Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

eHarmony Featured in Article Entitled 'The Perfect Match'

OPW Scoop -- Apr 30 -- Oops!  Click on the image for a look at the cover of electronic retailer magazine.  eHarmony's Dr Clark is featured in an article entitled 'The Perfect Match.'  Perfect Match has got to love that.  eHarmony is the powerhouse of the relationships/personality profiling niche of the online dating world...only it's hardly a niche now.  They've carved out the niche and turned it into the fastest growing sector of the online personals market with it's high (perceived) value premium memberships.  Perfect Match and Dr Pepper Schwartz are giving them a run for their money.  If only Perfect Match could eke out some VC smart money as well.  eHarmony raised $110 million recently.  Still, Perfect Match landed exposure on Dr Phil.

House of Wax Promoted on MySpace

KESQ -- Apr 30 -- Users of MySpace can see clips from the upcoming film "House of Wax" and hear the entire soundtrack thanks to a deal with Warner Brothers and Maverick Records.  Other entertainment companies have used MySpace to promote their product, including NBC, which streamed the first episode of its new show "The Office" before its television premiere. Friendster, similarly promoted the Fox series "Stacked," starring Pamela Anderson.  FULL ARTICLE @ KESQ

Mark Brooks: I handled 'promoter/agent' offers whilst at Friendster.  Definitely no shortage of opportunity in that department.

Spitzer Goes After Spyware

USA TODAY -- Apr 29 -- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit Thursday against Intermix Media (myspace), charging the online marketer with illegally disseminating spyware programs.  Intermix operates about 40 Web sites that supply online games, greeting cards, social networking, trivia and jokes. According to Webroot, maker of anti-spyware software, there are more than 220,000 sites distributing spyware, up from 60,000 at the start of the year.  According to the lawsuit, free software on Intermix Web sites secretly installed programs that generated advertisements. One known as KeenValue delivered pop-up ads; another, dubbed IncrediFind, redirected visitors to certain Web sites. Spitzer is seeking a court order restricting Intermix's business practices.

Mark Brooks: Did Intermix do this knowingly.  Was the code slipped in with a banner ad run and overlooked?

Online Dating Meets Cybersex

WIRED -- Apr 29 -- Would you have cybersex with someone you met through an online dating site? Would you go on a date with someone you met through a cybersex chat room? HighJoy is betting that you will.  Lynn Borne, the director of marketing, asked me to hold the Doc Johnson iVibe Rabbit while he walked me through the chat client and the online control panel for the toy. Amir Vatan, the CEO, retreated to his office so he could be on the other end of my virgin HighJoy chat. Amir describes the company as something between AdultFriendFinder and Match.com. "Just online dating? Or online dating and these tools?" he says, gesturing to the array of vibrators on the conference table. He sees HighJoy as the logical next step for those who enjoy making connections online. I suspect the first wave of members will sign on for the promise of virtual sex and the hope of hooking up in person. I don't see the eHarmony crowd migrating to HighJoy, but fans of SuicideGirls, Nerve and PalTalk's adult communities will probably feel right at home.  FULL ARTICLE @ WIRED

Mark Brooks: The next logical step?  Your comments please :-)  ?

Dallas Man Behind Computer Dating Bill

DALLAS NEWS -- Apr 27 -- Herb Vest, the Dallas entrepreneur who led the fight to reshape the accounting industry, is taking on a new set of opponents: massive technology companies. His rivals oppose his nationwide effort to require that users of online dating services undergo criminal background checks. His last crusade roiled the accounting establishment, resulting in changes to state rules that broadened the profession's emphasis from independent audits to selling financial advice. When opponents say that he is redeeming political chits to advance his bill for criminal-background checks, Mr. Vest notes that his opponents spend more on lobbyists, and donate more to politicians, than he does. Mr. Vest founded True.com in 2003, after selling his share of the accounting business he founded, H.D. Vest Inc., to Wells Fargo in 2001 for ~$84 million. Mr. Vest said he started the site because he was concerned about the country's "prodigious divorce rate." True.com features a compatibility test that Mr. Vest says was developed by a psychological research firm. "A 50% divorce rate leaves in its wake devastation among children," he said.

Events - Fresh Ways to Find Your Mate

REDNOVA -- Apr 27 -- Lock and Key Events turn an evening at a bar into an icebreaker. All of the men get keys, the women locks, on a chain to be worn around the wrist or neck. People search for the key and lock that fit together - and when they find a match, they get a raffle ticket for a drawing as well as a new lock or key to continue the game. Christan Marashio, owner of LockandKeyParties.com, got involved after working for a speed dating company. With "Click at a Flick" for the price of a movie ticket, singles get to mingle and enjoy free martinis from Svedka for an hour and a half before the movie begins. Presented by Loews Cineplex and lavalife.  Chris Gonsalves knew he had found a need in the Boston area when 42 people showed up to his first planning meeting for a singles club. Known as funfunfun.org, the club has grown in seven years to reach 80 towns and has about 500 members, from the 20s on up. Members plan activities, from game nights to ski weekends to hikes.  You don't have to be single to join the Boston Young Professionals Association, but it does provide some singles events along with its other activities. The association boasts more than 9,000 members, all ages 21-40, who choose from three to five events per week.

Online Gated Communities: A Revolt Against Friendster

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE -- Apr 27 -- Catch27 encourages members, mostly 18-30, to trade their friends for 'hotter, smarter ones.' The site also is launching a "black ball" feature that some members will be able to use to kick others off.  FunHi, with 150,000 users, emulates a club and 'bounces' users who lack style, like people who 'look homeless,' according to co-founder Ray Savant.  The sites' founders think the Friendsters of the world went wrong by letting anyone in -- and that, as a result, those pioneering services lost the feeling of a community mirroring an actual clique. Friendster, which takes in ad revenue, says it just became profitable this year. ASmallWorld plans a premium membership service where members would pay for additional features. When a site called www.closedsociety.net launched, it opened its first 100 registrations to the public via a Google ad: "Join now and be a VIP." Only about 40 people applied. FULL ARTICLE @ PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

Mark Brooks: People want what they can't have.  The 'perception of exclusivity' is a powerful element of the success of social networking.

Multiply Gives Social Search A Shot

WEBPRONEWS -- Apr 27 -- Multiply.com, a social network launched in March 2004, has introduced an embedded search engine to assist members find content distributed by others within their social network.  "If you're planning a vacation to Rome, a search on Multiply may yield a photo album taken by your cousin's neighbor during his vacation, and a blog entry written by your co-worker's nephew when he was backpacking through Europe," according to Peter Pezaris, Multiply's founder and CEO. The search engine considers whether or not the person in your social network is related (wife, sibling) or merely an acquaintance when applying relevance rankings to the query results.  FULL ARTICLE @ WEBPROBEWS

Mark Brooks: Multiply also has a nice calendar, message board and photos area.  2,800 Alexa rank

Concerns About Florida Online Dating Bill

PRNEWSWIRE -- Apr 26 -- America's leading internet and technology firms and trade associations expressed deep reservations about the Florida bill that would impose government oversight on online dating and require criminal background checks or disclosures for users of online dating services. In a letter to the Florida legislature, the group noted that the bill would impose new liabilities and responsibilities upon not only Internet dating sites, but on an almost limitless array of Internet sites and services and has the potential to create a false sense of security for users.  Although there have been very few, if any, instances of online dating related crimes in Florida, the legislation would require background checks or disclosures that the services do not screen customers.  "Consumers are in the best position to determine which services provide them with the most security and comfort," concluded Netcoalition spokesperson Erickson, "not the government."  NetCoalition serves as the public policy voice for: AeA, Amazon, AOL, Association for Competitive Technology, CareerBuilder, eBay, eHarmony, Electronic Retailing Association, FriendFinder, Google, IdeaOasis, Information Technology Association of America, Internet Alliance, Internet Commerce Coalition, Lavalife, Match.com, Microsoft, MyEMatch.com, NetChoice, ProfileDoctor, Singles Industry Trade Association, Spark Networks, TechNet, The Right One, Trufina, Userplane, U.S. Internet Service Provider Association, VeriSign, Yahoo!

