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E-Matrimony Projected To Scale New Heights In India
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Spark Networks Q1 Results
GURU FOCUS -- May 14 -- Net revenues decreased 20% to $12.0m in the
Q1/2009 compared to $15.0m in the Q1/2008. Net revenues for the Jewish
Networks segment decreased 12.5% to $7.6m. The decrease in net revenues
is primarily driven by a lower average paying subscriber base,
reflecting a downturn in the economy. Net revenues for the General
Market Networks segment decreased 63.5% to $940,000. FULL ARTICLE @ GURU FOCUS
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Internet Dating Conference Conference Discount
OPW -- May 15 -- It's that time of year again. We're in Los Angeles for the Internet
Dating Conference. Click here for $75 off the
Los Angeles conference on June 25-26th. See the agenda. See travel
info. There are three Internet Dating Conferences a year. Two in the
USA (Miami and Los Angeles), and one in Europe (London). Here's some
sample sessions from the upcoming Internet Dating Conference.
- The Science Behind Compatibility Profiling; speakers: Dr. Helen Fisher and Dr. Jim Houran, Chief Scientific Advisors, Chemistry.com
- Beyond the Membership: How to Make Money from Advertising on Your iDating Site; speaker: Dustin Weirich, CEO of DateHookup.com
- Google Insights: Advanced Information on Trends and Search for the Online Dating Costumer; speaker: John Ploumitsakos, Online Sales & Operations Manager at Google
- Removing the Veil: Payment Processor Rates and Options for Dating Companies; speaker: Glenn Millar, Director of Strategy at Courtland Brooks
- Final Panel Debate; speakers: John Ploumitsakos, Online Sales & Operations Manager at Google, Marina Glogovac, former CEO of Lavalife, Brendan O'Kane, CEO of Messmo, Liz Wasserman, CEO of Mate1 and Josh Myers, CEO of People Media
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JDate’s Challenge: Everyone Wants In
JEWISH JOURNAL -- May 14 -- Non-Jews make up at least 2% of users on JDate. Despite all the stories of non-Jews on JDate, the population of users who choose “willing to convert” under religious affiliation is a mere 2%, according to Arielle Wolin, manager of public and community relations at JDate. What may be most surprising about the non-Jews who use JDate is how little they attribute their lack of success to their religion. They appear not at all contemplative about the fact that they are throwing themselves into a pool of people who have decided they would like to try to find a Jewish mate. Phrases like “I like Jews, so why not?” and “Some of my best friends are Jewish” come up a lot.
The full article was originally published at Jewish Journal, but is no longer available.
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Twitter Dating Site
TECH CRUNCH -- May 12 -- Philip “Pud” Kaplan, founder of FuckedCompany and Adbrite, is adding another Twitter application to his name. He recently created both Tweetname, a domain name registering site and Fast140, a Twitter speed typing game. Now Pud is launching Flirt140, a flirting and dating site for Twitter. A free service, Flirt140 allows you to search for Twitter users by gender, geographic area and keyword. Flirt140 also allows members to send direct messages to anyone on Twitter, whether they are following each other or not. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH
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Air New Zealand Plays Cupid To Singles
BUSINESS WIRE -- May 13 -- Air New Zealand is flying singles to the opposite side of the Pacific with the aim of finding each a partner in air or in New Zealand. The flight will depart LA International Airport for Auckland, New Zealand, on October 13, 2009. Roundtrip ticket prices start at $780. Matchmaking Flight passengers will be encapsulated in the matchmaking experience, including: a pre-flight gate party; themed food, drink, and games throughout the flight; entertainment; and a large-scale, singles-only party at the SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland. Matchmaking Flight ticket holders are invited to upload an online dating profile at www.thematchmakingflight.com. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE
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Erotic Services Out, Adult Services In
MASHABLE -- May 13 -- Starting today, Craigslist, has caved to pressure and will no longer allow new ads to be posted to its controversial erotic services section. In its place, Craigslist will erect a pricier and moderated option termed adult services (funny, that sounds like the same thing). Adult services listings will cost $10 per post, and go through a manual approval process. Also of note is that proceeds won’t necessarily go to charity, as was the case with erotic services ads of late. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE
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iovation Webinar Invitation
OPW -- May 13 -- iovation, the The Device Reputation Authority for the Internet, is hosting a special webinar announcing their new anti-fraud risk-scoring service.
Join this webinar and learn:
- How iovation assigns risk scores to new devices
- Which risk indicators are analyzed and which of these are completely unique to iovation
- How their risk scoring system assesses risk without collecting any personally identifiable information (PII)
- Real-world examples of how businesses are utilizing Risk Module reports today
Webinar Dates: May 19th, 2:00 pm EST
May 20th, 11am EST
Mark Brooks: iovation helps the dating industry to work together to beat scammers. They are a long standing client of Courtland Brooks and sponsor of Online Personals Watch.
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Immigrants' Children Seeking Similar Partners
WASHINGTON POST -- May 13 -- Although interracial marriages overall have increased, the rate of Hispanics and Asians marrying partners of other races fell from 27% to 20% for Hispanics and 42% to 33% for Asians from 1990 to 2000, according to Ohio State University sociologist Zhenchao Qian, who co-authored a study on the subject. Increasingly, singles are turning to a growing number of niche dating sites on the Internet, such as Shaadi.com and Persiansingles.com.
The full article was originally published at Nashua Telegraph, but is no longer available.
