Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Pre-Dating Announces Position as World’s Largest Speed Dating Company

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) Sep 16, 2004 -- ...Pre-Dating has emerged as the leader in speed dating which is widely considered the most popular dating trend in the country. Pre-Dating holds monthly speed dating events in 65 metro markets with 8 Minute Dating in 52 markets, and HurryDate with 37 markets worldwide. PRWEB

TurtleDate.com Targets People Fed Up With Dating Websites

Rochester, NY (PRWEB) Sep 18, 2004 - During the long, cold winter of 2004, Lynne Perry decided to take the plunge into the world of web dating. (She quickly became disillusioned and started TurtleDate). Perry determined that TurtleDate would never target a "lifestyle demographic" just to make money from rapid romantic turnovers. Instead, the goal would always be to give people the tools to make real connections and have fun, without a lot of "attitude" or high-risk behavior. PR WEB

The Dating Game: Simple Ways to Keep the Singles Scene from Being Hellish

Greenwich Time, Sep 18th -- With thousands of years to get it right, you'd think humans would have the dating thing down by now. But when we queried readers about their worst dates, one thing became clear: a lot of people are still pretty clueless. GREENWICH TIME

Match.com, True.com Execs Learn Networking Skills

Dallas News, Sep 18th -- Layoff victims from True, along with a few from Match, gathered Wednesday at an Irving restaurant to work on a little matchmaking of their own... "We're all here for each other, and we've got networks we can use to get everybody new positions," Ms. Coover, True's former marketing vice president, told the group of about 25. www.networkties.com

True.com lays off 90 Workers, Match.com cuts 30

Dallas Business Journall, Sep 13th -- Ninety employees of True.com, an Irving-based online dating service, over 60% of its workforce, got pink slips on Friday as the company launched a plan to streamline operations. Last week True's competitor Match.com made a decision to replace Tim Sullivan, its chief executive officer, and eliminate about 30 jobs in its events and new product divisions. DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL

Social Networks Seek Financial Friends

Mercury News, Sep 19th -- A year after Silicon Valley entrepreneurs launched a slew of faddish social-networking companies -- Web sites like Friendster, Tribe Networks and LinkedIn -- reality is beginning to bite. MERCURY NEWS

Leave Social Networks at Home

NetworkWorldFusion, 9/13/04 -- Data privacy is nothing to take lightly. While these networks might have good intentions, these services should not be trusted. NWFUSION

eHarmony Announces Dream Date Contest Winners

PASADENA, CA, Sept. 13, 2004 -- eHarmony today announced the winner of its 2004 Dream Date Contest. The annual contest gives couples matched through its service the opportunity to win a luxury dream date by sharing their personal eHarmony "story of romance.

IAC (Match); Barry Raised Expectations Too High

NY Times, Sep 19th -- Barry Diller says that his company is growing too fast for him to give reliable guidance to analysts, so he does not intend to give any at all. (Photo of Bary Diller) NY TIMES

Love with a leash

Mercurynews.com -- Wendy Peikes was tired of dating guys who'd vanish when they'd met her housemates -- three hairy, energetic dogs. So she took to her computer keyboard and found an online dating site where pet aversion is not tolerated. This new breed of Internet dating is no Chihuahua. ``There are 40 million single pet owners,'' said Dan Cohen, CEO of animalattraction.com. What (datemypet.com)'s creator, Rob Yau, recognized as this market's appeal is the strong sense that many people have: People with animals translate to people with heart.' Two-thirds of the surveyed users said they'd prefer to see a picture of a potential date with his or her pet than without. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Hook-Up Sites Blamed for Marriage Breakups

Newsfactor, Wed Sep 1 -- Now sociologists have another culprit to blame for huge numbers of failed marriages: The Internet...New figures released by the United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics show that divorce in England and Wales has risen for the third successive year in 2003, to more than 150,000. Critics have been quick to blame the internet...In another survey in June 2004 only 9% of internet users said they used the internet to meet people.