Internet Dating Newswire

MEETIC Steps Up The Expansion Of Its Events Business With Pastas Party

MEETIC Steps up the Expansion of Its Events Business with Pastas Party

May 20, 2012 -- /REUTERS/ -- MEETIC (Paris: MEET) (MEET - FR0004063097), the European leader in online dating, has announced the signature of an agreement to acquire the assets of Pastas Party, the leading French website for singles events. Meetic, which brings together the largest community of singles in France and Europe, will build on the expertise and experience of Pastas Party to enhance its new events service and develop it on a European level. Created in 2007 by Héloïse Dion, Pastas Party has developed a range of singles events across France and runs a community of nearly 100,000 singles.

Meetic consolidates its status as “the maker of meetings”

In December 2012 Meetic successfully launched a complementary service that opened up new opportunities for its members in France and elsewhere in Europe to meet: Meetic Soirées. Already more than 300 Soirées have been organised, bringing together more than 35,000 Meetic members and guests in friendly surroundings close to where they live.

“In order to give Meetic members ever more chances to meet, we wanted to offer a more varied programme of events. We therefore naturally chose to draw on the expertise of a company with an established reputation in the organisation of singles events.” noted Alexandre Lubot, the Meetic Group’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Héloïse Dion will head Meetic Group’s events division

Héloïse Dion and her team will be responsible for creating Soirées in each European country covered by the Meetic group. She will also develop new event concepts to meet the expectations of singles in the Meetic community.

“In just six years we have developed a unique event offering for singles throughout France, from dinners to cookery courses or cocktail workshops. We are therefore delighted to be joining Meetic and to offer these events – and many others besides – to Meetic members and to expand the range of events available to members of Pastas Party.” added the founder of Pastas Party.

About Meetic Group, European online dating leader (www.meetic-corp.com):
Meetic manages online dating services, mainly under the meetic, meetic affinity, match and twoo brands, and markets two highly complementary economic models on the dating market, one based on internet use, the other on mobile phones. From inception, the group has pursued a clear leadership strategy focusing on quality, innovative marketing and perfect technological expertise. Meetic works hard to optimise service quality and to satisfy every possible expectation of its European subscribers. IAC/InterActiveCorp is Meetic’s main shareholder, with an 81% stake.

Listed on Euronext Paris - Compartment B of the NYSE Euronext
ISIN: FR0004063097

eHarmony Launches Next-Generation Customer Experience; Undergoes Brand-Wide Redesign Across All Device Platforms

Transforms Customer Experience with New Approach to Member Profile, Relationship Questionnaire, and Personality Profile; Removes All Third-Party Ads

May 15, 2013 -- /BUSINESSWIRE/ -- eHarmony.com today announced the broad availability of its next-generation site. Code named “Malibu,” the redesign creates a distinct customer experience that reflects the eHarmony brand promise of building lasting relationships through deep compatibility. One of several key milestones for the company since founder Dr. Neil Clark Warren returned as CEO, eHarmony is driving new growth, with more people joining the service and rising customer engagement.

“This is a transformation of the customer experience that is already bringing more people to eHarmony,” said Dr. Warren. “In keeping with our unique dimensions of compatibility and our emphasis on building deep connections, our team created an experience that mirrors that focus. This redesign is a significant milestone for eHarmony as we continue to lead the industry in innovation and compatibility.”

The redesign is comprehensive, with a particular focus on the member profile pages as the most visible and important part of the eHarmony experience. eHarmony reviewed this feature across the industry and found the status quo was similar in every format, focused on efficiency rather than making a deep connection.

“The new eHarmony member profile showcases each individual in a touch-friendly, side-scrolling magazine that encourages you to really get to know that person and make an emotional connection,” said Arvind Mishra, Vice President of Product Management. “The typical dating-site profile is purely functional, presenting a fact sheet on each person. We wanted to challenge the notion of what the traditional online dating experience should feel like.”

eHarmony also removed all third-party ads to create a focused, relationship-driven experience for its customers without any distractions.

