Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

iDate INSIDE Series: Episode #3 - GlobalPersonals.co.uk

OPW - Nov 30 - iDate INSIDE are a series of videos covering the inner operations of internet dating companies. The video shows the offices and the culture. Here is the 3rd episode, a sneak peek into the Global Personals UK office.

Global Personals just celebrated its 8th birthday. Ross Williams and Steve Pammenter started the business in 2003 and it took them just 4 years to grow the business from nothing to £3M per year. Thanks to their White Label Dating partners, the company's annual revenue is now ~ £30M.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

 

See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com

A Young Woman Scored $1,200/Month In Dinners Using Match.com

BUSINESS INSIDER - Nov 30 - McGonagall started eating out five nights a week using a rotation of different guys she met through Match.com. McGonagall went from easily spending $500 a month on dinners alone to having someone else dole out an average of $60-plus per night.

By Madeleine Scinto
See full article at Business Insider

See all posts on Match.com

Facebook’s New Mobile Channels Are Boosting SNAP's Traffic

TECH CRUNCH - Nov 30 - Facebook launched a new set of social channels for apps to reach mobile users last month, that includes notifications, search, news feed stories and bookmarks in its mobile web and iPhone apps. Snap Interactive said its mobile traffic to that app got a significant boost. The number of average daily logins on its AreYouInterested iPhone app increased by 70% between the 30 days before the October 10th Facebook integration and the 30 days after. Overall, Are You Interested has 7.3M monthly active users and 610K daily active users on Facebook, according to Inside Network’s AppData app tracking service.

by Eric Eldon
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on SNAP Interactive
See all posts on AreYouInterested

Jongleurs Comedy Launch Into Dating With WhiteLabelDating.com

WLD BLOG - Nov 30 - Popular comedy brand Jongleurs has launched into the world of online dating with site Jongleurs Dating, powered by WhiteLabelDating.com.

See full article at WLD Blog

See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com

ICQ And Mamboo Develop API For New ICQ Love

PR NEWSWIRE - Nov 30 - ICQ has joined forces with Mamboo.com. The result is ICQ Love. Unlike traditional dating sites, ICQ Love promotes 'Social Dating' - a concept coined by Mamboo.com. It provides a chance to meet new people through existing online friends. Mamboo has ~415K members in North America and Europe.

The full article was originally published at PR Newswire, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Mamboo

Manhunt’s New Ad Campaign

MANHUNT DAILY - Nov 28 - Manhunt is launching a new billboard campaign. They chose to debut the campaign in Los Angeles. Manhunt received dozens of complaints because citizens were concerned about children being able to view their billboards. All of this hubbub is over the fact that they depicted two men shirtless and semi-embracing. Another ad for fashion designer Michael Kors’ underwear line has a girl commencing a handjob on a guy. This ad is placed just a few blocks away from the Manhunt ad and there weren't any complaints to Michael Kors, his ad agency, or to LA political officials. For some reason, gay sexuality is still scary and controversial for many people.

The full article was originally published at Manhunt Daily, but is no longer available.

See all posts on Manhunt

Men Urged To Opt In For Nationwide Sexual Health Messaging Service

PINK NEWS - Nov 29 - The GMFA Sexual Health Messaging Service, which allows men to alert previous partners when they are diagnosed with an infection, is set to be rolled out to more clinics and websites with funding from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The GMFA has worked with Gaydar, Fitlads, Recon and Manhunt.  After receiving a diagnosis at a clinic, the system offers users a unique PIN code to access the online SHMS service. Once there, contact details for recent sexual partners can be typed in, from mobile phone numbers to profile names. Messages can be sent anonymously, but the GMFA says the recipient may be more likely to take action if a name is included.

by Stephen Gray
See full article at Pink News

See all posts on Gaydar
See all posts on Manhunt

Poll Results: Have Free Dating Sites Hurt The Paid On-line Dating Industry?

OPW - Nov 29 - Do You Think The Free Dating Sites Have Hurt The Paid On-line Dating Industry?  That´s a question we asked our readers last week. We've just closed the poll and here are the results from 91 respondants:

• 30% said yes, free dating site have hurt the paid dating industry
• 41% said no
• 29% said somewhat 

Our next question: Is the on-line dating industry on top of controlling scammer fraud?

