REUTERS — Jan 29 — Poisonpen.com, will, for a small fee, send an anonymous poison pen card or letter to a former lover. Their motto is: "When you care enough to send the very worst." Yahoo! Personals dubbed the period between the December holidays and Valentine's Day on February 14 as national break-Up season. They found that couples were more than twice as likely to think about separating during this period than at any other time of the year. At the subversive motivational Web site Despair.com, offerings include a photograph of a red rose with the phrase: "You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment." Deadroses.com, sends dead roses.
Category: Outlets – Reuters
Won’t be my Valentine? Fish and Wreath in the Mail
REUTERS — Jan 29 — Poisonpen.com, will, for a small fee, send an anonymous poison pen card or letter to a former lover. Their motto is: "When you care enough to send the very worst." Yahoo! Personals dubbed the period between the December holidays and Valentine's Day on February 14 as national break-Up season. They found that couples were more than twice as likely to think about separating during this period than at any other time of the year. At the subversive motivational Web site Despair.com, offerings include a photograph of a red rose with the phrase: "You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment." Deadroses.com, sends dead roses.
MySpace Launches French Site
This post also appears on Social Networking Watch.
MySpace Launches French Site
This post also appears on Social Networking Watch.
Meetic Intends to Acquire DatingDirect
REUTERS — Jan 8 — Meetic signed an agreement with a view to acquiring DatingDirect, UK's leading online dating service. Founded in 1999, DatingDirect has 4.5 million members (3.5 million in the UK), 70,000 paying members, 1.6 million uniques a month and £11 million annual revenue. Meetic has also signed an agreement for the acquisition, from the same shareholders, of Chemistry.co.uk which organizes UK singles events. Dating Direct has marketing partnerships with AOL, Channel4.com, HeartFM.co.uk, iVillage.co.uk, NTL and Tiscali. The acquisition of DatingDirect and Chemistry, for £27.3 million, will be carried out entirely in cash once the operation is finalised.
Meetic Intends to Acquire DatingDirect
REUTERS — Jan 8 — Meetic signed an agreement with a view to acquiring DatingDirect, UK's leading online dating service. Founded in 1999, DatingDirect has 4.5 million members (3.5 million in the UK), 70,000 paying members, 1.6 million uniques a month and £11 million annual revenue. Meetic has also signed an agreement for the acquisition, from the same shareholders, of Chemistry.co.uk which organizes UK singles events. Dating Direct has marketing partnerships with AOL, Channel4.com, HeartFM.co.uk, iVillage.co.uk, NTL and Tiscali. The acquisition of DatingDirect and Chemistry, for £27.3 million, will be carried out entirely in cash once the operation is finalised.
Match.com Offers Profile Tips
REUTERS — Dec 26 — Online dating site Match.com is enlisting a celebrity stylist to advise camera-shy singles how to build a hip, sexy Web portrait of themselves. Match revenue grew 22% to $80 million in Q3. CEO Jim Safka believes a key to gaining new members is helping them find their voice online, whether to unleash their inner rock star or lyric poet in a Web portrait. "People are much more interesting and much more dynamic and appealing than their portraits and profiles often show…The people who have older photos or misrepresent themselves in some way, they are not successful on Match."
Match.com Offers Profile Tips
REUTERS — Dec 26 — Online dating site Match.com is enlisting a celebrity stylist to advise camera-shy singles how to build a hip, sexy Web portrait of themselves. Match revenue grew 22% to $80 million in Q3. CEO Jim Safka believes a key to gaining new members is helping them find their voice online, whether to unleash their inner rock star or lyric poet in a Web portrait. "People are much more interesting and much more dynamic and appealing than their portraits and profiles often show…The people who have older photos or misrepresent themselves in some way, they are not successful on Match."
MySpace to Offer Technology to Block Sex Offenders
Markus Nails One of America’s Most Wanted
Homicide fugitive seeking online love arrested
REUTERS — Nov 20 — A fugitive, wanted for a double homicide in Arkansas, was arrested on the weekend in Wisconsin after he posted his name, picture and address on PlentyofFish.
Man sought in Arkansas double slaying captured in Wisconsin
ASSOCIATED PRESS — Nov 20 — Wisconsin authorities arrested Calvin A. Bennett, 26, on Sunday after a segment on the killings was aired Saturday night on the television show "America's Most Wanted." The television viewer's tip led police to PlentyofFish, run by Vancouver based CEO Markus Frind. A U.S. Marshal e-mailed him Saturday night. Within 10 minutes, Frind had gathered messages sent by Bennett to five women on the site ranging from "call me" to "I'd love to talk to you and get to know you," Frind said. From the messages, Frind could tell Bennett had moved into a home of a site user. He also found Bennett's cellular phone number. With that information, an Arkansas State Police investigator contacted Wisconsin authorities. About a dozen officers arrested Bennett as he tried to leave a home in Rothschild, Wis. Frind said he has removed Bennett from the dating Web site. But he cautioned that the arrest shouldn't dissuade people from attempting to find matches online. "I've made 112 million introductions since the site started," Frind said. "One in 8 million people get hit by lightning in the U.S."
Mark Brooks: Markus happened to stay in Saturday night and caught the email from the US Marshals and was able to quickly turn it around. What might have taken hours at some dating sites, took minutes…and the bad guy got nailed. Nice! Well done Markus.