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SpeedDate.com Launches App For Android
PR NEWSWIRE -- May 12 -- SpeedDate.com, the speed dating Web site, announced the availability of its Android application, allowing singles to effortlessly connect with potential matches from their mobile phone. SpeedDate.com is a free service which gives singles the ability to connect via three-minute instant messages or live video dates.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
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Unemployment And Living With Parents Are Not Dating Deterrents
PR NEWSWIRE -- May 12 -- According to Zoosk's recent survey, 78% of American singles would go on a date with someone who is unemployed; 85% think that dating can be fun without spending money; 80% would go on a date with someone who lives with their parents. The Zoosk poll was conducted online in May 2009 and fielded 1,009 responses from singles in the United States who use Zoosk. 89% of Zoosk members are under age 40, and 65% are under age 30.
The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.
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Internet Dating Industry Weekly News - 4 Mins
Online Personals Watch Weekly News Summary, May 11th, 2009
Site launches, BharatMatrimony expansion into new markets and religions, Userplane demise, CrazyBlindDate to be integrated into OkCupid, prison dating, Wealthy Men on reality TV.
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Max McGuire And Mark Semaan, co-CEOs Of RedHotPie
OPW INTERVIEW -- May 9 -- RedHotPie is a top 10 dating site in Australia. Here’s our interview with the co-founders, Max McGuire and Mark Semaan. - Mark Brooks
What’s your founding story?
Max: Back in 2002, we had a brainstorm that we wanted to get into the digital industry. At the time there was a need for online dating in Australia, particularly with a community feel. Australia was being serviced mainly by the international products that weren’t speaking with an Australian voice. We combined our relevant talents in IT, web development, and sales and marketing, and built RedHotPie.
Tell us more about the Australian voice. How is that different from America and the UK?
Max: Speaking with an Australian voice means the user is able to identify with what the site is saying. In particular, we speak about Australian events or Australian places and in Australian colloquial terms.
Mark: We do offline gatherings, events and parties to get people together and tie the online with the offline aspect.
But you don’t run them yourselves; you let other people run them, correct?
Max: It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement but yes, we have our party and event partners, and we support and promote them. We hand pick them. People approach us and we look at their bonafides and what they’re trying to achieve with their event, and if it fits the RedHotPie model, we jump straight in.
So if you get complaints about a particular brand of event or a particular provider then you would tend to pull it?
Max: Oh absolutely. If there is some problem, we would no longer support them. It’s a very important aspect of taking the cyber out of your product and actually having real world events.
I’m intrigued with the name RedHotPie. Can you tell us how you came about the name?
Max: I think everyone would agree that trying to come up with a name is always a challenge.
We wanted something interesting and quirky. So in the name, the ‘Hot’ part was more saying that we’re edgy, we’re a product with passion, and the ‘Pie’ part was where we wanted to go with having a community. Get your slice of the pie, be part of the pie. So we ended up with RedHotPie.
How are you situated against the likes of RSVP? I think they’re still the number one in Australia.
Max: Yeah, RSVP is a very significant brand name in Australia. They’ve been around the longest and have been brand building an awful long time. They’re sort of what we consider to be a little less flamboyant, or you can call it “vanilla dating”. We like to have a more party feel, a more passion feel, and then again we’re very much more about this community and creating the stickiness and the sense of belonging.
How much would say the webcams have contributed to RedHotPie’s success?
Mark: With the webcam, we focus a lot on the reality aspect of the site. We started on a small scale and every 6 months we add a bigger pipe for the room because it keeps on growing. There is a definite shift that people want to see who they’re communicating with and that it’s real.
Max: And in the Australian marketplace, we were the first with webcam chat where some other Australian based start-ups are still playing around with Java applets and Java chat.
You also have a couple that give advice, Bessie and Geoff. Can you tell us about Bessie and Geoff?
Max: Bessie Bardot and Geoff Barker are partners in life and they have a celebrity status in Australia which makes them recognizable to our users. They’re published authors of books on dating and relationship advice. Geoff’s last book was “What’s On a Man’s Mind?” which was directed more towards giving girls some insights into how the male mind works. It was important for us to have someone our users could identify with.
You have recently launched in the UK I understand.
Max: Yes, we went live in the UK in 2007 so it’s fairly recent in the age of RedHotPie, which is 6 ½ years old now. We’ve spent some time and effort and considerable money branding the product in the UK. We’re working towards traction and market share there.
Have you found the Brits to be different from the Aussies?
I think that most people who are interested in meeting other people, no matter what their cultures or nationalities are, have the same sort of desires or requirements, and probably not too different.
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Ashley Madison To Launch In Ireland
IRISH CENTRAL -- May 7 -- Ashley Madison, a Web site that helps people have affairs is to launch in Ireland with a major marketing campaign later this year. The site has been in operation in North America since 2001, and membership has gone up from 1m to 3.6m in the past 12 months – in part thanks to the recession. FULL ARTICLE @ IRISH CENTRAL
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Study: Effectiveness Of Virtual Dating
OPW -- May 7 -- Omnidate is conducting a study with Professor Dan Ariely into the effectiveness of virtual dating and is looking for dating sites to participate in this research. Professor Ariely is a best-selling author (Predictably Irrational, 2008) and the researcher behind several online dating studies, including "Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates". OmniDate is a developer of a plug-in 3D virtual dating application. Please email [email protected] if interested.
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