BBC.CO.UK – July 8 – The modern-day cupids are popping up across the internet. They specialise in ghost writing witty, charming, flirtatious messages on behalf of single men and women unwilling, unable or too busy to do it themselves. "We've noticed a definite trend with more and more of these companies springing up- and there is a huge demand," says Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, a site that tracks internet dating trends. "Necessity is the mother of invention," says Evan Marc Katz, who has worked as a dating coach since 2003 and runs e-cyrano.com, one of the first of this new breed of companies. "There are a surprising number of people out there who don't know how to market themselves in an original way." TargetLove offers everything, from basic profile writing for £150 to dating coaches who, for around £90 an hour, will talk the unlucky and inept through every step of the dating game. Some companies will go so far as posing as their client on dating sites and writing messages to potential partners to arrange first dates. Critics claim it is a dishonest way to try to find true love. Not so, insists Scott Valdez, the founder and president of Virtual Dating Assistants (VDA). "We are representing our clients as honestly and accurately as possible online," he says. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC.CO.UK
Category: Outlets – BBC
Online Dating Soars As Temperatures Plunge
BBC NEWS – Jan 7 - Mysinglefriend.com says visitors to its website soared by 55% on Tuesday alone, with its busiest time coming at 3pm rather than the traditional 10pm. Meanwhile rival site Singles365.com says its visitor numbers grew 27% across Tuesday and Wednesday compared with a year ago. "We can only put this down to the bad weather meaning more people are staying at home", says Singles365.com spokeswoman Katie Mowe. IllicitEncounters.com, a website which provides a platform for married people to conduct affairs, has gained 2,567 new members in the last six days, suggesting that January will be its busiest month ever. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS
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BeautifulPeople.com Axes Holiday Weight Gain Members
BBC.CO.UK – Jan 4 - Dating and social networking site BeautifulPeople.com has axed ~5,000 members following complaints that they had gained weight. The members were singled out after posting pictures of themselves that reportedly showed they had put on pounds over the holiday period. The site allows entry to new members only if existing members vote them as sufficiently attractive to warrant it. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS
Genetic Sexual Attraction?
OPW — Aug 10 — Personality profiling sites eHarmony and TRUE match in two different ways. eHarmony matches on similarities, and TRUE attempts to match based on complimentary factors. I'd imagine it would be more reliable to match people based on similar factors, wouldn't you? The Unfrozen Caveman dug up some cases of sibling love in the extreme and gives some examples of siblings marrying, which made me ponder. Here they are…
Brother and Sister, and Lovers – ABC News
The Brother and Sister Who Fell in Love – buzzle.com – a sibling couple with 4 children together, determined to stay together
Forbidden Love Between Siblings – ABC News again – another couple determined to stay together
Parted-at-Birth twins ‘married’ – BBC News – These two didn’t know they were siblings when they got married.
Perhaps this is some form of proof for eHarmony's matching on similar traits, and for genetic matchmaking in general. Your comments please..
Dating Firms Fight For UK Hearts
BBC NEWS — July 18 — "The UK is the battlefield for the World War of dating," according to Marc Simoncini, the Frenchman who started Meetic. His company bought the UK dating website Dating Direct and is going head-to-head with Match.com. Mr Simoncini says it is not just a clash of companies. He reckons it is about whether the British date in a manner more similar to people elsewhere in Europe or like the Americans. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS
Mark Brooks: Match helps people find love, whereas Meetic/DatingDirect promises dates.
Man Loses £16,000
BBC — Apr 17 — A 48-year-old Kent man is £16,000 poorer after falling in love with two women over the internet and waiting at airports five times for them to turn up in the UK. He struck up a relationship with Natalia, from Russia, and sent her £10,000 to pay for her travel and a visa so she could be with him and went to meet her at Heathrow Airport four times, but she never arrived. He then met Amada, from Senegal, sent her £6,000, but was again left waiting in the arrivals lounge of the airport. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC.CO.UK
Mark Brooks: The rules are simple, don’t send money. Buy an air ticket perhaps, make sure it’s refundable to you only.
Man Loses £16,000
BBC — Apr 17 — A 48-year-old Kent man is £16,000 poorer after falling in love with two women over the internet and waiting at airports five times for them to turn up in the UK. He struck up a relationship with Natalia, from Russia, and sent her £10,000 to pay for her travel and a visa so she could be with him and went to meet her at Heathrow Airport four times, but she never arrived. He then met Amada, from Senegal, sent her £6,000, but was again left waiting in the arrivals lounge of the airport. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC.CO.UK
Mark Brooks: The rules are simple, don’t send money. Buy an air ticket perhaps, make sure it’s refundable to you only.
India Mobile Usage
BBC NEWS — Oct 27 — As Indians become richer, the demand for mobiles increases. India now has about 129 million mobile phone users – which equates to about one in nine of the population. However, it still lags well behind China which has 430 million users in a population of 1.3bn. Bharti Airtel boasts 27.1 million subscribers. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS
Internet User Admits ‘web-rage’
BBC NEWS — Oct 17 — An internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first "web-rage" attack. The pair met in an internet chatroom called Islam 10 (Yahoo). Both had an interest in the Muslim faith but exchanges soured after Gibbons accused Mr Jones of spreading rumours about him. Gibbons traced Jones to his home using personal details about himself that he had put online. A fight broke out. Essex Police said the case demonstrates the importance of protecting one's identity on the internet.
The full article was originally published at BBC News, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: TRUE has been raising awareness of the risks associated with internet dating. MySpace has been in the news constantly on the subject. The internet is still safer than meeting people randomly in the real world. Users should, however, not share contact information such as address and telephone numbers. I'm working on Vumber and we'll release a simple 'throw away number' telephone service for singles at the internet dating convention in January.
Speed Dating’s Love on the Tracks
BBC NEWS — Sep 9 — First Great Western is starting what it believes is the first speed-dating service on a train. Passengers, who paid £45 for a ticket, travel first class from Paddington with a bell sounding every four minutes to signal time to swap partners. The dating service was set up following a survey carried out by First Great Western which found 13% of people have been chatted up or asked out on a date while travelling by train. FULL ARTICLE @ BBC NEWS
Mark Brooks: Trust the British to come up with something like that 🙂