Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

FriendFinder Launches ItalianFriendFinder

OPW EXCLUSIVE
PALO ALTO, CA -- FriendFinder has launched it's latest new site, adding to it's network of 15 online personals sites. ItalianFriendFinder will target Italian speakers and those of Italian heritage. FriendFinder, which was founded in 1996 by Dr Andrew Conru, has achieved great success in it's approach of segmenting the online personals market by lifestyle (e.g. adultfriendfinder), culture/religion (e.g.jewishfriendfinder) and age (e.g.seniorfriendfinder).

AttractONE.com; What You See is Who You Get

BELLEVUE, Wash., /PRNewswire/ -- ..."AttractONE.com offers a more natural way to get to know potential suitors- through group chats. By watching people interact, hearing them speak and watching their expressions onscreen, getting to know their friends, you can get a better idea of who they are." explains CEO Richard Braun.  ...AttractONE.com launches June 29, 7 PM (Eastern). ...online launch event for the press.

MingleMatch; Significant Milestone With Color Code Personality Profiling

PROVO, Utah, /PRNewswire/ -- MingleMatch ...today announced it recently exceeded 170,000 members that have taken advantage of the Color Code Relationship Profile service. ...Provides subscribers with a greater level of personal awareness, more accurate matching of members, and an insightful compatibility assessment. ...45-question profile. ...25 niche online dating sites.

Social Network; Multiply Boosts Content Storage Space, Email Alternative

BOCA RATON, Fla., PRNewswire -- Multiply.com, a new web-based communication tool powered by social networks, today announced it will offer its users one gigabyte (GB) worth of free storage space for digital photo albums, blogs and simple text communication. ..."Unlike first-generation social networking sites that are focused on expanding one's contacts for the purpose of dating or finding a job, Multiply is about fostering communication with one's existing social network," says co-founder Michael Gersh. ...Users can filter their messages to only view messages from close friends and family.

Israelis Clicking for Love on Cable TV

JERUSALEM - Widowed for nine years, 64-year-old Sophie decided it was time for a male companion. So she donned a black, low-cut dress to tape a segment for "Clicka," Israel's new, 24-hour cable TV dating channel — the latest high-tech version of the traditional Jewish matchmaker. ...Segments are taped for later broadcast, with contact information flashing on the screen. ($10 a month) ...Britain has a similar service, called The Dating Channel on Sky Digital.

Award-Winning Journalist Debuts Column for Gay.com and PlanetOut.com

SAN FRANCISCO, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- PlanetOut Inc, a leading online media company serving the LGBT community globally, today announced that journalist and author Chris Bull joined the PlanetOut news team as senior political correspondent.  Bull will write a weekly political column for PlanetOut.com News and Gay.com News, widely-read sources for daily news about and of interest to the global LGBT community.

Male Marital Outlook Linked to Upbringing

NEW YORK - AP - While most single young men aspire to marriage, about one-fifth are deeply skeptical of the institution and their prospects of making it work, according to a new national survey which closely links men's marital outlook to their upbringing. ..."A huge percentage of the men say they'll marry when it's time to settle down, which a lot of women don't quite understand.  A word of advice to women — make sure you're getting the guy at just this time." ...22% of the unmarried men were depicted as "hardcore marriage avoiders." ...American men marry at 27, compared to 23 in 1970.

'Mr Right' Wants to Take His Time Tying the Knot

NEW YORK (Reuters) - There's good news and bad news for aspiring brides: Many young men still want to marry, but most prefer to put it off until they are good and ready.  "Most men are the marrying kind," said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, a director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University in New Jersey. ...49% of single men 25-34 would tie the knot tomorrow if the right woman came along. 53% said they are not interested in getting hitched any time soon. ...Many young men are waiting until they have a good education and a firm financial footing. Meanwhile, they want to enjoy the single life.

Wanted: New Friend, Must Have Bluetooth

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Student Gracinia Lim has made new friends thanks to mobile phone software that alerts her to compatible people nearby. She is an early customer of a service in Singapore called BEDD that uses Bluetooth wireless communications to scan strangers' phones for their personal profiles. The application joins a swelling number of Internet and mobile phone based services that offer to widen people's social networks. ..."People spend tons of money at dating and matchmaking agencies or on personal ads -- for a small amount of money, this software could help change their lives," Carlton said. (57c / month)

On Canada's Business Report; Fresh Approach to Online Dating

TORONTO, June 22 /CNW/ - On today's edition of Canada's Business Report, host Robert Graham takes a look at a new entry in the world of online dating. Graham speaks with Mark Pavan, President and CEO of Toronto-headquartered Lemontonic Incorporated.  ...Lemontonic has technology that allows members to enjoy services they can't find elsewhere. Pavan says they have "real time, live video conferences between members and nobody else (in the online dating business) can do that."

