PR NEWSWIRE — Oct 10 — The multi-year agreement with Friendster allows TRUE to offer Friendster members online dating. The Friendster Web site will now host a co-branded "Love" page, with content provided by TRUE that includes member profiles, and dating tips and advice. Friendster also will integrate TRUE profiles in its People Section and its People Search result pages.
Mark Brooks: TRUE has been courting Friendster and advertising with them for a while. This is a good fit. Congrats.
THE REGISTER — Oct 9 — Sex helps boost the immune system, boosts longevity and helps ward off cancer according to Dr Carl Charnetski of Wilkes University. Sex results in a more youthful appearance according to a study by Dr David Weeks of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, and co-author of Superyoung (1999). Sex helps reduce stress by lowering anxiety levels, boosting relaxation, and aiding sleeping. Sex helps fight depression according to a study by Dr Gordon Gallup of SUNY Albany. Sex is good exercise and helps circulation, lowers cholesterol, and releasing helpful endorphins and sex helps in losing weight, a little.
The full article was originally published at The Register, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Over the next couple of years internet dating sites will extend beyond personality profiling and offer more sexual matchmaking options. SexSearch and AdultFriendFinder deal with sexuality and casual dating head on. TRUE offers a (relatively tame) test called Sexploration. Other sites get into fetish matching and Alt, takes things to the extreme.
PR NEWSWIRE — Oct 2 — TRUE's lawsuit against a convicted felon who misrepresented himself on TRUE has been settled. He agreed to not sign up to any online dating or relationship service, do community service and pay monetary damages to be donated to the Safer Online Dating Alliance or another organization dedicated to the mission of improving consumer safety.
Mark Brooks: TRUE started this suit back in Oct/Nov last year. See link. Your comments please.
PR NEWSWIRE — Sep 21 — TRUE is now providing in-depth ad placement to advertisers, directly. Members are offered products and services that may be of interest based on registration information.
Mark Brooks: TRUE has made a big advertising push and is now generating enough traffic volume to targeted advertising worthwhile.
OPW — Sep 21 — I signed up for eHarmony, Sexsearch, TRUE, Yahoo Personals, American Singles and Match in November 2005. I ran an experiment starting in July 2006. What would happen if I cancelled the card instead of cancelling with the service? Would they cancel the service automatically, email me for my new card number, or transfer the charges to the new card. Here's the results three months later.
American Singles – cancelled, no more charges
eHarmony – cancelled, no more charges
Match – cancelled, no more charges
Sexsearch – cancelled, no more charges
TRUE – cancelled, no more charges
Yahoo Personals – carried on charging the new card
(Yahoo also continued charging for Overture. Google Adwords cancelled out)
I called in to Yahoo Personals to see how lenient their refund policy was. They cancelled the membership but were rigid on their refund policy, despite the card number change. August and September charges were not refunded. Interesting. So, how lenient should your membership refund policy be?
Membership to my little Silicon Valley social club, Ace Club, is $19.95 a month with a 90 day no quibble money back guarantee. 1 in 200 takes me up on refund within the 90 day period. Short refund policies and long refund policies work best. So, 3 to 7 day trials and 90 day money back guarantees. The people who request refunds within the 90 day period should provide you with good feedback/service improvement information for your service. If they're not happy, you need to know why. A 90 day money back guarantee will open up that feedback channel. Listen intently. The keys to the future profitability of your internet dating service are within that feedback.
I've heard some internet dating services have considered going free. No need. Just try a 90 day refund policy. Your conversion numbers will be favorable. Your long term return rates will be favorable. Just find a way to track them. See what happens 😉 Your comments please. – Mark Brooks
PR NEWSWIRE — Sep 12 — In a nationwide survey of more than 4,600 singles, TRUE, revealed 57% of respondents said they prefer their mate share a similar passion in sports. TRUE finds that a good relationship includes a mix between common interests, as well as hobbies that the couple enjoys separately.
PRNEWSWIRE — Aug 24 — "We are so excited that TRUE has eclipsed the 10 million member mark and continues to maintain that growth, signing up nearly a thousand new singles per hour," says Herb Vest, founder and CEO of TRUE. Hitwise ranked TRUE the #1 site in the Lifestyle-Dating category for three months in a row, out of the more than 1,421 sites. By conducting criminal background screenings before allowing members to communicate with one another, TRUE significantly reduces the number of felons on its site. TRUE also works with Federal and State agencies, including parole boards, by notifying them that a member has misrepresented his or her criminal or married status in order to improperly communicate with members. "I can't guarantee that ex-felons and marrieds cannot get on TRUE; but, I can guarantee that they will be very, very sorry that they did," says Vest. TRUE is the only online relationship service to offer scientifically based compatibility testing, uniquely endorsed by Psychology Today and independently certified to meet the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Your comments please.
May 4 — OPW — I'm starting a list of notable relationship/online dating psychologists. Who am I missing? Look on the left bar for other handy little lists.
Mar 27 — I've been asked what my personal opinion on background checks is…here it is, again. Background checks good! Background checks legislation bad! I just hope the background checks providers improve their checks to the point that they mesh with public perception. I'm glad to see TRUE has volunteered that checks are not perfect (recently in a TV interview). I don't think background checks legislation is necessary. It's drawn a lot of attention on the industry and shed the wrong light on us. When a paying subscriber lays down their credit card, they are exposing themselves, their identity. They can be traced. Why someone with malicious intent would sign up with their credit card on a paid online dating site is beyond me. The free dating sites and social networks don't have this protective layer. The social networks don't ask for credit cards but the press have blown things out of proportion with the social networking sites as well. Internet dating (most especially on paid sites) is simply far safer than the real world. I know you're all sick to death of this…but, your comments please. – Mark Brooks
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.