Category: Outlets – New York Times

SingleEdition.com – Guide to Embracing Single Life

Posted on December 31, 2007

Singleedition_logoNY TIMES — Dec 31 — In November, dating sites drew more than 182 million visitors in the United States, according to comScore. In 2006, adults living alone made up 27% of households, according to census data. With divorce rates and the age at which couples marry continuing to climb, the trend toward singledom seems likely to continue. SingleEdition.com offers shopping, finance and other advice for singles. Articles on the site give advice on how to entertain in small apartments, how to cook for one and how to select gifts for other singles. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: TangoMag.com gets the 'singles magazine' formula right by serving up gossip on the stars. i.e. Natalie Portman Goes Public With New Boyfriend , Sean Penn And Robin Wright Penn Getting Divorced .  Meanwhile Singles Edition is offering Are More Single Professionals Falling in Love with Work? and Home Alone for The Holidays Help as their lead articles.  Singles can only handle so much lame advice. Thumbs up for Tango Mag. Alas, Singles Edition is a dud. Ask Men is a good read. Their advice sections are a decent read, i.e. top ten dating tips.

Chemistry.com Outs eHarmony.com

Posted on December 26, 2007

Chemistry NY TIMES — Dec 24 — Chemistry's new campaign is targeting eHarmony by criticizing that the site doesn't match same sex couples. Chemistry addressed this issue in the form of a $20 million campaign titled "Rejected by eHarmony" this past spring. The campaign has helped the site grow 80% and the number of gay and lesbian users have risen 200%.  The budget for this next ad is planned to be increased from the last one. FULL ARTICLE @ NEW YORK TIMES

Candidates Lack Of Understanding Of Internet Ads Causes Embarrassment

Posted on November 7, 2007

Gay_com_logoTHE NEW YORK TIMES — Nov 6 — In the last two days there were at least 32,000 impressions of ads for Mitt Romney on Gay.com. But Romney opposes same sex marriage. Rudy Giuliani’s ads appeared on the liberal blog DailyKos. John McCain’s ads have shown up on the liberal Huffington Post. Embarrassing mistakes? FULL ARTICLE @ THE NEW YORK TIMES

Mark Brooks: The optimization engines are pushing ads to those sites because they are getting click-thrus.  Why is it a bad thing for them to try and increase their chances of getting votes within constituencies that would normally oppose them. They’re encouraging conversation at least.

Romantic Revulsion in the New Century: Flaw-O-Matic 2.0

Posted on April 11, 2007

NY TIMES — Apr 10 — Scientists can now watch mating rituals in real time (thanks to online dating). They've analyzed the courtship choices of more than 10,000 speed-daters. Researchers found that women are pickier than men. Men concentrate mainly on looks and will ask out a lot of women as long as they're above a certain threshold of attractiveness. Women focus on fewer prospects and are less willing to date someone of another race When using online services women pay more attention than men do to a potential partner's education, profession and income. They prefer taller men, but they're willing to relax their standards. A study of 20,000 online daters by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of MIT, found that a 5'8" man was just as successful in getting dates as a 6-footer if he made more money – precisely $146k a year more. For a 5'2" man, the number was $277k. [see nytimes.com/tierneylab.] "When you have all these criteria to consider, and so many people to choose from, you start striving for perfection," Dr. Ariely says. "You don't want to settle."  It's the same problem afflicting New Yorkers: with so many prospects in the big city, they refuse to stop searching. Online daters typically end up going out with fewer than 1 percent of the people whose profiles they study online. The average speed-dating participant makes a match with at least 1 in 10 of the people they meet. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com or call me at 212-444-1636 if you'd like to open your site up to academics for this kind of research.

Romantic Revulsion in the New Century: Flaw-O-Matic 2.0

Posted on April 11, 2007

NY TIMES — Apr 10 — Scientists can now watch mating rituals in real time (thanks to online dating). They've analyzed the courtship choices of more than 10,000 speed-daters. Researchers found that women are pickier than men. Men concentrate mainly on looks and will ask out a lot of women as long as they're above a certain threshold of attractiveness. Women focus on fewer prospects and are less willing to date someone of another race When using online services women pay more attention than men do to a potential partner's education, profession and income. They prefer taller men, but they're willing to relax their standards. A study of 20,000 online daters by Gunter Hitsch and Ali Hortacsu of the University of Chicago and Dan Ariely of MIT, found that a 5'8" man was just as successful in getting dates as a 6-footer if he made more money – precisely $146k a year more. For a 5'2" man, the number was $277k. [see nytimes.com/tierneylab.] "When you have all these criteria to consider, and so many people to choose from, you start striving for perfection," Dr. Ariely says. "You don't want to settle."  It's the same problem afflicting New Yorkers: with so many prospects in the big city, they refuse to stop searching. Online daters typically end up going out with fewer than 1 percent of the people whose profiles they study online. The average speed-dating participant makes a match with at least 1 in 10 of the people they meet. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com or call me at 212-444-1636 if you'd like to open your site up to academics for this kind of research.

