Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

PlentyOfFish May Be Worth $1 Billion

READ/WRITE WEB -- Oct 29 -- In June '06 PlentyOfFish was earning ~$3.5m/yr on Google Adsense. Next year it will earn $10m+. POF gets 1.2 billion page views/month, and ~500,000 unique logins per day and is #2 in the US online dating market and #1 in Canada and UK (Hitwise). Facebook (40 billion page views/mo) has a valuation of $15 Billion thanks to Microsoft's $240m investment last week. According to Markus POF has 5-10 times the click through rate of Facebook so POF's 1.2 Billion page views is the same as 5-10 Billion Facebook page views per month. Markus concludes "Facebook is only able to generate 10 to 15 times as many clicks on ads as my site and it's valued at 15 billion." What's more, some of his direct competitors, eHarmony, Match, etc, are valued in the billions. Markus didn't put a figure on what PlentyOfFish is worth but it's clear he's thinking in the billions. Not bad for a one-man company (plus a new Customer Service Rep!). FULL ARTICLE @ READ/WRITE WEB

Careers, Travel And Dating For The Disabled - Disaboom.com

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Oct 30 -- 50 million U.S. people have a disability but there are few ways for advertisers to reach them. Disaboom.com (live Oct 1, went public in May on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board securities market) hopes to change this. Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and Avis have signed ad deals. Disaboom paid DATA Inc., $280k to design the site, and also acquired lovebyrd.com, a dating Web site for people with disabilities, to fold into Disaboom. At the end of June, the company listed $2.2 million in cash. The number of adults with some form of disability is growing because the population is aging. 40% of those 65+ are disabled, compared with 19% of those between 16 to 64, according to census data. FULL ARTICLE @ THE NEW YORK TIMES

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

Meetic Gets AOL Distribution Deal

REUTERS -- Oct 29 -- Meetic has signed a distribution agreement with AOL to become the exclusive dating channel on several European portals of Time Warner Inc's Internet division. The agreement extends a similar partnership signed in February between Meetic and AOL France. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

Mark Brooks: A great vote of confidence for Meetic. MSN next?

Dr. Ruth Working For JDate

MARKETWIRE -- Oct 29 -- JDate has partnered with legendary sex expert, Dr. Ruth, to address those nagging and often embarrassing questions about dating and relationships as part of a regular column on the site's e-zine, JMag.

Mark Brooks: JDate has found it's Dr Phil. 

Is This Hooker Lurking On Your Dating Site?

OPW -- Oct 29 -- Eric from ProfileHelper.com forwarded me this profile earlier today. He wasn't looking for a hooker, but he found one on a top 3 internet dating service. The service removed it quickly after we gave them a heads up...but how did this slip through, I wonder? Natalie is 29 (34B 30 34) looking for a guy up to 55 years old. She 'services' the Orlando area.

"Hey You, I'm Natalie
I have the girl-next door look but with a naughty attitude
Guys say my long, well tanned and muscular legs are my best asset
What do you think?
I am a very, very discreet woman who expects the same from her dates.
Available on Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays [days and nights] and
possibly during the week with some notice.
I service the Orlando area and would love to hear from you!
Donations for the Orlando area are reasonable:

I'll make sure our first date isn't our last.
Please Email me
What are you waiting for?
Natalie"

Internet Dating On The Rise In India

THE TIMES -- Oct 29 -- Thousands of young British Asians are spurning the tradition of allowing their parents to choose their partners and are instead relying on internet dating. 700,000 of Shaadi.com's ten million members are in Britain and of the 100,000 users browsing singlemuslim.com, about 10% are British. More than 10% of the profiles on singlemuslim.com have been uploaded by family members. People put up a profile, and what they're looking for — how religious they are, age, height, disabilities, pretty much everything. Then they can search and get their wali, a guardian, involved. Usually the guy goes to the girl's place and the wali asks the questions and they can get to know each other. FULL ARTICLE @ TIMES ONLINE

Mark Brooks: BharatMatrimony and Shaadi are the leading matrimonials services.  Orkut and Fropper are leading social networks.

Online Dating Popular in China´s Big Cities

CCTV.COM -- Oct 29 -- Online dating only caught on with young Chinese about two years ago. Now there are over 1,000 web-sites providing dating services free of charge to some 8 million registered members. A survey shows that 70% of respondent daters hold a bachelors degree and that many of them believe they are single because their social circle is too narrow. Searching and matching services are quickly improving. FULL ARTICLE @ CCTV

Mark Brooks: I spent two months in Shanghai in Spring. The Chinese services are free because the only viable means to charge is via cell phone billing, and the government just reduced the amount that can be charged to 10RMB a month, from 20RMB a month. Just ~$1.50 a month!

