TRUE.com – Page 12 – Online Personals Watch

Lycos Unveils “Social Interaction Platform”

Posted on October 6, 2005

CLICKZ — Oct 4 — Lycos launches "social interaction platform" Planet, adapted from an offering by corporate parent Daum Communications. Users can create a mini site, or "planet," without any HTML coding; blog, photo upload, slide shows. The U.S. version of Planet is being launched on Lycos’ Angelfire community, made up of 10 million teens and young adults, and Tripod with 12 million users. Daum has been successful with its version of Planet in Korea, building up more than 8 million users in the first year. Terra sold off its U.S. operations to South Korean online media group Daum Communications last August for a paltry $545 million. Lycos launched Circles in October 2004, but discontinued it a few months later. Lycos then launched a dating search engine. FULL ARTICLE @ CLICKZ

Mark Brooks: The Dating Search Engine pulls profiles from iMatchup, Loveaccess.com and TRUE.com.

Man Sues Online Dating Service After Being Rejected

Posted on September 26, 2005

NBC4 NEWS — Sept 20– Soheil Davood claims his paid subscription to JDate.com, billed as "the world's largest Jewish singles community," guaranteed that he would find "high-quality, successful Jewish personals without wasting precious time." The subscriber, who is a co-defendant in the case, made sexual remarks during the chat, claimed to work for the nation's largest lingerie manufacturer, and told Davood that "she might have found her man in the plaintiff," the suit states. When the plaintiff called, he "received a taunting automated message telling him that he was rejected." Davood is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for "serious psychological injury."

The full article was originally published at NBC4, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: It's unfortunate this user was left at the alter. He can't possibly have any legal standing. Online dating sites are a vehicle for search and communication. We can vet for bogus profiles and inappropriate pictures, but not much more. TRUE.com has, however, taken the vetting process one step further by performing background checks to check if users are felons or are married.

Personality Profiling Sites: Who Would You Trust

Posted on September 16, 2005

ONE2ONE MAGAZINE — Sept 15 — ARTICLE BY MARK BROOKS, ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH EDITOR/BLOGGER — Which of these people would you trust with probably the most important decision you'll ever make? Dr Warren of eHarmony is a clinical psychologist with a theology background and 30 years of counseling experience. Dr Houran of TRUE is a young clinical psychologist with 15 years counseling experience and many journal papers to his name. Then we have the sociologist Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch.

SIMILAR/COMPLEMENTARY: eHarmony matches on similarities whilst PerfectMatch offers you a choice. You can see people who are similar to you, and also people who are complementary to you. TRUE is mainly focused on matching you with people who have complementary traits.

MAGIC BOX: eHarmony does the searching for you. PerfectMatch and TRUE take alternative approaches. You have more visibility and control over the way you are matched and the speed at which you can get out on a date. PerfectMatch and TRUE also offer instant messaging which eHarmony doesn't favor. Both TRUE and PerfectMatch are less decisive, and more open box rather than magic box. Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch commented, "I'm a sociologist, not a deity."

ON CHEMISTRY: Cupid.com CEO, Eric Straus argues that chemistry can only be gauged in the real world, by meeting and getting eyeball to eyeball. "There's no mathematical formula to love," affirms Abe Smilowitz, CEO of WebDate.com. "You can't qualify love by doing a profile analysis. Love is about feelings and a persons emotions." On the other hand Pat Dines, CEO of Mary.com argues, "chemistry works in unison with long term compatibility. Compatibility tests simply identify who you are compatible to be friends with. You need to meet many 'compatible' people to find chemistry." Dr Glenn Wilson is one of the fathers of compatibility testing and states, "[Compatibility testing] will not tell you whether or not you are going to fall in love with another person in a compulsive, 'chemical' way, just whether or not it is a good idea if you do."