Police Target Lonely Hearts Fraudsters

SUNDAY TIMES - Nov 28 - Romance scammers are to be targeted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). According to Soca ~200K people have already been tricked by overseas conmen. Online dating scams have become one of the most lucrative methods. This is because online dating has itself become so successful, with 1,400 dating sites operating in Britain, including Plentyoffish, eHarmony and match.com. Mark Brooks, who runs Courtland Brooks, a consultancy specialising in the online dating industry, said: “Every site has significant problems in dealing with scammers. It is the bane of the industry.” Karl Gregory, head of match.com’s UK division, said cases of fraud were still rare. “Our advice”, he said, “is to stay within the site to build up relationships over time rather than giving out personal details, and never to give money to anyone for any reason.”

by Jonathan Leake
See full article at Sunday Times

Mark Brooks: Actually, this is far more a problem in the USA than the UK.  Most sites are fighting and winning the battle against scammers, I think.  But the isolated cases of date scamming are still very newsworthy and bad for the dating industry. 

See all posts on POF
See all posts on eHarmony
See all posts on Match.com

Thanks To Our Sponsors

Siri Dating?

OPW - Nov 26 - Which dating site will be the first out with a Siri-connected app?

'Find me a hot blonde to have dinner with tonight'

Here's a great article on Siri on PaidContent (no longer available), which basically says Siri came to fruition because of a $200 million DARPA project. It's hot, it works (somewhat), and dating sites should start thinking about how this applies to the next-gen of mobile dating.

Social Networking Apps Bring The Close Closer

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD - Nov 25 - Blendr enables users to check their smartphones and then text other users a few metres away. If they hit it off, they can meet up for a date within minutes. Blendr is the heterosexual version of Grindr, which has more than 2M gay users in 192 countries. Joel Simkhai, who founded Grindr and Blendr, says the main difference between the two apps is that the straight version is less focused on casual sex. Other geosocial networking apps, such as OkCupid Locals and HowAboutWe are popular.

by Rachel Wells
See full article at Sydney Morning Herald

See all posts on OkCupid
See all posts on HowAboutWe
See all posts on Blendr
See all posts on Grindr

Top Tips For Your Dating Sites

WLD BLOG - Nov 24 - 
1. Use Social Media - The majority of users will not proactively type your website’s URL into their browser and arrive at your site via direct traffic. That is why reaching people where they virtually ‘hang out’ is essential.
2. Keep your audience in mind - post in the tone that people will associate with your site, engaging with your audience on a ‘human’ level.
3. Make your site sticky - The perfect way to make your site sticky is to link, link, link! Hook users and reel them in by creating links (where relevant) between blog posts, to allow users to move effortlessly around the site and more importantly, stay engaged with your brand.

See all posts on WhiteLabelDating.com

Modern Dating

BRIMBANK WEEKLY - Nov 24 - Online dating no longer has the stigma it once had or is seen as a last resort. For many, it’s the first place they turn to as the more conventional means to meet their match. Australia’s first online dating site RSVP has recently celebrated its 15th birthday. They had ~1.8M members and ~8000 marriages and 900 babies from people who had met on the site. Speed dating is also taking off. Justin Parfitt, owner of Fast Impressions, started his company in 2002. Events include nights for people who like literature, travel and trivia, particular religions and can also cater to same sex relationships and even psychical preferences — such as tall men, slender women and nationalities.

The full article was originally published at Brimbank Weekly, but is no longer available.

See all posts on RSVP
See all posts on Fast Impressions

SmartDate Employees Stiffed, VC Rails Against CEO

OPW - Nov 24 - The proverbial s*t is hitting the fan at TechCrunch.fr.

- Francois Tison, General Partner at 360 Capital Partners
“Risk and failure are part of our business. In most failures, we can look between shareholders and say "we tried, we did everything we could, we saved what we could." Some failures leave a more bitter taste. It (SmartDate) clearly belongs to the second category. "

SmartDate is accused of loading the site with fakesters.Contractors and employees have not been paid, apparently.

- Former Employee
He (CEO, Fabrice LeParc) lied to us, forced to use unethical techniques, contradicted himself constantly, and pushed us to lie providers ("Yes, be patient, the bank transfer has been done ...").

See all posts on Smartdate