In addition to revamping the member profile pages, eHarmony transformed the famous eHarmony relationship questionnaire from a daunting, clinical form into a welcoming, easy-to-use experience. The new sign-up process now takes half the time to complete, and the company has seen a 20 percent increase in the number of users who finish the questionnaire.

The Product and Design teams also revamped another long-time mainstay, the Personality Profile, which will be released later this week. Now called the Book of You™, the report gives members a beautiful and engaging way to learn about their own personalities which eHarmony views as a critical step when it comes to being ready for relationship. The Book of You is available to all users who complete the relationship questionnaire, free of charge.

Across the desktop, tablet and iPhone platforms, network engagement is up. The new experience is currently available to U.S. customers both on the website and on the iPhone; Android expected in the coming months. The company will release the experience for its customers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and on Compatible Partners later this summer.

About eHarmony, Inc.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based eHarmony, Inc. (www.eharmony.com) was founded in 2000 and is a pioneer in using relationship science to match singles seeking long-term relationships. Its service presents users with compatible matches based on key dimensions of personality that are scientifically proven to predict highly successful long-term relationships. On average, 542 people marry every day in the U.S. as a result of being matched on eHarmony, nearly 5% of new marriages.* Currently, eHarmony operates online matchmaking services in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Brazil.

^{*2009 survey conducted for eHarmony by Harris Interactive®.}

Comprehensive Dating Industry Vendor Directory At iDateDirectory.com

iDateDirectory.com lists suppliers and vendors for the online dating business. The directory also lists online dating sites, mobile dating apps, matchmakers and dating coaches.

May 2, 2013 -- /WEBWIRE/ -- Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces the first-ever comprehensive dating industry vendor directory.  It can be accessed at http://www.iDateDirectory.com

iDateDirectory.com lists suppliers and vendors for the online dating business.  It includes among others: dating software, instant messaging (IM), chat software, hosting, payment processing, fraud detection, news resources, customer care centers and profile enhancement providers.

The directory also has a list of online dating sites, mobile dating apps, matchmakers and dating coaches.  It is constantly being updated, allowing both vendors and dating sites to submit their names for inclusion.

Provided by the iDate Dating Industry Conference, iDateDirectory.com is a free service to utilize. It is accessible by invite only.  You can request an invitation at www.idatedirectory.com/request-to-join

iDate Dating Industry Conference
For over 10 years, "iDate" Dating Business Conferences continue to be the largest dating industry events.  iDate covers every facet of the dating industry. C level executives attend and network at each iDate event.

The goal of iDate is to provide dating business executives advanced education, ideas, insight and networking to identify new opportunities, improve traffic and gain higher revenues.

For more information on the next event, please visit the website
http://www.iDateConference.com.

MVPdate.com Launches As The Premier Online Dating Site For Sports Fans

A niche-dating site dedicated to connecting sports fans for meet ups, friendships, and long-lasting relationships.

April 29, 2013 -- /PR WEB/ -- MVPdate.com is excited to announce its launch into the online dating world. This niche-dating site is dedicated to connecting sports fans for social networking, friendships, and long-lasting relationships. MVPdate.com creates a fun environment for people to meet and bond over their love of sports and professional sports teams. Members can choose their favorite sports teams and search for friends, meet ups, or romantic relationship, based on their love of sports and common interest in these teams.

Chris Schmidt, Co-Founder, said “MVPdate.com brings an entirely new perspective to online dating and meet ups. Members can find a compatible match and plan the entire experience online. Our partnerships with apparel, ticket brokerages, restaurants, bring you all the tools to enhance your meet up experience”. MVPdate.com is quickly growing to become one of the premier online dating and meet up facilitator for sports fans. Its core presence will be in the New York metro, but will quickly expand nationally with recent support from financial backers. Our growth strategy includes developing a meet-up environment for local sports leagues (i.e. kickball, flag football, softball, etc.) and partnering with college alumni organizations to become an official vendor for NCAA outings. These components are part of our phase I plan and will be fully executed by Q3 2013.