Matchmaking Service - Great Date Now

THE JOURNAL NEWS -- Oct 28 -- The U.S. online dating market made $649 million in 2006. The number of Internet users who browsed dating sites dropped for the 3rd time in 4 years, according to Jupiter Research. Each Great Date Now office has a matchmaker, who spends an hour getting to know the client, and follows up with conversations after each date. Matchmakers do background checks. The founder met his wife on Match.com after spending hours online every night and a year dating women who didn't quite match their profiles. Great Date Now has nine locations in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Brings in $200,000+ a month, and spends $100k-$150k a month on advertising.

Mark Brooks: The initial sales interview at matchmaking services typically lasts an hour. In that time they interview, sell and close the client candidates. A key differentiator for matchmaking services such as The Right One is that they reduce the number of surprises at first dates by authenticating people's looks, identities, marital status, and clean crimial record. How is your internet dating service helping singles reduce the 'surprise factor'?

Lavalife To Power Playboy Sex 'n' Dating Channel

BLOGNATION -- Sep 14 -- Lavalife (1.2 million members, 1,3 million messages/day) has an exclusive sponsorship and content deal with Playboy.com for their new Sex and Dating Channel. They will contribute content to this section on Playboy.com and provides visitors with a direct link to Lavalife. FULL ARTICLE @ BLOGNATION

Chemistry.com Chat Up Lines

OPW -- Oct 29 -- Email me if you want me to send you a copy of some of my favorite marketing emails from leading internet dating companies. This week I received a promo email from Chemistry listing the top ten chat up lines. Here they are... - Mark Brooks

1. What's your sign?
2. Pardon me, I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I borrow yours?
3. You must be a broom, because you're sweeping me off my feet.
4. Do you have a license? Because you're driving me crazy.
5. I got a thirst. And baby, you look like my Gatorade.
6. Are you lost? Because heaven's a long way from here.
7. Are you religious? Because you're the answer to all my prayers.
8. Can I take your picture? I want Santa to know exactly what I want for Christmas.
9. Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?
10. Well, here I am. What are your other two wishes?

Windows Live Expo Takes on Craigslist

APP SCOUT -- Oct 25 -- Microsoft is getting into the classifieds game with Windows Live Expo, a service that allows you to search and browse items for sale. Sign up using your Windows Live account and post items, customize the view for your region and categories that interest you, and even browse the personals if you're looking for love. The personal ads are hosted at Match.com. Microsoft also appears to have partnered with a number of companies to get dedicated -- and perhaps exclusive -- listings for apartments for rent, real estate, and consumer electronics. Job listings are pulled from services such as CareerBuilder. FULL ARTICLE @ APP SCOUT

Author, Myles Reed - Interview

OPW INTERVIEW -- Oct 27, 2007 -- Myles Reed wrote Fishing For Love on the Net. Here's my interview with him about why he wrote the book and what he thinks of internet dating. - Mark Brooks

What’s your background?
I’m a seasoned business executive who has worked for Fortune 500 companies for the past 15 years. I’m trained in observing and analyzing and synthesizing information with an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor’s in Accounting from the University of Michigan.

I’ve worked in 4 functional areas, which are accounting, finance, strategy and, of course, the 4th area being marketing. From those experiences, I’ve really developed a skill in understanding consumers and how people behave. That is part of my skill set and what makes me tick. That became the perspective I’ve applied to my time in dating online. I spent over 6 years living and breathing what it takes to find love online.

Tell me more, how did you meet your other half
What’s interesting is that the environment for online dating presents a phenomenal number of opportunities that really haven’t existed for thousands of years. What sparked my interest in my soon to be future wife was that she was the first person who had the exact same birthday as I had. It was the spark that led to love.  More interestingly, she happened to live in a foreign country. If it weren’t for Internet dating, I would never have met this person. Traditional dating is typically confined to the physical sphere of influence of the people who are looking for love. Internet dating breaks down traditional barriers. It really opens up a new world of possibilities and potential mates to consider, which is why I’m very bullish and very excited about the opportunities for growth in this particular area.

