Category: Uncategorized

PRWEB — Feb 10 — OnlinePersonalsWatch.com officially launched today as the premier source for online personals news and industry information. "Finding the right partner is the most important decision a person can make. Online personals sites hold great promise in helping us improve the quality of these decisions. I hope to give greater visibility to the industry as a whole with OnlinePersonalsWatch," stated editor, Mark Brooks.

BANKRATE — Feb 10 — American men and women will spend an average $135 each on gifts for Valentine’s Day this year — dinners and romantic outings excluded. In the Christianization of cultures, ancient celebrations were often replaced by Christian holidays. Some claim that this is the case with Valentine’s Day, which falls around the time of the pagan Lupercalia festival. Lupercalia, like many great ancient rituals, included a good old-fashioned goat slaughter. The goat meat was cut into strips, dunked in sacrificial blood and then used to lightly slap women and crops, a ritual that was supposed to make them more fertile. According to legend, single women would then place their names in an urn. Bachelors of the city would draw a name out of the urn and the couple would be paired for the year.

BUSINESS WIRE — Feb 9 — "Online Dating: Serious Daters Offer Salve For Slowing Growth" is based on a survey of over 2,300 online adults, and also includes JupiterResearch’s forecast for the growth of the online personals market. The report finds that 33% fewer consumers are browsing online personals today than one year ago, causing the industry growth to slow considerably. "The industry grew by 73% in 2002 and 77% in 2003. But in 2004, as the number of users actually started to decline, the market grew by only 19%. In 2005, the industry will grow by just 9%, to $516 million." With fewer users browsing online personals, dating sites have focused on increasing conversions. "Serious daters present an attractive opportunity for personals sites. These users convert 20% more often, are twice as likely to purchase long-term subscriptions and pay up to twice as much per month as casual daters," stated Elliott. For additional information on the online personals report or visit www.jupiterresearch.com or contact Kieran Kelly at 1-800-481-1212.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD — Feb 9 — After a dramatic takeoff, the online dating industry seems to have reached its cruising altitude. US consumers spent ~$228 million on online personals the first half of 2004, up 6% from 2003. Two years ago, spending on online dating had quadrupled in a year and then grown by about 49% the following year. The recent plateau forces online dating companies to do some soul-searching to keep attracting young singles. Nate Elliott, Jupiter Research predicts more modest growth – about 20% over a four-year period. Some seekers are joining singles groups, helping their memberships surge. Some are finding free ways to meet and greet online in places such as Craigslist. Even industry insiders acknowledge that they need to do a better job. "We've been slack," said Kristin Kelly, senior director of public affairs for Match.com.

The full article was originally published at Omaha World-Herald, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Barry, meet Kristin, Kristin meet Barry.

BUSINESS TIMES — Feb 8 — WaveMarket Inc. said Monday it has received $9.4 million in venture capital funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson; will use the money to fund its Crunkie service, which is an Internet social network like Friendster that also tells mobile phone users where other users are physically located. Allows users to be notified if their friends or important locations are nearby. FULL ARTICLE @ BIZ JOURNALS

Mark Brooks: Location based wireless dating services; one to watch. I wonder if anyone is talking about this technology at the Wireless/Mobile Dating Conference in July? Marc?

MCCALL — Feb 7 — A notion has blossomed to address the holiday not by scorning it, but by redefining it as a time for celebrating The Greatest Love of All: Yourself. Quirkyalones aren’t looking for partners to make their lives complete. They prefer lifetimes of solitude to compromising their romantic integrity and feel just as comfortable single as they do in relationships. Roughly 70% are women. This attitude is becoming more prevalent among young women, in part because they no longer need to rely on husbands for financial security, experts say. One-quarter of U.S. women between ages 30 and 34 have never been married, almost four times the rate in 1970, according to the 2003 U.S. Census.

MCCALL — Feb 7 — A notion has blossomed to address the holiday not by scorning it, but by redefining it as a time for celebrating The Greatest Love of All: Yourself. Quirkyalones aren’t looking for partners to make their lives complete. They prefer lifetimes of solitude to compromising their romantic integrity and feel just as comfortable single as they do in relationships. Roughly 70% are women. This attitude is becoming more prevalent among young women, in part because they no longer need to rely on husbands for financial security, experts say. One-quarter of U.S. women between ages 30 and 34 have never been married, almost four times the rate in 1970, according to the 2003 U.S. Census.

NEWS SENTINEL — Feb 7 — In this increasingly specialized world of ours, there is literally something for everybody.  But you may ask: "Eric, those sites are for the uptown crowd; I’m a little more down-to-earth. Where can I go to find true love?"  Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I give you redneckandsingle.com.  Turns out rednecks are pretty much like the rest of us until it comes time to list their hobbies and tastes, which run the gamut from raisin’ critters to raisin’ crops to fixin’ stuff.  The site was founded by Kevin McIntosh of Winston-Salem, N.C., who saw this venture as a way to connect rednecks who find themselves living in an increasingly un-redneck age.