Find a fan gathering, dating match, purchase game day tickets, pick out your latest apparel, MVPdate.com offers it’s members the complete dating experience. For more information, please contact publicrelations(at)mvpdate(dot)com.

New Online Dating Survey Shows 52% Of Women Are Comfortable Dating Men 30+ Years Older Than Them

According to a recent survey conducted by SugarDaddyForMe.com, famous men like Al Pacino, Michael Douglas and Hugh Heffner are not the only older men that younger women would be comfortable dating.

April 23, 2013-- /PR WEB/ -- The world’s largest sugar daddy online dating website , SugarDaddyForMe.com, has published surprising statistics reflecting the current attitudes regarding age gaps between men and women. The recent online survey was completed by over 4 thousand active sugar baby members on the adult dating site. The data reveals 52% of women feel comfortable with dating men 30 years older than themselves, with the highest percentage of these women living in Oregon.

• 52% of the women who completed the survey said they would be comfortable dating a man who was 30 years older than them.
• 27% said they would date a man 40 years older than them.
• 13% said they would date a man 50 years older than them.
• 7% of the women surveyed even said they would be comfortable dating a man a full 60 years older than them.

Attitudes about dating older men and the social acceptability are rapidly changing, according to the sugar daddy dating site. Almost every woman, a full 85% of those surveyed said they were comfortable dating men with a 20 year age gap. 58% of women said they would casually date a man 30 years older, while 41% of women said they would marry a man 30 years older.

• 36% of the women surveyed said they would be comfortable having a man 30 years older than them as their date for a family dinner.
• 32% would be comfortable having a man 30 years older than them as their date to go clubbing with friends.
• A full 62% of the women surveyed said they would be comfortable going on a date to a restaurant or a movie with a man 30 years older than them.
• And 60% would be comfortable traveling with a man 30 years older than them.

Additionally, when respondents were asked if the negative opinions of friends and family would stop them from dating a sugar daddy they were happy with, 89% responded that these negative opinions would rarely or never cause them to stop seeing him.

So where are these sugar babies who are so open to dating older sugar daddies? According to the dating site survey, the top 5 states with the highest percentage of women happy to date a man 30 years older than them were:
1. Oregon
2. Hawaii
3. Delaware
4. Maine
5. Montana

For the Hugh Heffners of the world, the top 5 states where women are happy to date a man 60 years older than them include Minnesota, Nevada, Massachusetts, Indiana and Hawaii.

To view the full results of the survey, please visit http://www.sugardaddyforme.com

About SugarDaddyForMe.com
Online dating website, SugarDaddyForMe.com is the World’s Largest Sugar Daddy Matchmaking, Personals and Dating service with over 4 million members. Since launching in 2005, the website has set the mold for the sugar daddy cultural phenomenon with the goal to bring together successful, generous men and attractive young women that love to be pampered, spoiled and supported. Recently featured in MTV's True Life episode "I Am a Sugar Baby ", two episodes of both The Montel Williams Show and The Tyra Banks Show, Good Morning America, The New York Times and numerous other TV shows, publications, documentaries and anthropological studies, SugarDaddyForMe.com is the world’s largest online dating website for sugar daddies and sugar babies looking for mutually rewarding relationships.

International Daters Are More Worldly And Willing To Take Risks Than Men Who Only Date "The Girl Next Door"

Premium International Dating Service Finds that International Daters Appear to be More Up to Speed on Technology and Traveling than People who only Date Locally

April 18, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Men who only date "the girl next door" tend to be more closed-minded and have less well-paying jobs than men who date international women whom they have met online, according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of AnastasiaDate, the leading provider of international dating technologies.