Imagine, you walk into your favorite coffee shop, bar or club and meet someone that you click with. You spend the next six months with them, only to find you're COMPLETELY incompatible. Would you have had a better time with someone who was a 'good match.' How about the perfect match? Relationship based online personals sites hold high promise. They are new. They are still experimenting. Dr Houran confirmed, "we're in the infancy of compatibility testing." FULL ARTICLE @ ONE2ONE MAGAZINE

Mark Brooks: ONE2ONE Living (available on Amazon) is a magazine for the singles lifestyle…'Fuel for the single life: entertainment, travel, culture, events, style, dating.' I thought Halle Berry's quote in the latest magazine was fascinating. "I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again… I want love and I'll find it hopefully and have a committed relationship, but no more marriages." These attitude is fueling the decline in number of people getting married… and the future success and growth of the online personals industry.

TRUE Introduces Relationship Readiness Tool Identifying Sexual Personalities

Posted on August 30, 2005

PRNEWSWIRE — Aug 29 — According to a breakthrough yearlong study from TRUE there are eight different sex personalities. TRUE introduces SEXPLORATION, an adaptive test designed to address a key element of compatibility — sexuality. "Sexual incompatibility is one of the top two causes of relationship conflict, making great sex a vital part of a successful long-term romantic relationship," said Herb Vest, CEO of TRUE. "Too many people avoid this important topic, which can cause unnecessary strife in relationships. We created SEXPLORATION to provide our members with a tool to better understand and measure important sexual compatibility issues prior to sex, so they can engage, and/or re-engage in a happy, healthy and committed relationship." 69,000 men and women have taken "SEXPLORATION." Men and women between the ages of 45-59 were the most risque, or the 'Mavericks' of the group, indicating they are the most provocative, adventurous and uninhibited in the bedroom. Younger Americans, on the other hand, are Initiators and/or Subservients, meaning, they are typically leaders rather than followers and they can be "submissive, with an attitude." More than 43% of women were found to be Traditionalists. More than 30% of men were found to be Intellectuals, meaning, while they love talking and thinking about sex, when it comes to the actual practice, they're not quick to move into the provocative side. TRUE's team of psychologists developed SEXPLORATION based on research from a yearlong study to reveal eight different sex personalities: The Traditionalist 31%, The Maverick 13%, The Intellectual 29%, The Fantasizer 4%, The Contradictor 1%, The Introvert 7%, The Initiator 1%, The Subservient 14%. SEXPLORATION is endorsed by Psychology Today and conforms to the Standards for Psychological and Educational Testing as established by a joint committee of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education.

The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Sexual issues, money issues and family issues are three of the most common areas of marriage strife. TRUE, bold as always, is tackling sexuality matchmaking head on, in a very classy manner. The adaptive testing approach offends noone. Hey, I discovered I'm a maverick! Take the test, what character type are you? Your comments please…

ELove Thinks It has the Answer

Posted on August 26, 2005

MASS HIGH TECH — Aug 22 — "What's the price tag of finding a person for the rest of your natural life?" asks Paul A. Falzone, chief executive officer of eLove. ELove is a marriage between an online service and a bricks-and-mortar dating shop. Staff will take video and audio clips of you. Then they will check to see if you are married. They will run a criminal background check to see if you've been cooling your heels lately. Membership is $995 plus monthly payments of $19.95 in NY.

The full article was originally published at Mass High Tech, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: It was only a matter of time before real world dating sites hitched their horses to the safety bandwagon True.com started. A Great Expectations, or ItsJustLunch or Tableforsix could make this idea fly.

Hooking Up Is Out; Finding Your Perfect Match Is In!

Posted on August 26, 2005

PRNewswire — Aug 23 — PerfectMatch.com appears prominently in the "Must Love Dogs" movie trailer and throughout the extensive television campaign. PerfectMatch's remarkable growth in 2005 has been driven by partnerships in entertainment with Sony Pictures' "Hitch," the Dr. Phil Show and Lifetime Television, as well as major online brands MSNBC, iVillage and drugstore.com. PerfectMatch is a premium "relationship" site and continues its impressive growth while the "casual" dating space faces an industry-wide slowdown. A primary reason for the slowed growth within the casual dating space is the emergence of the savvy Internet dater. "Casual sites like Match.com and Yahoo! Personals are terrific to introduce users to online dating," Mr. Dahl, CEO, stated continued. "As singles gain confidence, we can expect them to graduate to a community of like-minded people. At PerfectMatch, singles can do that because we have a community of genuine people looking for real love and sincere 'relationships.'" PerfectMatch.com(TM), is preparing for another sizeable growth increase in 2006 with the release of a book "Finding Your Perfect Match" authored by PerfectMatch relationship authority Dr. Pepper Schwartz (Penguin), and a partnership with NBC Universal's "The Break-up" starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston.

