The Wall Street Journal has done an exclusive analysis of the
personal information that popular websites are sharing about their
users and found that more than a quarter of the time, the sites passed
along a user’s real name, email address or other personal details, such
as username, to third-party companies. OKCupid passed along a person’s self-reported sexual orientation and drug-use habits to advertising companies. See the data in the interactive graphic.
This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Nov 27 – OkCupid co-founder Sam Yagan said the company uses data to understand its users, gain insights, and use that data for marketing purposes. He claims that the company knows "quantitatively and anecdotally" that its users find better, more compatible matches on OkCupid than on other dating sites. OkCupid could use its data to set up a date between two people who won't know what the other looks like until they meet in person, a classic blind-date scenario, but arranged by algorithms rather than acquaintances.
NEWS4JAX – Nov 20 – "Singles Around Me" says ~20K singles are installing the app each week. "OKCupid" says one million of its 3M users use the GPS features. And "How About We" estimates that about one in four of its online daters are now incorporating location-based dating into their search for a soul mate. "One of the biggest problems with GPS dating is the immediacy of it," said Alan Rosenthal, author of the book "Safer Online Dating." In regular online dating, you have time to exchange emails or talk on the phone before you actually meet. But with GPS, he says you could be face to face in minutes.
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CNET NEWS – Nov 18 – A woman's profile — full of obvious red flags — is put up on OkCupid. Within 6 hours, she received 39 messages from interested men and her profile was viewed more than 400 times. Do men just look at the pictures? You see, in their hearts men just don't care if their lady friend is erratic — even beyond the bounds of the law — as long as she's good-looking.
WASHINGTON POST – Nov 14 – In some circles, being an atheist is a strike against you. But at OkCupid, including the word “atheist” in a first message to another user was more likely to garner a reply than any other religious descriptor except Christian. “Mentioning your religion helps you, but, paradoxically, it helps you most if you have no religion,” co-founder Christian Rudder wrote on the site’s blog. OkCupid was founded by Rudder, Sam Yagan, Chris Coyne and Max Krohn. In the 1990s, while still Harvard math majors, they created SparkNotes, a series of study guides that was sold to Barnes and Noble. The four launched OkCupid in 2003, and the site has since attracted ~10M users. Three of the founders describe themselves as nonbelievers in their onsite profiles.
by Kimberly Winston
See full article at Washington Post
OPW – Nov 9 - OKCupid has been working on a new social discovery product Tallygram. After you sign up using Facebook Connect you are presented with countless questions such as "Should marijuana be legal?" or "Would you consider donating your body to science after you die?". The more questions you answer, the smarter Tallygram gets at suggesting you friends, just like OKCupid does with recommending you matches. Based on your answers Tallygram shows you on a percentage scale who might be your friend and who might be your enemy. As of now Tallygram only allows you to do a basic search, message people and invite your friends. The site is in Alpha and OKCupid is seeking developers to build new features.
OPW – Nov 3 – Irena and I
were in Dubai for a few days so we thought we'd see which dating sites
were blocked and which made it past government filtering. Specifically
any 'Internet Content that contradicts the ethics and morals of the UAE
including Nudity and Dating' get blocked. iDating doesn't fit the
religion and culture of UAE. Matrimonials sites, on the other hand, are
ok.
Match, Plentyoffish and OKCupid were blocked. I thought
World Singles Arablounge.com might make the cut, but no. It was
blocked. China dating sites Zhenai, Baihe and Jiayuan were all blocked
as well. We got through to Facebook and thought we'd have more luck
with people discovery services. Badoo was blocked but Tagged and Meetme
were ok. Matrimonials sites made the cut. Shaadi, Bharat Matrimony
and Jeevansathi were all available in Dubai. We were especially pleased
that Online Personals Watch and Social Networking Watch were available
as well. Of course, as soon as I fired up my VPN I could get to
everything. Dubai Internet City also enjoys open access and alternative
ISP Du is more lenient than Etisalat. [Full Disclosure: POF and Meetme
are clients of Courtland Brooks]
BULLET – Fall 2012 –
JON BOEDE, CO-FOUNDER MATCHMAKER: In 1984, my friend and I were running [dating] bulletin boards. The Internet obliterated the bulletin board world. Boede converted the business to a website. Lycos bought for $44.5 million. By 2004 there wasn’t much left of it.
GARY KREMEN, FOUNDER MATCH: I started Match in ’93. I needed to get married. I wrote some software that matched people through email and attached profiles. Kremen partnered with VCs who sold Match.com to Cendant for $7m in 1998. Nine months later, Cendant sold it to IAC for ~$50m.
JONATHAN CRUTCHLEY, FOUNDER MANHUNT.NET: Jonathan was a successful Boston real estate investor. In 1992, he bought half of a popular gay telephone chat line that became Manhunt.net. Phone-line revenues peaked ~year 2000. We organized events at gay bars and advertised in gay newspapers in new York and Philadelphia.
ANDREW CONRU, FOUNDER FRIEND FINDER: In 1993 I started WebPersonals.com. It had ~150k members by the time I sold it in early ’95. Conru then focused on FriendFinder. People started uploading risqué photos. I put a link on the site: “If you’re looking for erotic relationships, click here” to a duplicate of the site, AdultFriendFinder. Conru sold for $500m in 2007.
MANDY GINSBERG, PRESIDENT MATCH: I don’t know how to prove it, but there’s been a shift. We started to see a lot more people who felt comfortable putting out personalized things, commenting on things, uploading their own pictures of things.
SAM YAGAN, CO-FOUNDER OKCUPID: We’re helping erode the stigma for the entire industry. I think it helps that we’re free, which makes it all seem less intentional.
MARKUS FRIND, FOUNDER PLENTYOFFISH: The reason for our success is that we actually helped people meet. Our mobile traffic was around 6% in the under-30 category. Now it’s sitting at 70%.
The future of online dating might very well be its own demise, a movement toward a place where the distinction between meeting in the real world and meeting online no longer exists.
by John Ortved
The full article was originally published at Bullet, but is no longer available.
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PR NEWSWIRE – Oct 23 – Sam Yagan, co-founder and CEO of OkCupid, has been named CEO of Match, making him responsible for IAC's Match segment, which comprises all of IAC's online dating and related operations, domestically and internationally. Mandy Ginsberg, President of Match.com, has been named CEO of Match.com, with responsibility for the segment's "Core" businesses: Match.com U.S., Chemistry and People Media. Josh Meyers, CEO of People Media, will leave the segment to focus on new initiatives at IAC, specially DailyBurn.
The full article was originally published at Sacramento Bee, but is no longer available.
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