TORONTO SUN - Apr 29 - Between 2007 and 2012 the online dating industry more than doubled its revenue, going from $900M to $1.9 billion annually, and had a jump in visitors from 20M to 40M a year. But it's not just dating sites matching mates; it's social media too. A British survey found 72% of respondents used both dating sites and social networks to search for love, while 19% used social media sites alone.
« March 2012 | Main | May 2012 »
A Relationshopping Spree
| |
Mixr, Inc Is Now The Company Behind SpeedDate.com
OPW - Apr 26 - SpeedDate is announcing its name change to Mixr, Inc. SpeedDate will continue to operate as one of their branded product. Mixr is currently developing new products that focus on virtual environments where people can meet for a variety of social scenarios from dating, friendship, shared interests and beyond.
| |
Three Niche Dating Sites For Targeted Romance
CNN - Apr 26 - Single Fit People, a free dating site, allows folks who like to work out to find other folks who like to work out to. The site even organizes events where singles can mingle and run around. Tastebuds.fm is a free dating site that help you avoid anyone out there who "likes everything but rap and country". The site allows you to easily port over your musical interests from Facebook or Last.fm so as to weed out anyone not familiar with that most important holiday in the world, Record Store Day. A little site called Tawkify aims to act as your guide through the morass of online social interactions. For about $15 a pop, Tawkify matches up potential soulmates based on their Klout scores (a service that measures your social influence online) as well as other factors.
| |
39% Of Americans Spend More Time Socializing Online Than Face-to-Face
MARKETWIRE - Apr 25 - 39% of Americans spend more time socializing online compared to face-to-face, more than in the U.K. (36%) and Germany (35%), according to a study by Badoo. Aside from feelings of loneliness, the survey revealed that people could embellish the truth when sharing online, perhaps to appear more interesting to others, or to "control" their online persona. 25% of American respondents admit they have exaggerated or lied about who they've met or what they've done on their social networks, with a staggering 39% having shared bad news, such as a death or divorce.
The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.
| |
Facebook Takes Down Manhunt's Fan Page
INSTINCT MAGAZINE - Apr 26 - According to the popular gay dating site Manhunt.net, its Facebook page was taken down without notice on April 4. This isn't the first time a gay related Facebook presence has been suspiciously moderated. A month ago Facebook mods came under fire for taking down an innocuous picture of two men kissing in protest of homophobia. Though Manhunt's content may have been a little more charged, did it warrant being banned without notice?
by Jonathan Higbee
The full article was originally published at Instinct Magazine, but is no longer available.
| |
ChristianDating.com Domain For Sale For $500K
PR WEB - Apr 25 - ChristianDating.com is available for $500,000 or through offers at http://www.superniche.com. ChristianDating.com has massive search engine potential and can be utilized to capture highly qualified leads that are more likely to convert to memberships, giving your existing company or start-up a unique competitive advantage over other niche Christian dating sites. According to the Google Keyword Tool, the “Christian Dating” keywords get almost 35% of the same U.S. search volume as “Dating.”
| |
Students Join Sugar Daddy Dating Sites
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK - Apr 24 - Female students are flocking to 'sugar daddy' dating sites to meet rich older boyfriends as they struggle with debts which will average £53K for those starting degrees this year. SeekingArrangement.com has released figures showing the 20 British universities with the highest number of students joining the controversial site. Top is Nottingham University with 61 sign-ups, followed by the University of Kent (57) and London School of Economics (51). Cambridge University came fourth with 46 students signing up to the dating website. The SeekingArrangement.com site is clearly more than happy with the influx of student signups. New members who are also students are upgraded by the site to a premium account, and they are given a 'college sugar babe' stamp on their profile. Members with these stamps get three times more responses than regular female members of the site. 35 % of the site's 50K UK members are students.
by Deborah Andrews
See full article at DailyMail.co.uk
| |
Mark Brooks To Provide The State Of The Mobile Dating Industry At iDate
WEBWIRE - Apr 24 - Mark Brooks, publisher of Online Personals Watch and CEO of Courtland Brooks, will provide an annual address to the dating industry on the state and size of the mobile dating market at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills on June 20-22, 2012.
| |
Is There A Science To Compatability?