What internet dating site did you use?
I have, over the 6 years, tried a wide variety of sites that turned out to be very effective. Of course, I used some of the big sites, which were E-Harmony, Match.com and Meetic.com, which is a very big Internet dating site in Europe, but I ultimately settled in on what I call a Specialty site, which was ChristianCafe.com. I talk about in my book Fishing for Love on the Net that there are 3 categories of websites. There are Mainline sites that offer primarily online dating services and those would be sites like PerfectMatch.com and Meetic.com. Then there are also Multi-purpose sites like Yahoo Personals that offers other information like the news, but then there are also Specialty sites that appeal to people who have a particular interests that are really meaningful for them. This could be a religious or ethnic site or any criteria where you have common interests. She is actually from Norway. That’s the wonderful thing about online dating. You can plug into populations across the world.

So tell us about your book on internet dating?
My book, Fishing for Love on the Net, talks about love and how people can find it. That’s the only reason why people sign up for online dating sites, they are thirsty and they are lonely for love. Online dating sites provide an opportunity to satisfy that longing. My book talks about the fact that online dating does work. However, many people are still unsure. The commercials do a great job of enticing people but many people toil for many years trying to find out if it can work for them. I demonstrate that yes it does work.

Secondly, my book highlights the misconceptions about online dating.  I demystify them and I address them head on. There are tons of people who are lonely wanting to find love but they’re hesitant to try online dating because of the water cooler discussions about the misconceptions and fears around online dating. I address these points of discussion to reassure people that there’s nothing really to fear.

And the last set of things Fishing For Love on the Net talks about are the really effective techniques for people to master their online dating experience to make the best use of their time.

What prompted you to write the book?
After spending more then 4 years online, I noticed there was a uniqueness to this experience that was not like my offline experience. There were some repeating patterns of behavior that no one had to instruct the people to display. The herd of the people involved created their own culture.  I recognized that many people, though caught up in the culture, did not quite understand how to make this new world work. So I felt that because I’m good at understanding value and synthesizing where the opportunities are I needed to capture that learning and distill it down to some really effective principles that would help people find love online.  That’s what Fishing For Love on the Net is really all about, helping people find love.

Do you think internet dating really works?
Absolutely.  In this particular day and age in which we live, people are very consumed with their careers.  They put off the decision of trying to establish relationships and now they are at certain points in their lives where they really do want to find love but they don’t have the time to do it. Online dating expands their world of opportunities. They are able to find the love in a very easy and systematic way that can get them the love they desire. So absolutely, I’m a big proponent of online dating.

Do you advise your readers to use social networking sites for dating as well?
Social networking sites can be an opportunity for people. The problem is that many people who participate on social networking sites are not interested in romantic relationships. They want to connect with their friends. I would advocate that if you were interested in finding love online that you stick with sites whose sole purpose is to create a community of people who have decided they want to find someone with whom to establish a meaningful relationship. Mainline sites are the way to go.

What are your top 3 tips for internet daters?
There are 3 things that I recommend. The first thing is for people to know exactly what they’re looking for in a mate. I really can’t overemphasize the importance here. People have to know what are the non-negotiable things. They have to stick to them. They also have to know the other things that are important but be willing to compromise a bit on them. Both of these categories become the filter that is used to evaluate the people they come into contact with.

The second thing that I recommend for people is to have a method for contact management. The online dating world is very different. You are going to meet many more people online than you would ever meet in the offline world. So you have to have a way to sift through the numerous profiles.

And the last thing I would recommend is that people court their prospective mates as opposed to engage in traditional dating. Because you will meet so many people, many of them will not be the right person, so you have to find a way to more efficiently determine if this contact is the right person for you. Courting, as I lay out in Fishing for Love on the Net, requires two things that are different than traditional dating, a mindset change and a behavior change. If courting is deployed consistently, people will really improve their chances to find love online.

Are you looking to partner with any internet dating sites in any way?
I really would like to find ways to partner with the industry. I’m very passionate about the space of online dating and helping people find love. I’m heartbroken often times when I hear of many of my friends and people that I meet for the first time who are lonely and are desperately wanting to have a meaningful and loving relationship. With a few clicks, online dating can change peoples’ lives. They just need to know how to go about it. People would not dare try to assemble IKEA furniture without following the instructions. Online dating is a whole new world where people can benefit from some direction. Fishing for Love on the Net provides that guidance for them so that they make the most of their time and equip them to reach their point of success, true love. This is my mission.

