BBC – Sep 11 – Gong Haiyan, the self-made millionaire, was born in a village in Hunan Province where everyday life was a struggle. She won a place at Peking University, then moved to Fudan University in Shanghai for her Masters. Her love-life, however, was non-existent. So Gong paid 500 RMB to register with a dating site. But she got no replies and discovered the company had stolen profiles. "I felt very angry," she says, "so I asked a friend of mine how much it costs to set up my own dating service." Like Facebook, Gong's website was set up from her college dorm. Ten years on Jiayuan.com, which means beautiful destiny, has ~100M users and offices in several Chinese cities. Her company went public In May 2011.
Category: Outlets – BBC
Regulator To Investigate Sale Of Online Dating Profiles
BBC.CO.UK – July 29 – ~10,000 online dating profiles has been sold to the BBC's Panorama programme, many of which were fake. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said it will investigate the sale. The profile seller Edgars Apalais has denied that people did not give consent for their contact details to be shared. Some profiles included photographs of celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Michael Caine and the TV chef Rick Stein. Edgars Apalais agreed to an interview and BBC secretly recorded the conversation.
You can watch Panorama – Tainted Love: The Dark Side of Online Dating Monday 29 July at 20:30 BST on BBC1 and then on the BBC iPlayer in the UK.
BBC Radio 4: You&Yours – The Business Of Online Dating
BBC RADIO 4 – Dec 7 – BBC Radio 4 has interviewed Mark Brooks; Ross Williams, CEO of GlobalPersonals.co.uk (WhiteLabelDating) and Marc Lesnick, the organizer of iDate. Mark Brooks said: "Worldwide the online dating industry stands at over $3.5 billion. But when you consider it in terms of the social impact online dating has, there’s an incredible impact and potential for the future." Ross Williams claims to be the CEO of the biggest dating company in Europe with £ 30M revenue per year. Global Personals now hosts more than 6K white label sites and has won 3 awards in the industry equivalent of the Oscars – iDate Awards. Marc Lesnick organizes the event and iDate awards nominations for next year’s awards which will be held in January have just been announced.
The online dating world is about to change again. Some sites are already offering a mobile dating App. From your location it can tell you if anyone is single, available and suitable nearby. Mark Brooks explains: "Singles can have it all. They can be sitting in a coffee shop on a Friday afternoon and decide they want to go on a date and they can see who’s around them. I believe it is the next stage for online dating."
Ross Williams:
"The importance of mobile isn’t so much on the location element. Instead of sending messages from your computer you can do it from your phone."
MaritalAffair Ad Draws Complaints In UK
BBC – May 13 – A billboard for MaritalAffair.co.uk, drew the 4th most complaints for 2010, ranking behind ads featuring animal cruelty, abortion and global warming. The advertisement, which featured a man's naked torso with a woman's bra draped over his shoulder, read “Hello Girls.” The 420 complaints claimed the ad implied extra-marital affairs were acceptable and desirable. The claims were not upheld.
India’s BharatMatrimony Ushers In New Era Of Arranged Marriages
BBC.CO.UK – Apr 29 – Murugavel Janakiraman, the founder and CEO of one of India's largest matrimonial companies, BharatMatrimony, says he has married more than 2M people. "Love comes after the marriage," he says. He met his own wife through the service he had created, after he responded to a profile of her posted by his future father-in-law. "We got married in three weeks," he says. Mr Janakiraman says the way people marry in India has changed significantly. Parents are "more comfortable nowadays" with their children choosing their own partner "as long as they marry within the community". Murugavel launched BharatMatrimony in 2000. One big challenge was how to receive payments from customers. In India, credit card usage is still in its infancy. Mr Janakiraman's solution was simple: "We had to go to the doorstep and collect the money." "More than 60% of the revenue is coming from this doorstep collection mechanism in India," he adds. He is also examining the possibility of entering the wedding industry, which he says is a sizeable market. "Marriage in India is something – it's a once in a lifetime event… the most expensive event," he says.
Match.com Runs Sex Offender Checks
OPW – Apr 19 – BBC Radio Scotland interviewed me yesterday for their Newsdrive programme. Here's the 3 minute segment which sums up my thoughts on the issue of Match.com sex offender checks..
The Price Of Finding Love
BBC – Feb 23 – "I felt I was paying for a first class-service and that is what I got: privacy, successful introductions, kindness and efficiency." So says "Susan" of the thousands of pounds she spent signing up to The County Register introduction agency. Heather Heber Percy, founder of the County Register, says people's expectations are high. Gray & Farrar, one of the most exclusive agencies, states that "only the most eligible single people are accepted" and acknowledges that "we are certainly not right for everybody". While Karen Mooney, founder of the Sara Eden agency, says: "If people have unrealistic expectations, we don't take them on. It doesn't matter how much money you throw at us, we can't wave a magic wand." Services at the County Register range in price from £2K for 12 months' membership to £10K for 18 months' membership. At some other agencies, £10K is just the starting level.
EasyDate Buys Flirt.com
BBC.CO.UK – Dec 16 – EasyDate has bought the domain flirt.com for £800,000. EasyDate has been using the flirt.com brand since August under an agreement with Belamo, the American company that registered it. Since starting to use the flirt.com domain – calling it "the naughtiest singles community by far" – it has taken 3 months to reach revenue, last month, of £250K. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC
Muddy Matches: Dating Site For Farmers
BBC.CO.UK – Nov 1 - Muddy Matches, the online dating and social networking site for country people, now has ~50K members. The site has had many success stories, from two people who had always lived in the same village but only found out that each was single through this service. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC.CO.UK
BBC Interviewed Top Matchmakers At The Matchmaking Conference
BBC.CO.UK – Oct 25 – Professional matchmaking may have gone out of fashion in many countries or has it? James Gordon, BBC New York reporter, has been to the 4th Annual Professional Matchmaking Conference to see if it’s making a comeback.
James: New York City is home to millions of singles who are never really getting together unless they have help of dating sites or matchmaking. One of the organizers of the Professional Matchmaking and Date Coaching Worldwide Conference is Lisa Clampitt. Is it very difficult to meet people these days?
Lisa: The internet utilizes a lot of someone’s time and these people are not getting coached to make better decisions. What a matchmaker does is help them make better decisions for long term compatibility rather than short term chemistry.
James: Paul Falzone, you’ve been running your business for 22 years. Are those people just lazy that hey can’t bother to go out on their own to find people so they are using a service such as yourself?
Paul: It is not a question of being lazy at all. It is a question of doing some self help.
James: Some of these services mentioned prices of $25,000. It is a huge amount of cash to part with.
Paul: We charge anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 depending on the package and programs you get.
James: Michelle Jacoby runs DCMatchmaking in Washington and there are so many dating sites out there. Why would someone want to go to a matchmaker when they can just sign up on a dating site?
Michelle: First privacy is very important. Also I have clients who are too busy to be online going through hundreds of profiles.
Listen to the interview here.