REUTERS — Oct 5 — The average number of monthly visitors to U.S. newspaper websites rose by nearly a third in the first half of 2006 (to 55.5 million: Nielsen//Netratings), though print readership at some larger U.S. newspapers fell. Report by: Newspaper Association of America. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY
Mark Brooks: Here’s a summary of a great report by Rate or Date on newspaper and internet dating distribution deals.
Category: Outlets – Reuters
Craig Newmark – Craigslist Not For Sale
REUTERS — Sep 28 — Craig is not interested in selling out despite MySpace $15 billion valuation. Craig was running his site (back when it was an e-mail list of local events) during the dot-com blowup. He saw stupid companies get stupid money and lose it. Keeping Craigslist a real $20-30 million company is much more satisfying than making it a fake $15 billion one.
The full article was originally published at Valleywag, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Craig is nothing but consistent. Many people have approached him since the site's inception and his answer has always been the same. eBay owns 25% of Craigslist only because one of the founding employees sold their share. I own Markslist.com btw. One day I'll do something useful with it. Any ideas? At one stage it was the social events calendar for Friendster. Now Jonathan (Friendster founder) has started Socializr as a social events social network.
Yahoo Courting Facebook
NY REUTERS — Sep 21 — Facebook is in serious talks to sell itself to Yahoo for an amount that could approach $1 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Facebook also held discussions with Microsoft and Viacom over the past year.
Mark Brooks: Will students on Facebook feel the same with Yahoo or Microsoft as momma bear? MySpace is doing well under News Corp it would seem, but I think that dynamic is very different from the potential dynamic between Facebook and Microsoft. Your comments please?
Senior Citizen a Surprise YouTube Star
REUTERS — Aug 14 — A septuagenarian British widower's soft-spoken, humble manner has won the hearts of young YouTube users. "What I hope I will be able to do is to just to bitch and grumble about life in general from the perspective of an old person who has been there and done that and hopefully you will respond in some way by your comments." 100 million clips are watched every day on YouTube.
Mark Brooks: YouTube is booming. Users are getting their webcams hooked up and actually using them now. It's time for online dating companies to more seriously consider the use of video for profile information, and webcams for video dating. Webcam dating solves the problems associated with users posting inaccurate/old photos.
Boomer’s Social Web Site Comes With Death Alerts
REUTERS — July 31 — A social networking Web site for Americans aged 50-plus went live on Monday complete with an online obituary database that sends out alerts when someone you may know dies. The founder of Internet job site Monster.com, Jeff Taylor, launched Eons.com, a similar site to the popular online teen hang-outs MySpace or Facebook for the 50-plus crowd complete with interactive games to build brain strength, news on entertainment and hobbies for older people, a personalized longevity calculator and tips to live longer.
Mark Brooks: Social networking is splintering into a myriad of niche sites. The big sites will continue to control 95% of the market, but in just the same way singles join 2 or 3 dating sites, social networking users will also join 2 or 3 social networks.
MOG Starts Test of Music-based Social Network
REUTERS — June 20 — MOG is Myspace for music junkies. The free site was started by former MTV marketing executive David Hyman with $1.4 million from private investors, requires users to download its application, MOG-O-MATIC, and catalogs the music on users' computer hard drives and monitors what they play the most.
Daily Mail Makes two Acquisitions to Expand Online
REUTERS UK — May 8– UK publisher Daily Mail & General Trust added the dating sites LoopyLove and GirlsDateForFree (Allegran) to its growing online media empire. Two acquisitions worth up to 46.5 million pounds. Its Associated Newspapers division acquired Allegran and 62.5% of Data Media and Retail (Carsource.co.uk) with a three-year earnout with its management to acquire the remaining 37.5%. Daily Mail's initial payments totalled 32.5 million pounds.Like its peers in the struggling newspaper sector, Daily Mail has been aggressively investing in online properties.
Mark Brooks: Newspapers are suffering and playing catchup, by acquisition. This is good news for online personals site valuations.
Perils of Online Dating Prompt Safety Efforts
REUTERS — Mar 21 — Josie Brown never had a chance against her 6-foot-6-inch killer. John Gaumer, confessed and led Baltimore County police to Brown's body on February 7, listed his height and other attributes in his quest for dates on MySpace.com. "There are millions of people we're dealing with here and somehow people think they are all preachers," said Paul Falzone, CEO of Together Dating, a brick-and-mortar company that performs background checks on all members. Falzone says background checks result in 10% of applicants being rejected. For most of the 40 million people using Internet sites for dating and socializing each month, a disastrous 15 minutes over coffee at Starbucks is the worst they will suffer. Only a small percentage of "intimate partner violence" — nearly 700,000 such incidents were reported to the U.S. Dept of Justice in 2001 — originate from Internet dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, which monitors the dating industry. "To think a felon could find a victim, especially for a heinous crime, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do all I can do to prevent that," said Herb Vest, TRUE.com CEO. So far, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan have considered (background checks) legislation. Yahoo! and Match.com, the industry leaders with 6 million and 15 million monthly visitors respectively, continually stress dating safety. "The Internet has its dark side and they are not doing everything they can to keep sexual predators and gold diggers off these sites. If you don't police yourselves, the government will come in and police you," said Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey. "There are other ways to get to who that person is, rather than have the government ram a business model down your throat," said Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate. Webdate uses real-time video as a safety measure, allowing prospective dates to chat and get a look at each other via Webcams. Companies like Safedate and Honestyonline are springing up to run background checks for individuals. According to Dr. John Gray, education is the solution. "The warning signs often come out right away. Beware of someone who can solve all your problems or who comes on really strong," said Gray.
Brazil Tries to Seize Data on Users of Google’s Orkut
The full article was originally published at Yahoo, but is no longer available.
Sexy Hoax Turns Into Dating Fad
REUTERS — Mar 11 — A British internet journalist set up a website two years ago filled with fictional accounts from friends who claimed to have used Bluetooth technology to make contact for a chat, romance or even sex — a practice the site dubbed "toothing." News organizations across the world, including Reuters, The Guardian, the BBC and Wired News, fell for the story and reported that "toothing" had taken off among commuters. A year later the journalist behind the site published an online confession claiming it was an elaborate hoax to prove he could create a new sexual buzzword. "I tried some tests on the underground and pubs and found lots of cell phones were turned on and used for 'toothing,' which was strange because I thought it was a joke too," said a Milan DJ. To play, you need you need to activate the Bluetooth facility available on your mobile phone, which will then show a list of people within a few yards who are also active. Then write a message and press send. Young men in Dubai have been using the technology to contact women in public places, according to the BBC's website.
The full article was originally published at Wired News, but is no longer available.