Category: Uncategorized

MARKET WIRE — Sept 28 — RoommateClick.com, a subsidiary of MoveOnIn.com, announced today it has forged a strategic alliance with Verified Person Inc., becoming the first roommate portal to offer self-initiated background checks.

Mark Brooks: Clearly, a great value add for a roommate service. Beyond TRUE.com we've yet to see another major online personals company to add background checks however.  Who will be the second site I wonder?

PRIMEZONE — Sept 27 — WaveMarket a pioneer in location-based services, today announced that the company has partnered with Psynet, the leading mobile dating application company and SK Telecom, Korea's number one mobile communications company, to launch the world's first operator-based location-based dating alert service. SK Telecom subscribers can receive notifications when they are near a potential date-match. Weekend clubbing will never be the same. Users are alerted when a fellow user with a compatible profile is nearby and an anonymous chat can be initiated real time on your mobile phone.

Mark Brooks: Wow, I need to get to South Korea and check this out!  The Asian internet dating convention is in May '06 in Beijing btw.  Location based services are the way of the future.  However, U.S. carriers have some concerns about liability.  The technology is ready though, apparently. 

I’m interviewing Dr John Gray for Online Personals Watch shortly.  The interview will be released on Online Personals Watch mid-October.  He wrote the best selling classic Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus along with 14 other relationship books. 

What questions should I ask him?  Please add your questions as comments and I’ll take a pick of your requested questions.  Thanks.  Mark Brooks

KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE BUSINESS NEWS — Sept 22 — MySpace has 29 million members with 110,000 new members joining each day, and more than 350,000 musicians profiles.  Intermix Media parent company) was purchased in July by NewsCorp for $580 million.  danah boyd, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, who doesn’t capitalize her name, studies the demographics of MySpace as part of her research on social technology. She said most MySpace members are younger than 22, and she compared them to the young people who spent hours on the phone or hanging out in malls in the 1980s.  MySpace offers special features for musicians and bands including Mp3 players that can be added to a profile for free, giving independent musicians an easy way to get their music heard. The site also has an extensive list of area shows. 

Mark Brooks: New social networks could be built around other specific interests such as gaming.

PR NEWSWIRE — Sept 19 — MyFamily.com, the leading network for connecting families with their histories and with one another, announced today the appointment of Tim Sullivan as the company's president and CEO.

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

THE HARVARD CRIMSON — Sept 16 — Three weeks ago thefacebook.com was shortened to facebook.com. In the wake of an aesthetic overhaul and substantial expansion, facebook.com has more changes in store for its four million users, including expanded personal photo pages and a possible blog-like feature.  Facebook.com also unveiled a high-school version, hs.facebook.com, two weeks ago.  Today, facebook.com has 3.8 million registered college-affiliated users from 1,531 different North American colleges.

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

NBC — Sept 14 — Around the world, bars and clubs are hosting "quiet parties." No music, no cell phones. No talking at all. The whole concept of the party is to communicate with body language, sign language or paper and pencil. FULL ARTICLE @ WIS TV

Mark Brooks: Like sensory deprivation tanks…I can see this being fun as a one time experience.  I hope it doesn’t catch on. 

EMARKETER — In 2005, U.S. internet advertising spending will reach $12.9 billion (and $22.3B in 2009) – double 2002’s $6.0 billion – according to eMarketer projections. Much of the increase is coming at the expense of other, traditional media channels.  FULL REPORT @ EMARKETER

Mark Brooks: Marketers love trackable ROI.  However, online personals companies will continue to toy with offline advertising, led by eharmony’s example.  Cupid.com is master of the radio advertising channel.

Good news, bad news…The bad news is, we’re stiiiill working on the anonymous phone calling services white paper and the mobile dating white papers.  The good news is, it’s because we’ve gone COMPLETELY OVERBOARD!!!  We just keep coming across new things we want to include.  What to do.  Anyway, hang tight and drop me an email if you’d like to receive the first copies of either of the white papers.  The anonymous phone calling services white paper will be out first.  Mark Brooks, Editor, Online Personals Watch

Good news, bad news…The bad news is, we’re stiiiill working on the anonymous phone calling services white paper and the mobile dating white papers.  The good news is, it’s because we’ve gone COMPLETELY OVERBOARD!!!  We just keep coming across new things we want to include.  What to do.  Anyway, hang tight and drop me an email if you’d like to receive the first copies of either of the white papers.  The anonymous phone calling services white paper will be out first.  Mark Brooks, Editor, Online Personals Watch