The AnastasiaDate/Harris Interactive findings indicate that international daters are more open to and interested in meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds that may even differ considerably from their own. The average member of AnastasiaDate earns more than $100,000 a year—nearly twice the average household income in the United States—holds a passport and has travelled internationally.

"The men who use AnastasiaDate are looking for love and relationships that are more interesting than what they have found in their hometowns, and the women these men meet online through our service provide a unique window into a way of experiencing the world that these men cannot find next door," said Mark Brooks , AnastasiaDate's Chief Strategy Officer. "International online dating is a means to broaden the traditional definition of what it means to be in a relationship, and more importantly, it brings a level of cultural awareness and understanding that can be transformative for both the men and women involved."

Of respondents who have a preference for dating someone outside of North America, 68 percent of them said that they would prefer to date someone who lives somewhere in Europe, including Eastern Europe, with Russia and the Ukraine.

"Choosing to date internationally is indicative of a person's strong sense of curiosity, adventure and desire to explore outside of their comfort zone and into the unknown," said Lawrence Cervantes , AnastasiaDate's Chief Communications Officer. "These individuals are already well-traveled and well-educated and looking for new ways to enhance their life experiences and expand their minds."

International daters are also more attuned to technology and all of the benefits that it can offer. Seventy-four percent of all respondents believe that nowadays, technology has made dating much easier, including meeting potential mates and setting up dates. And half of all respondents (50 percent) said that a video chat is the best way to get to know a person online, which reflects their eagerness to use the most up-to-date tools for communication and personal connection.

Additionally, these daters understand how online dating filters the overall dating pool to only reveal potential significant others who are most compatible with specific interests or character traits. Of the respondents who believe that there are advantages to online dating, 51 percent said that the variety of potential matches to select from is an advantage. Fifty percent said that having a personal profile that lets people know what their interests are is another advantage.

Perhaps most significant, though, is the fact that international daters realize that finding love in a different country, once a difficult and daunting task, is now right at their fingertips. The service AnastasiaDate alone has seen a 57 percent increase in Americans participating in international dating over the past five years and boasts 1.2 million conversations taking place on the site daily.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of AnastasiaDate from February 4-6, 2013, among 2,090 adults age 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample; therefore, no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please call KCSA Communications at 212-896-1252 or send an e-mail to anastasia@kcsa.com.

For more information, please visit: http://www.anastasiadate.com/news-page.html.

About AnastasiaDate

AnastasiaDate is a premium international dating service that facilitates exciting and romantic companionship with beautiful and interesting women from all over the world. Founded in 1993 by a Russian-American couple, AnastasiaDate now has over 4 million international users and attracts more than 10 million online visits monthly. Additionally, over 1.5 million conversations are exchanged onsite daily. AnastasiaDate is committed to member safety, customer satisfaction and the ongoing pursuit of innovation. Headquartered in Moscow and New York with additional representation in every country it touches, AnastasiaDate provides a high level of customer service to a worldwide clientele. AnastasiaDate users are able to communicate across a variety of top-notch multimedia platforms, including video chat and a mobile app for Android devices available in the Google Play store.

Successful Match Launches New Senior Dating Site For Singles Over 50

Successful Match has launched a new senior dating site for singles over 50: AgelessFish.com.

April 20, 2013 -- /PR WEB/ -- Successful Match, the original and first company that powers on-line dating sites in the niches of millionaire dating and sugar daddy dating, has launched a new senior dating site for singles over 50 to find friendship, companionship, and even serious relationship.

With Agelessfish.com, the online senior dating site powered by Successful Match, senior singles can quickly get connected with local active senior citizens who are single, over 50, and seeking someone to grow and do things together. Successful Match has been in the online dating business for over a decade. They have power matching technology and matching apps so that senior singles can keep in touch with community members any time and every where with portable mobile devices.