The full article was originally published at Red Nova, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Match and Yahoo Personals, along with True.com I might add (a relationships site with a slightly broader perspective), allow users the freedom to decide what kind of relationships they are interested in. eHarmony and PerfectMatch are focused on people who are 'very single' and very motivated to hook up for a longer term relationship. Examples of full-on casual dating sites include Adultfriendfinder/Passion.com (Alexa rank has gone from 100 to 45 over the prior 12 months), Sexsearch (Alexa rank grown from 1500 to 600), Mate1 (15,000 to 2,000). Eroticy and IwantU are plugging along as well. Morals aside, full-on casual dating sites are here to stay. This segment is alive and kicking and not to be ignored.

Online Personals Watch Exclusive Interview #11 – Senator Cropsey

Posted on August 17, 2005

OPW INTERVIEW — Aug 17, 2005 — Senator Cropsey – Senate sponsor of the Michigan background checks legislation

Why do we need legislation for background checks on online dating sites?
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee I'm always concerned about people being victimized by criminals, especially women and children are being violated by rapists and pedophiles. The United States Department of Justice reports that sexual assaults are the most under-reported crime in our nation. When vulnerable women and children are violated, the state prosecutes the sexual predator. The best situation is for women and children not to be victimized in the first place. At the very least online dating companies need to let their clientele know the risks that they face. If an online dating company is doing background checks, the company should state the limitations of the background checks. If the online dating company refuses to do a background check, then the company should clearly warn their clientele of the risks that they face. If more people become better informed and take proper precautions, then fewer women and children are victimized.

Rape is a terrible crime. A lady contacted my office who was raped 8 years ago. Just a few months ago she realized while she was sitting on her patio that she hadn't thought about the rape for 15 minutes…and that was a tremendous victory. Rape is a life sentence for the victim.

What is the likelihood of success for the legislation?
Legislation will eventually pass. Once the first state passes legislation several other states will follow. It's just a matter of time. In this case more victims are coming forward and saying that more protection is needed. One of the things the online dating companies cannot afford to happen is for them to appear that they are not doing all they can to protect women and children. My offer to online dating companies is, come sit down and help write legislation that gives additional safety to your clientele.

What are the next steps for the legislation?
This summer we are working on this issue to see if we can reach an agreement with the online dating companies on background check notices that would help to protect and educate their clients.

How can online dating companies help?
Online dating companies need to help find a solution and thereby reduce victimization, to let us know their ideas and work with us. At the very least they can send me an email with their ideas. Eventually the online dating companies can get together with me in Lansing to help craft this legislation. We need law enforcement, victims, and online dating companies to sit down and figure out how to address this issue. You can expect this to happen within the next couple of months.

It would be helpful if the online dating companies had a leadership team that can speak for their industry. It is impractical to have 50 online dating services show up and want to sit down with the victims and law enforcement organizations. Virtually every other organization realizes the benefit of having a representative group; such as doctors, lawyers, insurance agencies. Most groups realize they need someone to speak for them for the benefit of their industries.

At this point, legislation is in the conceptual stage. The online dating companies can have a maximum impact at this early stage to shape the legislation. When the online dating companies understand the concerns of the legislature, they can work to meet that concern. Do not wait for a bad incident to happen and have the legislature stampede a law through that does not take everything into consideration. Online dating companies need someone who has the authority to speak for the industry.

Are there other areas that you are thinking of applying such legislation?
Whenever the government sees a significant problem it will try to remedy that problem through law. This is not the first time that an internet business would be subject to government regulation. Michigan had spam legislation signed a year ago. Background checks are being performed in other areas of life, such as in public schools and daycare centers.