PSYCHOLOGIES MAGAZINE - Apr 24 - The problem with online dating is that it’s easy to overlook potential ideal mates. The top-notch scientists hired by dating agencies insist that you have a far greater chance of meeting The One this way. ‘It’s online introducing,’ says Helen Fisher, anthropologist and chief scientific adviser at match.com. ‘You’ve got to get out there and get to know someone.’ Professor Robin Dunbar, a psychologist at Oxford University suggests that much of the interesting research on what makes people click has been based on friends rather than romantic partners. ‘Social psychologists have identified six key elements for compatibility in friendships,’ he says. ‘These are: speaking the same language and a similar background; education level; moral/political outlook; hobbies/interests; and a shared sense of humour.’ When it comes to fireworks between men and women, however, it is difficult to predict how far these basic rules of compatibility apply. Sometimes opposites attract, but we know they can just as easily repel. Most experts agree that the more you know yourself, the better. Everyone is the right and wrong person, there is no totally right person.
| |
iovation Finds 60% Increase In European Fraud Online
PRESS RELEASE - Apr 25 - iovation, the Device Reputation Authority protecting online businesses from fraud and abuse, announced that the rate of fraudulent online transactions it stopped in Europe is 60% greater today than a year ago. The rate of fraudulent transactions originating from Europe jumped from 1.3% from January to March 2011 to 2.1% from January to March 2012 and showed upward movement every quarter in between. The top three European countries for online fraud over the last year were Romania, Lithuania and Croatia according to iovation. From April 2011 to April 2012, iovation stopped 15M fraudulent online transactions in Europe.
| |
Online Dating & Matchmaking Symposium, New York, June 14th
OPW - Apr 23 - Murdock Capital Partners is hosting Wall Street's first Symposium for the Dating and Matchmaking industry. The Symposium will be a one-day event scheduled for June 14th and hosted at the 3 West Club, a private club venue. It is scheduled to begin at 9:00am with a continental breakfast and a series of presentations by the senior management of established companies that have an important presence in the industry. While lunch is served, a guest speaker will discuss the current state of the industry and the issues that define the trajectory of the industry. A cocktail reception for presenters, attendees, and guests will begin at 5:00 pm. The cost per presenting company is $10,500 all inclusive.
| |
Brian Bowman, theComplete.me CEO, To Keynote On Social Discovery At iDate LA
WEBWIRE - Apr 23 - Brian Bowman will provide the keynote address at the 9th annual iDate West Coast Mobile Dating Conference. The event takes place on June 20-22, 2012 at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Bowman is the CEO/Founder of theComplete.me, the Internet’s first social dating network. He is the former VP of Product Match.com, VP of Community Yahoo!, and CMO Reply.com.
| |
Arranged Marriage For Hindus In 21st Century America
HUFFINGTON POST - Apr 23 - Kamna Mittal and her husband moved to the Bay Area soon after they were married in India in 2000. In addition to being in a new country, the couple were new to each other. Their marriage had been arranged. Now a mother of two, Mittal counts herself lucky that it worked out, but 12 years later, she wants to help Indian-American singles in the Bay Area meet directly. Within Indian culture (which is predominantly Hindu), marriage is as much about families coming together as it is about couples coming together. A family also might hire a marriage broker to help the process along. These days, matrimony websites can serve the same broker role as the "aunties." Bharatmatrimony.com has more than 20M profiles worldwide. The website's CEO, Murugavel Janakiraman, said 10% of clients are immigrants to the U.S. or American-born Indians. Indian immigrants tend to look for the same religion, caste and region, Mittal said. American-born Indians might want somebody who is Indian, preferably raised in America, too. 90% of Hindus in America marry within the faith, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
| |
Hate Dining Solo? Site Offers A Solution
CNN - Apr 23 - A new website called Invite For a Bite serves as a sort of meeting place where women who hate supping solo can post invites and make plans to dine together. Cressida Howard came up with the idea for "the site I wanted to join but couldn't find." "I was listening to a BBC radio program that involved an interview with women who traveled alone for business or pleasure. They were all strong women who had no problem traveling alone, but the one thing they all got very animated about was how they hated eating alone," Howard said. Less than two months old, Invite For a Bite has already seen invites for get-togethers in places from New York City to Addis Ababa. For one, in some countries it is frowned upon for women to be out on their own, says Howard. And it can even be dangerous. Not that meeting strangers from a strange city in a strange place via the Invite For a Bite website doesn't bring up its own issues. Which is why Howard has devoted an entire page on the site to safety tips. Another issue addressed on the Invite For a Bite site is why it is for women only. "As soon as you introduce the idea of men and women meeting for meals, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish it from a dating site," says Howard. "No matter how many times you explained that it wasn't, common sense dictates that it would be treated as such by some people.
by Jill Becker
See full article at CNN
| |