Mark Brooks: Weighty opposition to the background checks legislation.

TrueDater.com: Online Daters Most Likely to Misrepresent Weight and Physical Appearance in Profiles

BUSINESS WIRE --Apr 26 -- TrueDater provides online daters with the ability to read or review the truthfulness of people's dating profiles.  Users were asked what qualities online daters exaggerate or lie about most often. Choices were: height, weight, age, income, marital status, physical appearance and other.  Male voters ranked...1. weight 45%, 2. physical appearance 20%, 3. Marital status 13%.  Female voters...1. general physical appearance 36%, 2. weight 19%, 3. age 16%.

Mark Brooks: Truedater users can list JDate, Match and American Singles profile id's with reviews of users.  Interesting concept.  Alexa rank is 200k.  Does anyone know if JDate, Match and American Singles link to or promote Truedater?

Webdate Surpasses Milestone of 3.5 Million Members

PRNEWSWIRE -- Apr 26 -- Webdate has surpassed 3.5 million members, adding more than one million members in the past 6 months. The sixth largest online dating company according to Hitwise. "Some Internet analysts have said that the singles market is saturated, but I think our growth over the last half year proves them wrong," said Webdate President and COO Abe Smilowitz. "Online dating has become mainstream and America's heartland is embracing Webdate as fun and easy way to meet new people. 35% growth in rural America proves that we're a long way from saturation."  Headquartered in South Beach, Webdate is fast becoming the hip destination for online daters seeking beautiful people and a fun environment reflective of the Miami club scene.  "Members take advantage of all the site has to offer. With features like free video chat, Webdate provides a 'webdating' experience as a substitute to the traditional blind date."  Webdate is the only webdating community that offers 100% free access, including video chat and unlimited messaging.

Mark Brooks: WebDate has been steadily climbing the ranks.

Weezer Star Gives Up On Online Dating

CONTACT MUSIC -- Apr 26 -- Oddball WEEZER star Rivers Cuomo..."I signed up to eHarmony once, and it took three hours to fill out that online form - so many personal questions.  Then I clicked on submit, and instantaneously they responded and said, 'We are sorry, but there is no one anywhere in the world that is appropriate for you.' So that was it, I gave up."  FULL ARTICLE @ CONTACT MUSIC

Mark Brooks: Same thing happened to me.  Then a couple of days later I got a few matches, then a few more...I was so relieved that I wasn't deemed insane and unmatchable that I immediately paid up.  Is this some form of 'conversion/selling psychology.'

Cupid Aims for Background Checks

LA TIMES -- Apr 25 -- True's founder and CEO, Herb Vest, believes that every online dating service should conduct background checks, as True does.  "The primary motivation is to protect people from criminal predation online. I can't imagine anyone with a hatful of brains being against that."  Vest said he spent $200,000 last year on lobbyists around the country. Although opponents charge that his goal is to gain publicity for his site, the legislation has met with at least some success in four states.  The Michigan House of Representatives late last year passed legislation based on a model bill written by True; it wasn't approved by the state's Senate but was reintroduced in both houses this year. Similar measures are being considered in Florida and Texas, and an Ohio lawmaker plans to introduce one this month. A California version was pulled before a committee could vote on it this year.  "This is one of those feel-good kind of legislations that politicians can get behind," said analyst Charlene Li of Forrester Research Inc. 

Internet daters themselves are divided. John Knowlton, 52, a journalism teacher, said he was uncomfortable with government taking a role in the matter. And he found it unfair that online dating was being singled out.  Elana Luber, 35, a lawyer in the Los Angeles area, is generally in favor of background checks, saying: "Who wouldn't want to have people screened for something so basic as whether or not they're a criminal?" 