I Must Be A Prude

OPW -- Oct 25 -- ....because Ashley Madison just turns my stomach. This dating service with 1.4 million users (85% men) is for people who want to cheat on their husband/wives. Granted, other (mainly adult) dating sites have their 'discrete relationship' categories and I think that's to be applauded, but Ashley Madison is goading people towards infidelity with their billboard advertising and PR. Here's some interesting stats I pulled from one of their PR hits...

~50-60% of men and 40-50% of women will engage in an extramarital affair or romantic tryst at some point.
~ 17% of divorces in the United States are caused by infidelity.
~ 90% of Americans believe adultery is morally wrong.
~61% of Americans through adultery should not be a crime in the US.

Your comments please... - Mark Brooks

Lavalife Keeps It's Website Fresh

EDMONTON SUN -- Oct 25 -- Lavalife has gone through a facelift. Because the site is really 3 sites in one (Dating, Relationships and Intimate Encounters) juggling all 3 was difficult.  Now web navigation is more user-friendly and the instant messaging feature which was difficult to use simultaneously across all 3 divisions can now be used all in one place. In addition, members can now post up to 30 photos. The site also offers a new, complementary articles and advice website Click. FULL ARTICLE @ EDMONTON SUN

Mark Brooks: Word on the street is that Lavalife is being offered for sale through Jeffries. More soon.

Adult Dating Sites Breathe A Sigh Of Relief - 2257 Ruled Unconstitutional

NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL -- Oct 24 -- In Connection Distributing Co. V. Keisler the courts found that an attempt by Congress to crack down on child porn by requiring producers of sexually-explicit images maintain detailed proof-of-age records open to government inspection violates the First Amendment. The court felt the law overstepped its boundaries for it's major purpose of curtailing child porn. One judge focused on how the law was written, said it would penalize people making movies in their home for personal use. A second judge argued that the statute was even unconstitutional as applied to the particular plaintiffs in this case, who included several defendants who wished to publish swinger ads in the magazine illustrated with sexually-explicit pictures but did not want to sacrifice their anonymity. The third judge, while agreeing that the statute as written is unconstitutional, argued that the court should adopt a narrowing interpretation to avoid unconstitutional applications and preserve those portions that might be constitutional on their own. FULL ARTICLE @ NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

PositiveFriends.com Launches

SALINE, MI – Oct 24 – PositiveFriends.com is for those affected by STDs. According to the CDC, there are over 65 million Americans currently living with an STD, 19 million new STD infections each year, one in three sexually active men and women living with Herpes, and about 50% of all sexually active Americans affected by HPV. One-third of all single and dating Americans now exploring online personal ads (BusinessWeek, 2006) and niche dating has never been hotter. FULL ARTICLE @ PR NEWSWIRE

Lavalife Leverages Mobile Complete's DeviceAnywhere

BUSINESS WIRE -- Oct 24 -- Lavalife, the largest internet dating company in Canada and a front runner in mobile dating with its product Lavalife Mobile, implemented DeviceAnywhere a new product from Mobile Complete. DeviceAnywhere enables Lavalife Mobile developers to have access to live handsets from their desktops for a variety of carriers, so Lavalife can easily test software and applications in development.  Lavalife will begin using the solution to effectively monitor their existing chat, binary and voice WAP and SMS offerings. FULL ARTICLE @ ADN NEWS NETWORK

Police Warn Of Online Dating Scam

SOONEWS WIRE -- Oct 23 -- Sault Ste. Marie police warn of con artists who post online singles profiles, get to know victims and then ask for money. Scammers typically target sites with free signups. Unlike other scams, money is not asked for right away, but after the online relationship has started and the victim is most vulnerable. The full article lists typical cons and ways to prevent. FULL ARTICLE @ SOONEWS WIRE

Microsoft Takes 1.6% Stake in Facebook For $240 Million

OPW -- Oct 24 -- Facebook is valued at $15 billion based on their ad deal with Microsoft. See the news flash on Facebook's partnership with Microsoft at Social Networking Watch. You can expect more investment money to flow into the social networking space based on this valuation. Do you think this will have positive repercussions for the online personals industry and internet dating company valuations? - Mark Brooks

Hitwise UK Rankings - PlentyofFish is #1

OPW -- Oct 23 -- We have updated Hitwise UK rankings. PlentyofFish took Gaydar.co.uk's #1 position. Adult dating site SexInTheUK entered the chart at #3 and moved DatingDirect, Match and GirlsDateforFree down to #4, #5 and #6. LoopyLove bumbs FriendsReunited Dating down one spot to #8. Telegraph Dating is in at #9, BeNaughty at #10. Mate1 slides off the top 10.