Senior singles can easily find others who live near them and who share the same interests with them by searching zip code and keywords such as golfing and traveling. To keep members’ privacy, Agelessfish has blocked search engines and non-logged in visitors from seeing members’ profiles. They also have privacy settings to ensure members’ profiles and photos won’t be available to certain members. To maintain Agelessfish.com as a focused dating site for senior singles, members under the age of 40 are not allowed. Other features are:

1.    Free to join, create profile and upload photos.
2.    Browse members from across the globe.
3.    Send and receive messages by email.
4.    Send a wink to break the ice and express interest.
5.    Create a list of favorite members.
6.    Send greeting cards.
7.    Participate in members’ discussion in forums and blogs
8.    Check out the site’s news feed and stay up to date.
9.    Post up to 27 photos.
10.    Check out stylish members’ fashion show photos.
11.    Receive compatible matches
12.    Get full mobile access
13.    24/7 telephone and email support.
14.    Live chat support with dating counselor.
15.    Get over 1,000 dating tips and advice.

The company saw a real need for over 50 people who are single and lonely to find love and companionship, according to Matt Mathew, product manager. “Finding a companion to do things together is what most over 50 singles want,” said Matt. “With Agelessfish.com, they can easily locate 50 plus singles in certain area and get to know their possible matches before they meet in person.”

For more information, visit http://www.agelessfish.com/

IAC Appoints Mandy Ginsberg To Chief Executive Officer Of Tutor.com

April 18, 2013 -- /PR NEWSWIRE/ -- IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) today announced that Mandy Ginsberg has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tutor.com, the online education solution which was acquired by IAC in January 2013, effective immediately.  Ginsberg previously served as CEO of IAC's flagship U.S. dating service, Match.com.  George Cigale , Tutor.com's founder, will remain as Founder and Chairman.   Amarnath Thombre will assume Ginsberg's responsibilities as President of Match, North America.  Thombre was previously Match.com's Chief Strategy Officer.  In addition, Sharmistha Dubey , Match.com's Chief Product Officer, will also join Tutor.com where she will be responsible for product and technology. 

"Mandy and Shar are as good as it gets in the consumer internet space, and George and his team have built a powerful asset at Tutor," said Greg Blatt , CEO of IAC.  "Combined, I really believe Tutor.com can be a real growth area for IAC in years to come.  Additionally, I feel great about the situation at Match, where Amarnath, who has been integral to Match's growth for so long, and Sam Yagan , the CEO of the Match segment, should drive our dating business forward to continued growth and success for the foreseeable future."

"Before IAC bought the company, my 9^th grade daughter was a Tutor.com customer," said Ginsberg, "So I know firsthand what a valuable service George and his team have created.  We believe we can transform and innovate the product to become a widely appealing consumer product effective at all levels of education, from grade school to professional training.  We see limitless opportunity, and I'm really excited to join the management team." 

After pairing up to help launch Chemistry.com for Match in 2006, Ginsberg and Dubey moved over to run Match.com's flagship U.S. brand in 2008, which achieved substantial growth during their five-year tenure. 

About Tutor.com
Tutor.com is the world's largest and highest-rated online learning service. The Tutor.com community of more than 2,500 professional experts has delivered more than 8 million one-to-one tutoring and professional development sessions in a proprietary online classroom optimized for learning, since 2001. Tutor.com powers tutoring and homework help programs for the Department of Defense; school districts across the country; colleges and universities; the states of Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota and Rhode Island; and, the District of Columbia and thousands of public libraries. For more information, please go to www.tutor.com.

About IAC
IAC (NASDAQ: IACI) is a leading media and Internet company comprised of more than 150 brands and products, including Match.com, Ask.com, CollegeHumor, and CityGrid Media. Focused in the areas of Search, Match, Local and Media, IAC's family of websites is one of the largest in the world, with nearly a billion monthly visits across more than 30 countries. The company is headquartered in New York City with offices in various locations throughout the U.S. and internationally. To view a full list of the companies of IAC, please visit our website at www.iac.com.