In the Computer Dating Game, Room for a Coach

Posted on March 12, 2007

LookbetteronlineNY TIMES — Mar 12 — Dating-Profile.com, ProfileHelper.com and E-Cyrano.com turn stale profiles into eloquent and ads for $39 to $2,000. LookBetterOnline.com and SingleShots.com, sell professional photo shoots. Dating makeovers are hardly new. High-end offline dating services have long provided help, said Mark Brooks, of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com, "The promise of Internet dating is you plug in your profile and you send a few e-mails and you have got a date. It's not as easy as that."  Jim West, 43, a divorced engineer, struggled to get beyond the first "hello" e-mail when he started online dating.  He paid $49 for a critique from Eric Resnick, of ProfileHelper.com. The advice: when sending e-mail messages to women, ask them questions about their profiles so they are more inclined to reply. Match.com CEO Jim Safka says, online dating is like being on stage and being viewed by thousands of people. "Wouldn't you spend some time backstage getting ready?" Match is testing 'Match Platinum' in which professional matchmakers interview clients, coach them on appearance and style and then sift through Match's database of 15 million members to find a compatible date for $500 to $2,000, depending on the level of service. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

In the Computer Dating Game, Room for a Coach

Posted on March 12, 2007

LookbetteronlineNY TIMES — Mar 12 — Dating-Profile.com, ProfileHelper.com and E-Cyrano.com turn stale profiles into eloquent and ads for $39 to $2,000. LookBetterOnline.com and SingleShots.com, sell professional photo shoots. Dating makeovers are hardly new. High-end offline dating services have long provided help, said Mark Brooks, of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com, "The promise of Internet dating is you plug in your profile and you send a few e-mails and you have got a date. It's not as easy as that."  Jim West, 43, a divorced engineer, struggled to get beyond the first "hello" e-mail when he started online dating.  He paid $49 for a critique from Eric Resnick, of ProfileHelper.com. The advice: when sending e-mail messages to women, ask them questions about their profiles so they are more inclined to reply. Match.com CEO Jim Safka says, online dating is like being on stage and being viewed by thousands of people. "Wouldn't you spend some time backstage getting ready?" Match is testing 'Match Platinum' in which professional matchmakers interview clients, coach them on appearance and style and then sift through Match's database of 15 million members to find a compatible date for $500 to $2,000, depending on the level of service. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Social Networking’s Next Phase

Posted on March 6, 2007

Cisco_systems_logo1 NY TIMES — Mar 2 — Next week Cisco Systems plans to announce one of its most unusual deals: it is buying the technology assets of Tribe.net (8 employees). The deal will give Cisco the technology to help large corporate clients create services resembling MySpace or YouTube. A multitude of start-ups like Ning say that social networks will soon be as ubiquitous as regular Web sites. Those setting up Ning communities can pay $20 a month if they want the site free of ads. FULL ARTICLE @ NYTIMES

Mark Brooks: Ultimately, our profiles will be ubiquitous and social networks will be more personalised. We will each be members of many social networks. LinkedIn for business, MyChurch for our church group, Zaadz for our group of do-gooders, Facebook for college buddies (although that could change now that Facebook is open to the world) and Nuzizo for culture/fun. The internet world will more closely resemble the real world.  However, our reputations and credibility will be more visible and readily apparent from the social networks we reside on/in, the company we keep and the testimonials our friends, work associates, and ex-work associates leave for us. 

Social Networking’s Next Phase

Posted on March 6, 2007

Cisco_systems_logo1 NY TIMES — Mar 2 — Next week Cisco Systems plans to announce one of its most unusual deals: it is buying the technology assets of Tribe.net (8 employees). The deal will give Cisco the technology to help large corporate clients create services resembling MySpace or YouTube. A multitude of start-ups like Ning say that social networks will soon be as ubiquitous as regular Web sites. Those setting up Ning communities can pay $20 a month if they want the site free of ads. FULL ARTICLE @ NYTIMES

Mark Brooks: Ultimately, our profiles will be ubiquitous and social networks will be more personalised. We will each be members of many social networks. LinkedIn for business, MyChurch for our church group, Zaadz for our group of do-gooders, Facebook for college buddies (although that could change now that Facebook is open to the world) and Nuzizo for culture/fun. The internet world will more closely resemble the real world.  However, our reputations and credibility will be more visible and readily apparent from the social networks we reside on/in, the company we keep and the testimonials our friends, work associates, and ex-work associates leave for us. 

On Niche Dating Sites, Many More Women

Posted on February 26, 2007

Staff6NY TIMES — Feb 26 — During the week of Feb. 5, SeniorPeopleMeet, had 81% women, BBW Datefinder 76% and Catholic Match 72%, according to Hitwise. Greg Waldorf, the CEO of eHarmony (69% women visitors) said, "If you asked me would I rather have more women or men, I'd rather have more women. If you have a good healthy population of women, I think men are attracted to that." FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES