Mark Brooks: Another mention for adult dating. Seems the press are warming up to the casual dating sector a little. Adultfriendfinder and Sexsearch were mentioned in a Wall Street Journal Online article last week.
Category: SexSearch
‘Adult’ Dating Sites Flourish
WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE — Mar 1 — Amid sluggish growth for dating Web sites, a different kind of matchmaking service is thriving online: so-called adult dating sites that dispense with courtship and urge members to head straight for the bedroom. With names like AdultFriendFinder.com, SexSearch.com and IWantU.com, adult dating sites purport to help users find one-night stands, swinger parties and other sexual escapades. "We enable someone to express themselves sexually in a place that doesn't make them feel dirty," said Andrew Conru, FriendFinder founder. He estimated that about half of his site's members are "actively seeking a sexual partner." Others take advantage of features such as chat rooms and blogs. Others are merely interested in being a "voyeur into other people's lifestyles." AdultFriendFinder's traffic rose 67% in January from a year earlier, according to Nielsen. SexSearch.com, the second-most visited adult dating site, tripled its traffic to 3.2 million unique visitors in January while running online advertisements that promise "real people, real sex." Nielsen said traffic to InterActiveCorp.'s Match.com, the most popular of the traditional dating sites it tracks, grew 7% to 4.5 million unique visitors over the same period. Holly Fabian, 40, of Warren, MI, joined AdultFriendFinder "as a joke" to browse the amusing content. She received 150 emails in 24 hours and discovered a man who shared her interests. They met for dinner, and have been dating for the past two years.
The full article was originally published at WSJ Online, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: It's a rarity that the press write about the casual dating sites, much less Wall Street Journal.
‘Adult’ Dating Sites Flourish
WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE — Mar 1 — Amid sluggish growth for dating Web sites, a different kind of matchmaking service is thriving online: so-called adult dating sites that dispense with courtship and urge members to head straight for the bedroom. With names like AdultFriendFinder.com, SexSearch.com and IWantU.com, adult dating sites purport to help users find one-night stands, swinger parties and other sexual escapades. "We enable someone to express themselves sexually in a place that doesn't make them feel dirty," said Andrew Conru, FriendFinder founder. He estimated that about half of his site's members are "actively seeking a sexual partner." Others take advantage of features such as chat rooms and blogs. Others are merely interested in being a "voyeur into other people's lifestyles." AdultFriendFinder's traffic rose 67% in January from a year earlier, according to Nielsen. SexSearch.com, the second-most visited adult dating site, tripled its traffic to 3.2 million unique visitors in January while running online advertisements that promise "real people, real sex." Nielsen said traffic to InterActiveCorp.'s Match.com, the most popular of the traditional dating sites it tracks, grew 7% to 4.5 million unique visitors over the same period. Holly Fabian, 40, of Warren, MI, joined AdultFriendFinder "as a joke" to browse the amusing content. She received 150 emails in 24 hours and discovered a man who shared her interests. They met for dinner, and have been dating for the past two years.
The full article was originally published at WSJ Online, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: It's a rarity that the press write about the casual dating sites, much less Wall Street Journal.
The Growth of Gay Online Dating
THE INDEPENDENT ONLINE — Feb 19 — Gaydar has 3.5 million members globally. The UK is by far its biggest market, with a total of almost one million members. Most are in big towns and cities, especially London, Manchester and Brighton. Most members are between 25 and 34. There are leather queens in LA, sugar daddies in Shanghai, and, at every point of the compass, married men seeking "discreet meets". When Freud talked about "polymorphous perversity" he foresaw Gaydar. The site caters for any and every preference. Specialised chatrooms include chastity, chubbychasers, Eurovision, hypnosis, kilts and scallies. There is plenty to amuse and arouse, much to disgust, but absolutely nothing illegal. Gaydar membership is £60 a year. This year, Europeans will spend £157m on online dating. They will spend £291m on "adult content." Go figure. Sex is what's really getting us online in such record numbers. "Most of the big dating sites claim to be about actual dating aiming at actual relationships," says Nate Elliott of Jupiter Research. "Sites like Match.com and Datingdirect say they want people to meet and fall in love. Users say that friendship is their main goal, not physical intimacy." The current advertising campaign for Match.com is the UK's biggest online dating promotion. Slogan: "We guarantee you'll find someone special within six months." Gaydar's homepage features pictures of semi-naked men beckoning you to log on. Slogan: "What you want, when you want it." "People definitely lie about what they're looking for," says Dr Monica Whitty, social psychologist at Queen's University and co-author of Cyberspace Romance: the Psychology of Online Dating. "Often women will try to attract more men by claiming they're only after a casual relationship. Men will do the opposite. Both sexes are playing a game." Gaydar makes ~£1 million a year in the UK alone. Q Soft Consulting, currently employs a total of 40 people and owns, among other products, Gaydarradio and Gaydartravel. Today Gaydar has more than three million members, while Match.com has just 500,000 gay members. Gaydargirls.com launches next month. Already 140,000 gay women have signed up. In December 2005, Gaydar accounted for more than half of all gay website visits.
The full article was originally published at The Independent, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Fascinating insight on the gay and casual dating market. Sexsearch and Adult Friend Finder are the leading adult dating sites in the USA. They fly under the wire because the personals rankings don't include them because of their adult content. I never see them mentioned in the press. The press don't want to talk about them, the analysts don't include them…but the people are voting for them in droves. We're in the business of love, which means we're also in the sex business. Better matches > more love > more sex, and the freedom to express one's sexual preferences are paramount for the success of prosperity of this industry.
Where Should We Meet in Cyberspace?
Mark Brooks: OKCupid and Plentyoffish.com are the big freebie sites these days. Sexsearch.com is next in line to adultfriendfinder in the casual dating space.
Thousands Seek Sexual Partners Online
THE ROYAL GAZETTE — Jan 22 — Adultfindfriends.com, an international website which boasts that it is the "world’s largest sex and swingers personals site" has 3,825 listings for Bermuda. Dr. Adhemar explained that there are two types of socio-sexual orientation: People are either ‘unrestricted’ or ‘restricted’. People surfing these sites are more likely to fall into the first group. Characteristics of the unrestricted group include "a willingness to engage in sexual interactions with partners even in the absence of closeness, commitment or emotional bonding," Dr. Adhemar said. A recent article piqued the interest of 208 men and 27 women who have since joined the site.
Mark Brooks: Here’s how the adult/casual dating sites rank against the PG sites, per ranking.websearch.com. Adultfriendfinder 32, Sexsearch 66, Match 120, TRUE 133, eHarmony 333, American Singles 335.
Friends with Benefits. Buddies. Booty calls. Is this what dating has become?
THE SEATTLE TIMES — Dec 11 — Today's dating scene is about as easy to pigeonhole as the color of paint. Sure, there are plenty of traditionalists out there, but there are many others who don't date so much as hang out or hook up. Some rely on what I'll politely call "bed buddies" to get them through the lonely times. Dating has changed dramatically. Fifty years ago, a single woman would sooner hide out in a darkened apartment than let her neighbors know she didn't have a Saturday night steady. These days, she'll post her picture on AdultFriendFinder or Lavalife's "Intimate Encounters" section to find a no-strings sex partner for the night. "If somebody has no intention of looking for someone special in their life and just wants sex for fun and pleasure, isn't it better that they tell you up front?" says Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington sociology professor and author of "Finding Your Perfect Match." (and PerfectMatch.com spokesperson). "The honesty may be a little difficult to take, but it might hurt less in the long run."
The full article was originally published at Seattle Times, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: This is a groundbreaking article. I rarely see the subject of casual dating sites broached in the press. Some interesting social trends are empowering the press to start picking this subject area up. Adultfriendfinder, Sexsearch and Mate1 are the top adult dating sites.
Alt.com Personal Ads for Wide Range of Sexual Fetishes
Mark Brooks: I used to work for FriendFinder. There are actually some taboo's that their abuse team grooms the site for, but Alt is indeed the most extreme of their communities. Their 'adult' communities(AdultFriendFinder, Alt, OutPersonals) do a good job of helping people match on their not so mainstream sexual preferences. Sexsearch is a newer entrant that is stealing some of AdultFriendFinder's thunder and is approaching 5 million members. This important segment demands not to be ignored. However, I've yet to see these sites mentioned/recognised in the mainstream press. Everyone likes sex, right? Some people have more specific preferences. Generally these more explicit, sexually oriented sites are regarded as 'casual,' but many couples have married after meeting their match on these sites. They are the antithesis of the more altruistic relationship sites. Except for TRUE which recently launched their 'Sexploration' which is a very nice adaptive 'lite' sexual preferences test. I'm a maverick apparently. 'Are you mild or wild?'
Adult Personals Focus on Casual Encounters and Big Bucks
WALL STREET NEWS CAST — Nov 7 — The “naughty niches” has become a major matchmaking market. And like its straight-arrow sibling, it is a very profitable one. The reason for the success is simple: The sites are more important to them because their tastes are harder to match. “When we started Friendfinder early in 1996, we found a lot of guys were posting profiles that were more risqué than we wanted on the site,” recalls Andrew Conru, Founder of Friendfinder. “We started out deleting them, but then we recognized the opportunity and started Adultfriendfinder.” ComScore Media Metrix said the site drew 2,321,000 unique visitors in July 2002. That dwarfs the 788,000 that the generalized Friendfinder attracted that month.
Mark Brooks: According to Alexa, for adult a.k.a. casual dating sites, Adultfriendfinder.com is #1, Alt.com is #2 and Sexsearch.com is #3
PrivateDateFinder.com Lures Marrieds
PRWEB — Sept 28 — Newly launched PrivateDateFinder.com is the first and only dating site where you can find romance without anyone else knowing. The site offers a unique way to conceal both how you pay as well as eliminating all the tracks you leave behind. RELEASE @ PR WEB
Mark Brooks: This is a very controversial area. Adultfriendfinder, Sexsearch and Eroticy are loaded with marrieds. Ashley Madison actually targets them. PrivateDateFinder is run on the Relationship Exchange platform which is owned by Vintacom, which was recently bought by CGI Holding, which was just renamed to Think Partnership. I find the practice of encouraging marrieds to cheat of great concern. Your comments please.