What happened with the Michigan legislation this time around?
The only holdup is that it didn't get past the state senate. I was initially responsible for delaying the legislation. My position has changed. I now believe that legislation is needed. The House of Representatives has already overwhelmingly passed legislation. If legislation passes the senate, it will pass the house.
A year ago I did not see a need for legislation until a bad incident happened near my district. A stalker killed himself as he was planting explosives in a woman's house that he met online. This was an epiphany for me. It made me realize that there is danger here. That the legislature needs to address the issue; what are we doing to protect vulnerable women and children from sexual predators that are using the internet?

What did you think of the mobile internet dating convention?
The meeting we had was very productive. I learned a lot from the discussion and thoroughly enjoyed the forum. I want to thank iDate for inviting me.

Mark Brooks: The Michigan legislation passed the Michigan House by a 74-14 margin in the last legislative session. The bill made it to the Senate at the end of the session where Cropsey held the bill up (as Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee) and the session came to a close. At the start of this session, Cropsey decided to champion the bill. The bill passed out of his committee, but the full Senate wanted the Sex Offender language (a change so significant, it had to go back to Committee before full Senate consideration).

For Online Daters, Love Not Always True

Posted on August 8, 2005

DALLAS NEWS — Aug 4 — Rhodes showed up his date revealed she had a picture online that was at least 35 years younger. Terri ended up meeting a man who was married with two children. As dating moves from clicking in bars to clicking a mouse, questions are arising about what online dating services are doing to protect subscribers from deception. The Texas Legislature joined several states that were considering legislation to require disclosure of background checks but the proposed Texas legislation died at the end of the session. The databases that background check companies use are generally out of date by up toa year. There's also difficulty in defining an Internet dating site; i.e. online chat rooms and craigslist classifieds. Proponents like Herb Vest, CEO of True.com, contend that checks will help weed out unsuitable mates. True.com’s screenings result in the rejection of ~ 5% because offelony criminal records, and another 4% who already are married. “It’s not foolproof, but I think it’s very effective,” Vest said. “We’re very serious about enforcing these rules.” Match.com and Yahoo! Personals rely on subscribers to alert them to dishonest members.

Dating Sites Rekindle the Flame

Posted on August 2, 2005

— July 29 — Seeking someone who's a "giver," a "rebel" or an "observer"? Yahoo Personals now lets you search for them. Dying to know if Ms. Right is a philanderer or a felon? True will run a background check. Online-dating sites raked in $473 million from American customers in 2004, according to JupiterResearch, which expects revenue to reach $516 million this year. At the same time, it's becoming more expensive for dating sites to advertise online and woo enough new customers to create a viable site, said Mark Brooks, an industry consultant who blogs about the business. "We're going through the big squeeze," he said, "One in which consolidation looms and innovation is key to survival." True, for one, allows so-called "bidirectional blocking": Users can block other members forever and decide who can peruse their own ads. "Basically," said True chief psychologist Jim Houran, "you're really empowering clients." Big deal, sniffs Nate Elliott, an analyst with JupiterResearch. The bells and whistles "don't really matter to customers," he said. "If you give them a large number of photos and profiles, they're happy. Beyond that, it's all incremental." Niche marketing sites include BlackPeopleMeet.com, Christian Mingle and BBWHarmony (BBW stands for "big beautiful women"), along with "adult" sites for the instant-gratification crowd. The quickie-oriented sites are growing rapidly, but "they've flown under the radar," said Brooks. Mark Thompson, CEO of weAttract.com, thinks short video clips are the future. "Jump ahead 10 years, and it will all be video-based." FULL ARTICLE @ WIRED NEWS

Defensive Dating

Posted on July 19, 2005

ABC NEWS — July 14 — Technology is here to help you distinguish potential soulmates from future cellmates. Nearly one out of every two unmarried people have tried Internet dating in recent years, turning it into a $1 billion business. True.com performs criminal background checks and warns that "married people will be prosecuted." eLove.com, requires new members undergo face-to-face screenings at which officials verify pictures. Cheaters are more than welcome at AshleyMadison.com. MyPrivateLine.com provides an untraceable, toll-free phone number that you can set up in minutes for 15 cents a minute. Engage.com is carving out a role for friends and family.

The full article was originally published at ABC News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: True's 'married people will be prosecuted' insignia is brilliant. I wonder how many Marrieds the background checks catch?

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