REUTERS — May 19 — Match.com will expand its ties to Terra, Latin America’s largest Internet portal, to become the exclusive online dating provider in seven new countries in the region. The company also has a partnership in Latin America with Microsoft Corp’s. Match will also launch a new service with Australian partner ninemsn. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
Mark Brooks: Match will be competing with Date.com, Amor.com, and with the FriendFinder network’s Amigos.com.
REUTERS — May 1 — A small but growing number of older Japanese singles, have turned to online matchmaking services in search of someone to their "second life". "When you reach my age, the scope of your activities shrinks and you can only meet people within a narrow circle," said 62 year old, retired, Kawamura. "If you want to go outside that circle, you don’t know how." Since Match.com launched in Japan in 2004, it has grown to over 840,000 members, with the fastest growing segment in the over 50 set. "It used to be considered that people aged 50 and over didn’t talk about love. People would say, ‘No way, you’re too old’," said Match.com Japan President Katsuki Kuwano. "These days, it’s become acceptable for people in that age group to talk about marriage and love." FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Apr 29 — IntelligentPeople.com, directed towards highly intelligent people, started in Denmark and has now expanded to Canada and the United States. Potential candidates have to pass an online test to prove they have an IQ of 115 or higher. The score places them in the top 15% of the population for intelligence, said Copenhagen-based Trine Jensen, the founder of IntelligentPeople.com. "I believe that intelligent people communicate better with other intelligent people and, of course, love happens more easily if you communicate well," she said. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Feb 14 — Some 82 million adults were unmarried in the U.S in 2000, ~40% of the population (U.S. Census). The unmarried adult population is projected to reach 106 million by 2010. "There's a lot of people looking for love, look around; you tell me — how good are profiles these days,"said Evan Marc Katz, dating expert and author of "I Can't Believe I'm Buying This Book: A Commonsense Guide to Successful Internet Dating." Katz has written some 500 profiles for clients on his online profile writing service, E-Cyrano. Old photos are the #1 shortcoming of profiles. Another piece of advice is to drop the bad vibes. "Most of all, be honest", said Thomas Enraght-Moony, CEO of Match.com.
The full article was originally published at Canada.com, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Dating sites are selling people to people, so if your people look better, you just improved your product. Dating sites should offer LookBetterOnline to users. LBOL also offers a nice rev share. The conversions/revenue stream from LBOL probably won't justify the real estate on your site, but if 3% of your users get professional photos made up, then you just improved the look of your service. That's a differentiator these days. People still put up dated, inaccurate, bad photos in many cases.
REUTERS — Feb 12 — Match.com‘s resolution for 2008 is to get out and meet more people, or in this case, potential subscribers. Match is testing an application for Facebook, and seeks growth in new vehicles for its subscription service, according to Chief Executive Thomas Enraght-Moony. "We’re extending Match to wherever people are. MySpace has announced their platform initiative, we’re exploring that.", Moony said. Moony notes that an advertising partnership with MySpace has become Match.com’s fastest-growing source of new subscribers. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Jan 21 — Marrying outside the faith is an issue for many in the U.S. Jewish community. U.S. rabbis are turning to an on-line dating service to help Jews marry Jews. As a result a few rabbis have started offering subscriptions to their congregants on JDate, an online network dedicated to hooking up Jewish singles. I've had 14 people take up the offer since October, said Rabbi Donald Weber of Marlboro, New Jersey. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Jan 14 – PlanetOut, which serves the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, is evaluating strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. PlanetOut, which has been reporting a loss for the last seven quarters, said it will no longer provide quarterly or annual earnings outlook and will not hold quarterly earnings calls. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Dec 28 — Online dating renews women’s hope in love and sex, but can be just as disappointing as the real-life dating scene, according to new Canadian research. Complaints include a preponderance of men who are looking for much younger women, as well as men who misrepresent their looks, interests or marital status, or who show little interest in moving the relationship offline. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS
REUTERS — Dec 6 – Match.com turned to ritual prayers and a Shinto priest to help boost its business in Japan. CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony visited the Shiba Dai-Jingu shrine in Tokyo to take part in a private ceremony that included the offering of a sacred sakaki tree branch. Match launched in Japan in 2004 and has now 840,000 members. "It's important to learn about the countries where we operate, to be successful." Enraght-Moony said after the ceremony. Over 2/3 of Japanese in 1935 had arranged marriages. Today 90% of Japanese find their marriage partners on their own.
The full article was originally published at Reuters, but is no longer available.
REUTERS — Nov 29 — Meetic buyS Germany's Neu.de matchmaking site with 26,000 subscribers for 25 million euros ($36.83 million) in cash. Meetic would merge its existing Meetic.de site under Neu.de. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS