Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Miami Internet Dating Conference Pictures

OPW -- Jan 31 -- The pictures from the Miami internet dating conference are live at LINK TO PICTURES.  A video of the conference is in the works.

The Disastrous Effects of Match.com

WASHINGTON POST -- Jan 28 -- (Written by a woman interviewed by The Washington Post whose mother helps her find dates on Match.com.)  We do everything possible to please our man. You prefer French cooking? Mais oui, mon cher! You want my hair long? No problem.  What the hell has happened? Match.com and other online dating services have given men access to a smorgasbord of women.  We are bolting sooner and sooner if there is a lull in the conversation or the slightest hint of incompatibility, knowing that the next one will appear within a few mouse clicks.  Be honest about your age and size. You may think you will charm him with your dazzling personality but you're simply wasting his time and yours if you lie.  Don't respond to winks or messages from men with no photos, they're married or involved.  If he doesn't ask to meet you within a week of phone calls and e-mails, he is either busy serial dating or too busy working to date you.  Keep the date short and do not even think of sleeping with him until he is clearly nuts about you. The way he treats your family is very important. If he is cold, indifferent, or not eager to spend time with them, run! FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

Mark Brooks: Thanks to Kathryn Lord for the heads up on this article.  Is internet dating really responsible for the demise of the long term relationship?  Let's discuss this further, your comments please...

How Match Found Love Among Boomers

WSJ -- Jan 27 -- Match has been reaching out to singles over 50 and divorcées, pitching itself as a destination for mainstream daters who want serious relationships. Its TV ads feature a 71-year-old with the user name DanishBeauty22. Although Match made up less than 5% of IAC's $6.5 billion in sales over the past 12 months, it contributed more than 10% of the company's $464 million in operating profit. In the past two years, Match has boosted the number of paying customers by a third. At Match, 23% of subscribers are over 50, more than double the number two years ago. Yahoo Personals has seen double-digit growth in the number of users over 50 in the past two years, thanks in part to a new service that provides extra control, privacy, and security. eHarmony's fastest-growing age group last year was the over-50 segment. CEO, Mr. Safka asked his staff to check the behavior of older daters on the site and to pinpoint their difficulties in using it. For example, many were stopped cold while filling out their online profile by the fourth question, which asked their views on body art and piercings. Match developed a variety of one-click buttons: "How It Works" to help new users navigate the site, "See More Like Him/Her" to help users find other candidates that might catch their eye, and most important, a "No Thanks" button to ease the awkwardness of turning down electronic suitors. Mrs. Williams likes Match's "Connections" button, which takes her to a set of pictures of the men with whom she corresponds. Match hired "Dr. Phil." Match is policed by a staff of 12, who review each profile before it is posted, removing explicit photos and working to keep out prostitutes, financial schemers, agencies offering foreign brides, and liars. 

Mr. Safka is also trying to repeat his stateside success internationally, challenging Match's chief international rival, Meetic, which has 80% of the French market and attracts young daters with sexy, fast-paced ads. Based on its experience in the U.S., Match is aiming at over-40s seeking someone to "share life's journey," not younger ones looking for hookups.

Mark Brooks: Match is wringing more money from each customer, targeting the users that are more likely to be paying customers, and expanding abroad. A winning combination for revenues and the bottom line. They have also just started charging for MatchTalk and are testing different pricepoints.

Won't be my Valentine? Fish and Wreath in the Mail

REUTERS -- Jan 29 -- Poisonpen.com, will, for a small fee, send an anonymous poison pen card or letter to a former lover. Their motto is: "When you care enough to send the very worst." Yahoo! Personals dubbed the period between the December holidays and Valentine's Day on February 14 as national break-Up season. They found that couples were more than twice as likely to think about separating during this period than at any other time of the year. At the subversive motivational Web site Despair.com, offerings include a photograph of a red rose with the phrase: "You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment." Deadroses.com, sends dead roses.

Women Would Rather Give up Sex Than Their Mobile Phone

PHONE CONTENT -- Jan 29 -- A report by mobile phone retailer, Dial-a-Phone reveals:

• 30% of men and a staggering 42.5% of women would consider answering their phone during sex
• 24% of women would rather give up sex than their mobile phone for a month
• 4 in 5 people have used their picture phones to take intimate pictures of their partners!
• Brits send on average of 12 texts before they go on a first date!
• 4 in 5 people answer their mobile phones during a first date
• 11% of under 34s have been dumped by text message
FULL ARTICLE @ PHONECONTENT

Community Next Conference, Feb 10th, at Stanford

OPW -- Jan 29 -- I'm attending the Community Next conference on Saturday 10th February at Stanford.  Tickets are $295.  The subject of the conference is Online Communities and they've got a great line up of speakers...

• Jeffrey Kalmikoff (Threadless)
• James Hong (HotorNot)
• Guy Kawasaki (Garage Ventures)
• Ted Rheingold (Dogster)
• Joe Suh (MyChurch.org)
• Akash Garg (hi5 Networks)
• Premal Shah (Kiva.org)
• Fred Stutzman (ClaimID)
• Markus Frind (Plenty of Fish)
• Sean Suhl (SuicideGirls)
• Mike Jones (Userplane)
• Joe Hurd (VideoEgg)
• Drew Curtis (Fark)
• Max Levchin (Slide)

Comment if you're going to be there. - Mark Brooks

Predictions for 2007

OPW -- Jan 28 -- Here's my thoughts on what 2007 holds for online dating and social networking.  What are your predictions?  Your comments please.

1. The Internet Dating market will stratify further with the introduction of new high end services and hybrid sites offering mostly free services. e.g. Match.com's VIP service and LTR.com
2. Social Networks will continue to niche out. e.g.
ActiveRain, A Small World, Grono.net, iWiW.net, MyChurch.org, Rate.ee, WAYN, Zaadz
3. A free eHarmony will emerge
4. Mobile dating will pick up after the launch of the iPhone and N95
5. A new social networking site will steal some of Facebook’s thunder and focus purely on the student market
6. Two more top 10 dating properties will offer optional background checks
7. Match will pioneer high-end matchmaking
8. Dating and social networking services will do voice, properly
9. PlentyofFish will rise to a top 5 dating site rank in the UK and USA

New Online Dating Site for the Wealthy

BUSINESS WIRE -- Jan 25 -- At DateAMillionaire users don't have to be millionaires to register, and the first 5,000 members will receive a free access to all site features for life. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: Can someone explain this to me please? Seems like the first sentence of their first press release completely undermines their position in the market. DateAMillionaire joins WealthyMen, MillionaireMatch, and SugarDaddyForMe.

British and American Consumers Get Social on Mobiles

MARKET WIRE -- Jan 24 -- The latest research from Telephia, the world's largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, shows that ~4% of U.K. mobile users have uploaded content created on their mobile phones to social networking sites, video and picture sharing sites, blogs and personal web pages.  85% of U.K. consumers are using text messaging.  Over 80% of new phones sold are camera phones.

Penetration of Data Activities Amongst U.K. Mobile Users

Activity	Proportion of U.K. Mobile Subscriber
SMS	85%
MMS	35%
Games	26%
Internet	19%
Ringtones	15%
Music	14%
Email	11%
Uploads	4%
Video	3%

Source: Telephia TAM Report, U.K., Q3 2006

In the U.S. 6% of mobile users are uploading content to sites from their phones. Social networking sites dominate with 32% of mobile uploaders putting content onto MySpace. In the U.S. as in the U.K., uploading content from the phone is most popular with younger consumers, with 15-24 year olds being the most likely group to be doing it.

Top Websites Receiving Mobile-generated Content (U.K. and U.S.)

Websites	% of Mobile Uploaders	Websites	% of Mobile Uploaders
MySpace	21%	MySpace	32%
Windows Live Spaces	19%	Windows Live Spaces	13%
You Tube	9%	You Tube	11%
Bebo	9%	Bebo	9%
Hi5	7%	Hi5	6%

Source: Telephia Audience Measurement Report, U.K. and U.S., Q3 2006
FULL ARTICLE @ SYS-CON

Perfectmatch Partners with BeBetterGuys

PR NEWSWIRE -- Jan 24 -- BeBetterGuys brings its expertise in men's fashion, grooming, dating, and etiquette directly to Perfectmatch's four million members. The BeBetterGuys "Game Plan" provides a nuts-and-bolts how-to approach guide to help Perfectmatch's male membership prepare for, and enjoy, a more successful in-person experience. Perfectmatch has partnerships with MSNBC, Lifetime Television, iVillage, Knight Ridder, Go.com, Warner Bros., Paramount and NBC Universal Studios. The newest book written by Dr. Pepper Schwartz, "Finding Your Perfect Match" (Penguin), appears in bookstores nationwide. Over the past 18 months, Perfectmatch.com was the backdrop of the Warner Bros. film "Must Love Dogs" starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, was featured on a one hour Dr. Phil show and was the exclusive online partner during an intensive two week search for love for a producer of Live! With Regis and Kelly Show! FULL ARTICLE @ PR NEWSWIRE

Lavalife is For Sale

PARADIGM SHIFT -- Jan 25 -- This time vertrue isn't trying to sell just lavalife, its put the entire company for sale. Looks like private equity and companies are bidding. Lots of speculation in the press and on todays conference call. FULL ARTICLE @ PARADIGM SHIFT

JLove Offers More Ways to Meet Your Match

CJ NEWS -- Jan 25 -- Yoav Cohen, co-founder and CEO of JLove (50,000 members since June 2006), the newest online Jewish dating service, guarantees that finding your bashert is just a matter of following six simple steps. Complete a profile. Complete a personality assessment. Use the JType personality profiling system to search for compatibles. E-mail other members. Visit the site often. Downloading Instant JLove, an instant messaging tool. Jlove costs $29.95/mo, $69.95 for 3 months, and $99.95 for 5 months.