Texas state Rep. Will Hartnett, a Republican, put opponents in the same category as those who would "defend child molesters who prey on people on the Internet." He dismissed the worries about privacy being compromised.  "As far as I am concerned," he said, "anyone convicted of a felony loses the right of privacy."  But Vest acknowledges that it's not clear whether a search of criminal records would have prevented any of several cited incidents. And in California, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) said she withdrew a background-check bill she had introduced after True's lobbyists couldn't give her concrete examples of anything untoward an online dater had endured that a check might have derailed.  That's a key problem, said Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. Givens said her objections centered on shortcomings in the records culled by background-checking companies.  "Because these sites don't cover every jurisdiction in the country, it could give a false sense of security," Givens said.   True uses Rapsheets Criminal Records, owned by ChoicePoint for background checks. The service's coverage is spotty in some states. In California, Rapsheets can search Superior Court records in only four of the state's 58 counties.  "The privacy laws in California are stricter than just about anywhere else," said Camille Gamble, director of marketing at Rapsheets, headquartered in Memphis, Tenn. She said the only statewide record the company was able to access for California was a sex-offender list. 

Match.com has about 1 million paid subscribers, said spokeswoman Kristin Kelly. She defended the safety of the sites, saying that clients get to know one another online before they mutually decide to meet. She added that there had been fewer than 10 reported violent crimes in connection with people who met at Match.com in a decade of operation.   

Vest, 60, defended his plan, saying that it was born less of business interests than a personal crusade against violence.  Shortly before his second birthday in 1946, he said, his mother found his father dead at his cabinetry business. The death was judged a suicide, but recently, Vest said, he uncovered evidence that it was a homicide. (The case was featured on CBS-TV's "48 Hours" news program this year.)  "The murder of my father certainly left its mark on me," Vest said. "I believe that I perhaps have a great deal more compassion about these matters. Deep down, I want to protect people from criminals."  There could be long-term economic benefits from standardized background checks for the entire industry, said Vest, who founded a financial-services company that was sold to Wells Fargo & Co. in 2001 for $127.5 million.  "If we gain the overall public acceptance of online dating, we can more than double the number of people coming to us," Vest said. "The other sites are being myopic; they are only interested in short-term gain."

Mark Brooks: The most thorough article on background checks so far.  Your comments please...

We'll Always Have ICQ

WIRED -- Apr 22 -- It has almost become mainstream to start relationships on the internet. Dr. Marilyn Volker, a Miami-based sexologist who has been in practice more than 30 years, estimates that 90% of the newlyweds she talked to on her Hawaiian vacation last year -- and there were a lot -- said they met online.  There's the Match.com girl you dated three times and have no interest in seeing again. There's the guy who keeps e-mailing you long after he should have given up. What's the etiquette for ending these nontraditional arrangements? Do three dates with someone you met online obligate you to a breakup phone call? Or is e-mail enough?  Lynn Harris, co-founder of Breakup Girl, believes that "the only time it's OK to break up by text message is if the entire relationship consisted of text messaging. That goes for e-mail, too." 

Userplane Webmessenger Deployed on Friendster

BUSINESS WIRE --Apr 25 -- Userplane, the leading provider of live community software, today announced the deployment of its instant messaging solution on Friendster.  "Our members asked us for the ability to meet and interact with other members in real time," said Jim Scheinman, Business Development Director, Friendster.

Mark Brooks: Congratulations to Mike Jones and Friendster, on a good choice.  16 million users are going to keep Userplance busy for sure.

