Online Personals Watch: News on the Dating Industry and Business

Match.com Launches Free Dating Site

PARADIGM SHIFT -- Jan 2 -- Match.com has launched a free dating service. Downtoearth. Downtoearth is headed up by Jacob Solotaroff, the former Director of Product Management and Member Integrity at Match.com. FULL ARTICLE @ PARADIGM SHIFT. Also in MASHABLE

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The Dangers Of Romantic Comedies

LA TIMES -- Dec 29 -- A Scottish university issued an alarming news release warning that romantic comedies "may actually damage your love life" by raising unrealistic romantic expectations and setting them up for a lifetime of disappointment.  In the movies, new relationships are portrayed both as exciting, as most tend to be, and offering the intimacy that usually takes years to develop in real life. Past transgressions are easily forgiven. (You cheated on me with the mailman? Big deal! I still love you; let's live happily ever after!) And finally, older, more committed relationships are frequently portrayed in a negative light, with couples bickering and backbiting. More often than not, married couples are depicted as long-suffering. FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES

Mark Brooks: Internet dating sites can help the cause by educating users, resetting expectations and making better matches. There are a host of dating sites offering up personality and compatibility profiling tests now.  They use a range of sciences to do so. eHarmony is led by a clinical psychologist, PerfectMatch by a sociologist, Chemistry by an anthropologist and even Plentyoffish.com has jumped on the bandwagon and has recently started having all new users go through a page of profiling questions. (Full Disclosure: POF is a client of Courtland Brooks)

EHarmony's GLBT Site Will Alienate Gays

OUT&ABOUT -- Jan 1 --  In accordance with their settlement agreement, eHarmony has created a separate site dedicated to matching same-sex couples called Compatible Partners. Although this site will use the same questionnaire to match same sex couples, the site comes with a hefty disclaimer warning that this new matchmaking site was not created with the use of extensive data on what makes a compatible same-sex couple. eHarmony's straight users and their newly acquired homosexual users will remain completely separate. FULL ARTICLE @ OUT&ABOUT

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Looking For Love

SW TIMES -- Dec 29 -- Traditional dating is almost a thing of the past. But there is a lot to be said for meeting a person face to face. Most experts claim that while the online sites may be good for meeting people, it can't compare to actually meeting someone in person. "The anonymity of many online dating sites may provide a slew of impersonal introductions, but what happens when you get to the next step ... meeting them in person?" asks Paul A. Falzone, CEO of The Right One and Together Dating. "The ways of meeting someone have changed, but the rules of behavior have not." Matchmaking companies do a lot more screening before they match someone. Some dating sites offer virtual dating, where each person creates an avatar and go on a virtual play date online. FULL ARTICLE @ SW TIMES      

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Help For Devout Muslims Looking For Love

SACRAMENTO BEE -- Dec 28 -- The Matrimonial Singles Task Force at Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims, or SALAM, is getting a lot of attention within the Muslim community. It is not a dating service. "The goal is to find a spouse," said Imam Mohamed Abdul Azeez, spiritual leader of SALAM. Practicing Muslims do not date. Traditionally, devout men and women meet spouses through friends and family. FULL ARTICLE @ SUN SENTINEL        

No Recession For Online Dating Sites

LA TIMES -- Dec 28 -- Online personals websites are experiencing a major boost. Craigslist personals postings and eHarmony.com registrations have each seen 20% increases in 2008. Match.com's memberships were 22% higher in Dec than they were in Dec '07. Both eHarmony and Match.com reported especially high traffic on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted. Money worries are even making them more picky. While Match.com reported a 50% increase in profile views from Nov to Dec, a recent survey of 1,500 members found that 84% of them were "being more selective about first dates." Wendy Rice, a 33-year-old chef from Hollywood, said she'd also experienced an unusually high frequency of daters playing "chicken" with the bill. FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES

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