SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Feb 14 -- "A lot of services said, 'Hey, put in your $25, pull the handle and get your partner,' " said Joe Cohen, chief operating officer for Match.com, a leading online personals site. "It's not that simple. "People were turned off because expectations were raised so high," he added. "Web sites could only under-deliver." To revitalize the industry, some dating Web sites are refocusing on users who want serious relationships. "This market is saturated," said Nate Elliot, an analyst for Jupiter Research. "You have all the online dating sites you're ever going to need." Lorna Borenstein, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Personals, said her business hasn't slowed, as some other companies' has. She attributes the continued growth to Yahoo's giant reach and several new features in the personals area. FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO
Mark Brooks: New/startup online personals companies should either shoot for a very targeted niche, or secure $5 million+ of marketing funding.