Hurry Up and Get Married

ASHLAND DAILY TIDINGS -- Apr 22 -- I am at the vanguard of a non-marrying generation, the first American generation in which bright young girls grew up assuming they would have careers. The consequences have been remarkable. From 1970 to 2000, the percentage of women ages 30 to 34 who never married almost quadrupled, from 6% to 22%, and from 9% to 30% for men. Many go the Internet route, some 40 million Americans but men swarm around the most attractive female packages like so many sperms racing to an egg. Such women spend half their day working and half their day deleting e-mail messages.  FULL ARTICLE @ ASHLAND DAILY TIDINGS

Mark Brooks: Men can be ignored, women may be inundated.  eHrmony has done a good job of moderating the online dating process and essentially slooowing it down, way down.  Which is great for monthly dues and most surely helped them raise their $110 million of VC money not too long ago.

Background Checks Legislation Passes 2nd Committee

OPW Scoop -- Apr 26 -- The Florida background checks legislation passed the second committee review moments ago...winning 4-2.  It's now open for the full senate to vote on.  Adjournment is May 6.

Mark Brooks: Brace yourselves!!!  Into the final vote it goes! 

One2One Living Magazine Unveils Ad Campaign and Oxygen TV Show

PRWEB -- Apr 22 -- The stylish ad campaign will run on city scapes in major metropolitan cities in the US and Canada.  It features two singles stranded on a surreal desert, with the slogan "One2One Living -- Fuel for The Single Life."  One2One Living also vows to promote laughter, discussion, and thought.  New contributors include CNBC columnist and NBC Producer, Brian Bathalsar, Fox"s Good Day LA Executive Producer, Paul Sucheki and Dr John Gray.  Accompanying the new creative is a new network TV produced by Media Evolutions. The shows will premier on the Oxygen Television Networks during the new fall season.

Mark Brooks: See the next issue (May) for my three articles on online dating.  I will also play the part of a quirky Englishman and online personals industry expert in the pilot Oxygen show.  I'm working on the accent now.

Matchmakers Making Comeback

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR -- Apr 20 -- "We're getting hundreds of singles, I mean hundreds of singles, saying, 'I want to find a matchmaker,'" says Lisa Clampitt, matchmaker and director of the Matchmaking Institute in New York, a training program for wannabes and a resource for singles. Driving some of the interest is a desire to explore options beyond personal ads, speed dating, and the Internet. Despite the popularity of online dating sites, some find the process too time-consuming. Some people are also looking for options that offer more privacy and security. "Anybody can say what they want to say online," says Cindy Cleckner, a schoolteacher in her mid-40s. "How do I know the person's [really] divorced? How do I know they're not a stalker? How do you know they've not had a criminal background?"  Typical matchmaking fees range from a few hundred dollars to $10,000 and up. 

Mark Brooks: Let me paint a picture.  True.com rams background checks down the online personals industry's throat.  We all complain bitterly and stone the executive staff in the streets of the next internet dating convention.  Then we realise that, hey, they had a point.  We're charging $20 a month for online dating, when, if we added more services users would gladly pay $50-$100 a month.  They are getting sick of going on dates with people who don't look like their pictures, are perhaps just a little bit married or in really, really, really unusual cases, are a felon.  Word gets around.  These same users are coughing up $1,000+ for offline services that make them feel more warm and fuzzy.  OK, now it's the industries comeback time.  $650 million by 2008, Jupiter hogwash.  Let's up the ante, add checks, verified photographs, more personal services, let's save the users some time and hey presto, we'll beat Jupiter's predictions.  Um, oh yeah, lick those wounds Herb/True.  Not a bad idea after all...although, please don't set the government onto us like that again.

TangoPersonals.com Hits 30,000 Profiles

PRNEWSWIRE -- Apr 20 -- TangoPersonals.com has surpassed 30,000 profiles - a number that is quite an achievement in less than ten months of operation.  The site offers a unique system that allows members to talk one-on-one without revealing their telephone number.  Tango offers a $2 introductory membership.  Tango Personals by Phone began in 1994. 

Mark Brooks: Alas, this is actually not very strong for a non-niche site.  (Tango's Alexa rank is 166k.  Online Personals Watch is 112k!?)  Small sites pretending to be big sites are bad for user experience and the industry. The anonymous phone calling is a great feature.