Category: TRUE.com

Online Dating Sites Quarrel Over Background Checks

Posted on March 4, 2005

TECHWEB — Mar 3 — True has taken on the rest of the online dating industry in pushing state legislators to require matchmaking sites to conduct criminal background checks on members or post a warning that no such screening has been done.  "We believe this legislation would save lives and prevent rapes, robberies and assaults," Herb Vest, True CEO.  "I believe this raises the bar on the industry and it would bring many more single people, currently not using online-dating services, into our industry, once it's perceived as safe."  Kristin Kelly, Match PR Director said, "It's special-interest legislation whereby you are taking a market differentiator of a particular company, and, through legislation, enforcing it on the rest of us."  Nevertheless, True insists it will push on with its campaign, expecting some states to sign some type of regulation by the summer. The rest of the industry plans to keep on fighting, with Match.com leading the charge.

Mark Brooks: True has lit a PR firestorm by shooting for the soft underbelly of the industry and then playing David and Goliath with Match.com.  Great PR ploy, but what will be the long term effects of inviting political attention?  Your comments please…

True Legislation; Added Support of California

Posted on February 28, 2005

PRNEWSWIRE — Feb 28 — True today announced that California is the sixth state to commit to its ground-breaking initiative to implement legislation to protect online daters from interacting with sexual predators and convicted criminals. The campaign, which started in Texas last year, has gained support in states across the country, including Ohio, Virginia, Florida and Michigan.

Mark Brooks: If the legislation passes, competitors will have to prominently state that they don't do background checks on their sites.  Very smart PR campaign…seems to be getting more traction than even the CEO, Herb Vest, expected.

Park Place Singles Offers Columbus Singles a Safer Way to Meet

Posted on February 24, 2005

PRWEB — Feb 24 — If you’re married, you can’t join. They check.  Park Place Singles was formed to accommodate Columbus singles through fun and relaxed events. Many of the members like having the ability to communicate and network with other members through an interactive ‘member’s only’ website. Peace of mind is an added benefit. Through a National Background check, Park Place screens all applicants for marital status and any felony or other reported convictions that may have been of a physically violent or threatening nature.  FULL RELEASE @ PRWEB

Mark Brooks: True popularized background checks for simples and now the idea is morphing over to 'real world' singles clubs. 

Park Place Singles Offers Columbus Singles a Safer Way to Meet

Posted on February 24, 2005

PRWEB — Feb 24 — If you’re married, you can’t join. They check.  Park Place Singles was formed to accommodate Columbus singles through fun and relaxed events. Many of the members like having the ability to communicate and network with other members through an interactive ‘member’s only’ website. Peace of mind is an added benefit. Through a National Background check, Park Place screens all applicants for marital status and any felony or other reported convictions that may have been of a physically violent or threatening nature.  FULL RELEASE @ PRWEB

Mark Brooks: True popularized background checks for simples and now the idea is morphing over to 'real world' singles clubs. 

MSN Viral Campaign Mentions True

Posted on February 24, 2005

MEDIADAILYNEWS — Feb 24 — MSN will supplement its massive TV, radio and Web ad campaign for its new search service with a viral campaign dubbed “MSN Found” built around six fictional bloggers who collect MSN Search results, also links to phenomenon like exploding whales.  42 Entertainment will be creating viral programs to promote the search engine.  msnfound.com collects all the blogs together.  Several of the blogs also mention the dating site True; MSN declined to comment on any relationship with the dating service by publication time. 

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

Mark Brooks: MSN is (currently) partnered with Match.com for MSN Match.  Denise is the blogger in question.  "Age: 31, Occupation: I own my own local dating service, True.  Drooling over: The new True dating questionnaire. Talk about soulful!"

Lycos Launches Dating Search

Posted on February 23, 2005

PRNEWSWIRE — Feb 23 — Lycos Dating Search http://www.datingsearch.lycos.com allows users to browse results from iMatchup.com, LoveAccess, Matchmaker, Tickle and True all in one place.  "Rather than searching on many different dating sites, online date seekers can now quickly narrow the available field of prospective matches on Lycos Dating Search.  We also reintroduced Lycos the dog and the familiar 'Go Get It' slogan," said Adam Soroca, GM Search Services.  50% of online daters evaluate more than one dating site during any given month. 

Mark Brooks: From an end user perspective this is a great service.  But, does Lycos Dating Search commoditize the online dating sites involved?  If many more sites jump on this bandwagon Lycos will be on to an extremely good thing. 

Wanted: 1 Million Men Looking for Long Term Relationships

Posted on February 20, 2005

BUSINESS WIRE — Feb 15 — Following the Valentine's Dr Phil in which he announced 1 million free memberships to viewers at home, over 90% of the signups were women.  To balance the number of women PerfectMatch.com is giving away two month memberships to men at http://www.tryperfectmatch.com.

Mark Brooks: I'll be reviewing PerfectMatch, along with True and eHarmony in the next One2One magazine.

Aiming For Love Online; Sites Reviewed by Couples

Posted on February 19, 2005

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS — Feb 14 — Now there's even more help. Online dating sites are boasting they have uncovered the digital alchemy for amour, offering 'scientific' tests to help the lovelorn find their true soul mate. How good are they? We let four married couples try the tests at eHarmony, Yahoo Personals, Tickle and True. Each partner took the online personality tests designed to probe their psyches (fibbing a little to indicate they were single) and checked out whether the system matched them with their real mates. The results suggest that 'science' isn't always the last word when it comes to true romance. 

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

Aiming For Love Online; Sites Reviewed by Couples

Posted on February 19, 2005

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS — Feb 14 — Now there's even more help. Online dating sites are boasting they have uncovered the digital alchemy for amour, offering 'scientific' tests to help the lovelorn find their true soul mate. How good are they? We let four married couples try the tests at eHarmony, Yahoo Personals, Tickle and True. Each partner took the online personality tests designed to probe their psyches (fibbing a little to indicate they were single) and checked out whether the system matched them with their real mates. The results suggest that 'science' isn't always the last word when it comes to true romance. 

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

Online Personals Sites Customer Experience Ranking

Posted on February 18, 2005

BUSINESS WIRE — Feb 14 — Yahoo! Personals, Match.com and True.com provided the best search functionality and dating information, earning the highest customer experience rankings. Yahoo! Personals, AmericanSingles and eHarmony ranked highest among prospective customers.  The Keynote Customer Experience Rankings are based on research with 2,000 customers and 2,000 prospective customers using American Singles, Black Planet, eHarmony, Friend Finder, Friendster, Lavalife, Match.com, PerfectMatch, Tickle, True and Yahoo! Personals.  "Consumer satisfaction with online dating sites is considerably lower than satisfaction levels seen with other online services. However, these diminished satisfaction levels are driven primarily by the personal expectations of the customer and their interaction with other members," said Dr. Bonny Brown. The best sites were well organized and easy to use.  Poorer sites were cluttered with ads or heavy text.  83% of start at a search engine. A clear advantage for Yahoo! Personals; 40% started at Yahoo.  eHarmony was the most common destination for Google searchers.  50% of customers expressed interest in personality tests, 50% in physical attraction testing. 45% interested in background checks.  30% of online dating service customers in the study were married or living with a significant other/partner!  Tickle is considered the "fun" site; 73% described the site that way. Yahoo! Personals is considered the "friendly" site (76%), and True is the "safe" site (69%).

Mark Brooks: How did Keynote end up with a sample set containing 30% non-singles?