Calling Marketers and Affiliates

OPW -- Jan 24 -- If you're involved in marketing dating sites in any way, check out the newest addition to the Online Personals Watch network of sites, Frequent Flirters. Let me know your thoughts on how you'd like it to improve.  It's for affiliates and dating site marketing pros. - Mark Brooks

Spark Networks SMS Notifications

MARKET WIRE --Jan 23 -- 4INFO, a mobile search service, has partnered with Spark Networks to provide text message alerts to members free. Users can register to be notified on their cell phones when they receive emails, e-cards, instant messages and other forms of communications from other members.

Mark Brooks: Great move. Who else does this?

Riding the Networking Wave

BUSINESS STANDARD -- Jan 24 -- Content-specific advertisements have become a rage on networking sites like Orkut, TechTribe, LinkedIn, Ryze, Flickr, MSN Live Spaces, Blogger, Fropper and Facebook, which are a compelling buy for advertisers seeking to target the active lifestyle set the sites cater to. The total marketing spend on social media is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 106% from 2005 to 2010, reaching $757 million in 2010, according to a report from PQ Media. LinkedIn and TechTribe ad revenue exceeded $20 million in 2006. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS STANDARD

This post also appears on Social Networking Watch.

Cut to the Core of Me

THE CAVALIER DAILY -- Jan 24 -- Some tests pretend to be legitimate and might make you believe their results are valid and meaningful. The most common being Myers-Briggs which breaks your personality up into four categories. Despite these inadequacies, you can find many other semi-legitimate online personality tests. The Enneagram categorizes people into nine unique groups. The "Big Five" uses five dimensions instead of four. Each test offers a different way to categorize yourself and to see how you measure up to other people. The amount of reliable information these tests provide is highly debatable, but many people still enjoy them. FULL ARTICLE @ CAVALIER DAILY

Mark Brooks: Myers Briggs actually has 16 character types based upon four main categories, and the Enneagram has 9 personality types based upon four categories. They are both, essentially, subsets of the Big Five test.  Your comments please...

Social Neworking via Cell Phones

THE JOURNAL NEWS -- Jan 24 -- Gina's friends don't expect much eye contact from her when they get together. She stares at her cell phone, tapping feverishly, communicating with people she's never once met in person. She uses Hookt on Boost Mobile. Hookt has its origins in AirG of Canada and has grown into an international community of 10 million users. MySpace launched mobile portal Helio. Cingular offers MySpace Mobile for $2.99 per month plus data charges. Facebook partnered with Virgin Mobile USA and Amp'd Mobile. Both Sprint and Virgin Mobile have signed deals to launch a new application from Intercasting Corp. Helio says 75% of their customers have used the MySpace service, which is included in Helio's pricey monthly plans.

Mark Brooks: Helio is pricey but the phone and the service options are fully loaded. GPS, picture messaging, and Buddy Beacon, which allows users to track the locations of their friends in real time. See the service plans. I use a T-Mobile blackberry 7130, and a slider phone from MetroPCS ($45/mo for unlimited minutes and long distance). 

TellMe Launches a Killer Mobile Product

TECH CRUNCH -- Jan 22 -- If you have a cell phone that supports the new TellMe mobile application, you will never use 411 again to find a business. TellMe has raised a whopping $239 million in capital.  Two years ago they were generating a reported $100 million plus in revenue. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Mark Brooks: TellMe is amazing. It really works. Even with my limey Brit accent. I look forward to them launching more products on mobile phones. 

Paid Dating Sites Declare War

THE PARADIGM SHIFT -- Jan 24 -- When I was at iDate 2 years ago most people laughed at me when I said I would create a major free dating site.  This year at iDate dating sites were talking about how they could go free.  It is strange to see a completely new internet bubble forming around what I’ve done.  The biggest problems I see are... Monetization via adsense 3 years ago was 10 times higher then it is now.  Free dating sites are way more hardware/resource intensive then paid sites and social networks.  As a free site I still have to pay $5 a member, just like paid sites.  I predict 2007 will be a year of carnage.  FULL POST @ THE PARADIGM SHIFT

Mark Brooks: Two years ago I chatted with Markus at iDate, respected him for his SEO work, but didn't take him too seriously.  I think Markus occupies a spot on the sales funnel just below social networks.  He funnels members into paid dating sites.  At the other end of the spectrum I'm seeing a significant trend towards paid dating sites trying to up the ante with regard to service levels and fees.  There will be a stratification of services this year with new pricepoints and service levels emerging.  Is a shake out looming?  Do other free dating services have a chance?  Markus is a picture of efficiency.  Is he beckoning fresh entrepreneurs and existing services into a black hole because of this check which revealed (see June post) that Markus was doing ever so slightly better than most would have assumed.  Your comments please...

Study: Freshen It Up To Keep Sales Hot

BRAND WEEK -- Jan 23 -- Want to make sure your brand is still viable? Then rip it up and start over every three to five years.  And that doesn't mean overhauling the packaging. That's the key the finding of a new survey sponsored by the American Marketing Association, Luth Research and MiresBall. Brands that were refurbished within that time period scored highest on its success index. FULL ARTICLE @ BRANDWEEK

Mark Brooks: Have you noticed how nightclubs have to be given a complete facelift every three to five years. Same deal with dating sites, hence Match.com's recent makeover.