First-Ever Dating Service Matching Cable and the Internet

PHILADELPHIA, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Dating ON DEMAND, the first-ever service combining video on demand and on-line dating, will launch in Philadelphia this summer with a series of events that will allow singles to film personalized "video profiles." Profiles will be available for free viewing through ON DEMAND from Comcast Digital Cable, in conjunction with HurryDate, a leading on-line and "rapid dating" events company. ..."This service is as close as you can get to meeting someone over a cup of coffee," said Adele Testani, co-founder of HurryDate.

Match Invites Singles to 'Come and Get Your Love' in TV/Radio Ads

DALLAS, June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Returning to the airwaves with a new national advertising campaign, Match.com ...invites singles to come and get their love with help from Match.com's new Total Attraction Matching(TM) system. This proprietary system incorporates powerful, scientifically-based personality profiling tools and the first and only physical attraction matching platform....the new creative will air on targeted outlets such as E!, VH1, Bravo and ABC Radio Network...Joe Schmo 2 on Spike TV, Sex and the City on TBS and Nip/Tuck on FX.

True Responds to Subpoena From Rival Match

DALLAS, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- ...True (formerly TrueBegininngs) responded to subpoenas served to six of its employees by former employer Match by taking out full-page ads in the WSJ and Dallas Morning News. The ads feature a letter written by Herb Vest, founder and CEO of the company, to Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC, parent company of Match. ...Vest vows to defend his employees. ..."True reviewed the employees' agreements, and we firmly believe that we have we have not broken any rules by hiring them." ...claims by Match involve possible "breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of duty of loyalty, unfair competition, misappropriation, disclosure of trade secrets, and torturous interference with contact or prospective business relations."

eHarmony's Compatibility Matching Results in Happier Marriages

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2004--...4,786 couples matched by the service have married to date. Last month, the company announced that it had received the first of its kind patent around its ability to predict long-term relationship satisfaction. Based on thirty years of research... At last month's American Psychological Society's annual convention in Chicago, eHarmony's scientific team presented their findings that couples who were matched by eHarmony and have married are significantly happier than couples married for a similar length of time who met by other means.

TRUEBeginnings Changes Name to True; Adds 4 Experts to Team

DALLAS, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a full-scale re-branding, TRUEBeginnings(TM) today announced it has changed its name to True (www.true.com), reflecting the company's broadening mission to help people enrich their lives in love, work and play by helping them find more meaningful relationships in the safest, most secure environment possible. True also has added four new experts to its growing counseling staff and advisory board. From an on-staff life coach, to a cyberflirting expert, to an "offline flirting" expert, to an esteemed personality psychologist.

FunHi.com Social Network Launches Out of Beta

NEW YORK--June 14, 2004--FunHi, online's most elite social network, announced that in its first five months of operation it has a combined value of over one million dollars in virtual gifts received by members, account credit and gift shop inventory...Version 1.0 is implementing a velvet-rope door policy. There is now a virtual outside waiting area for people seeking to join the FunHi community. The invite-only site now closely models the exclusivity of a real urban after hours club. BUSINESS WIRE

Speed Dating Services Becoming Big Business

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- ...Dating services are all the rage. Most professionals who are single say they don't want to meet their soul mates in venues where there is more beer on the floor than love in the air. ...Around the country many companies have attempted to address these complaints by playing Cupid and are making some big bucks from lonely singles. ...Marketdata states that "Introduction services" are riding a wave of popularity, fueled by the proliferation of dating-related reality TV shows and estimates the dating services market to be a $1.08 billion business in the U.S.

MatchNet Announces Plans for Public Offering

BEVERLY HILLS, Ca., June 10 PRNewswire-FirstCall -- MatchNet plc (MHJG: Frankfurt SE), whose global depository shares are currently traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, today announced that it intends to effect a reincorporation in the United States...It is expected that the public offering will take place in September, subject to market conditions, and that the common stock will be quoted on the Nasdaq National Market.  The proceeds of the offering are expected to be primarily used for working capital purposes.

The Funny Odds of Online Dating

NEW YORK (Reuters) Thu Jun 10 - Rick, a Web site developer from Columbus, Ohio, remembers his divorce nearly four years ago with an extra tinge of bitterness: His ex-wife remarried the same day, to a man she met via the Internet.  Rick later tried his own luck at a Web dating forum.  Review sites listed.

TRUEBeginnings Proving That Opposites Really Do Attract

DALLAS, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- TRUEBeginnings(TM)...giving singles a new view of successful relationships. Investigating the marital satisfaction of more than 1,100 individuals, the TRUEBeginnings scientific study concludes that a couple's similarities are only part of what determines their long-term compatibility in a romantic relationship, and that a couple's differences play an equal, if not more important role.