Twoo.com Now Available In Malay

Social Discovery powerhouse further localises by adding its 38th language.

April 14, 2013 -- /PR WEB/ -- Twoo.com, the largest site in the world to meet new people (ComScore, February 2013), is going one step further in localising its already hugely popular service. Today, Malay becomes the 38th language in which users can surf Twoo.com.

Twoo sees nearly 100,000 people using their service in Malaysia every month, most of them using the English language version of the site. In fact, usage in the region has doubled in the last three months.

Community Director Lien Louwagie commented: “We are overwhelmed with the amount of people who join Twoo every day. For nearly half of them, we know that their Twoo journey will result in a real world meet-up. Twoo is immensely popular in Malaysia, and hopefully that extra bit of local love will mean that even more Malay speakers will flock to our platform. We welcome them with open arms!”

Twoo is available on desktop, mobile and as a recently relaunched Android and iOS application. An application for Windows Phone is due to launch in April 2013.

ABOUT TWOO.COM
What makes Twoo special, and sets it apart from its competitors, is that it’s free to use, and it features innovative matchmaking algorithms that bring you closer to the people you want to meet. The site features an enormous number of active and real members; nearly 3 million active users every single day. Twoo.com is available in 38 languages and attracts over 10 million monthly unique visitors (comScore, February 2013).

For a look behind the scenes at Twoo, check out our Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ilikeTwoo

To join the 1.2 million people who follow Twoo on Facebook, visit: http://www.facebook.com/ilikeTwoo

SNAP Interactive Issues Updates On 2013 Strategy Mar 20, 2013

AreYouInterested.com Rebranded as AYI

March 20, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- SNAP Interactive, Inc. ("SNAP"), a leading social dating application, is pleased to announce that it has acquired the domain name ayi.com and has started rebranding its flagship AreYouInterested.com social dating platform as AYI. SNAP has already transitioned users to the new domain and expects to undertake significant marketing and branding initiatives around AYI during 2013.

"For years, a large percentage of our users have already referred to us as 'AYI' so this move makes all the sense in the world," said SNAP's President & CEO Cliff Lerner. "Rather than continue correcting them, we realized there was a significant opportunity here. One of our key initiatives for 2013 is to build a strong and recognizable brand for the AYI product and we started that process by acquiring a name that our users have already independently embraced. Shorter domain names are always preferable and we feel incredibly fortunate to be able to acquire a rare three-letter domain name, which so closely complements our existing product. Much of 2012 was spent re-launching and optimizing AreYouInterested.com and now we look forward to introducing it to the world in 2013 as AYI."

- SNAP Announces Potential Acquisitions of Mobile Development Resources

"To accelerate our mobile initiatives, we intend to make acquisitions (or "acqui-hires") to expand our iOS / Android / tablet offerings by adding software engineers, developers, and other personnel with mobile technology expertise.  While our organization has grown rapidly in the past few years, we are focused on increasing our mobile footprint and believe that an acquisition will help us speed deployment and allow us to reach more users," said SNAP's CFO, Jon Pedersen.

About SNAP Interactive, Inc.
SNAP Interactive, Inc. develops, owns and operates a social dating application for social networking websites and mobile platforms.  SNAP's flagship brand, AYI is one of the largest social dating applications on the Internet with millions of monthly active users on the Facebook platform, and offers a completely integrated Facebook, iPhone, Android and Web application. SNAP was recently ranked the 36th Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte's 2012 Technology Fast 500™. For more information, please visit http://www.snap-interactive.com, its blog at http://devblog.snap-interactive.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/SnapInteractiveInc and on Twitter at @SNAPInteractive.

The contents of our websites are not part of this press release, and you should not consider the contents of these websites in making an investment decision with respect to our common stock.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. iPhone® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc.  Are You Interested?® is a registered trademark of SNAP Interactive, Inc.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/20/5277568/snap-interactive-issues-updates.html#storylink=cpy