« November 2012 | Main | January 2013 »
Awesome Offices: HowAboutWe & DateMySchool
THE NEXT WEB - Dec 27 - New York is the world’s most populous city and it’s been dubbed creative capital of the world. Here is a look inside some of the coolest NYC tech and startup offices.
HowAboutWe allows singles to connect by letting them come up with fun date ideas. And it helps couples enrich their relationships by offering them a curated collection of great date experiences, built for two. The team operates from Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), in a former warehouse of the Grand Union Tea Company.
DateMySchool Sunset Park headquarters in Brooklyn was a weapons production facility during World War II. Today it houses creative companies. One of those is DateMySchool, the US’ largest dating platform for students and alumni.
by Mundo Resink & Stefan Blokker
See full article at The Next Web
| |
Meetic: New Offline Events & Daily Six Matches
01AMOUR - Dec 28 - Meetic now offers its members to attend weekly parties that are being held in ~30 cities in France in clubs or hotel bars. Meetic has also developed an algorithm to predict the best matches and is going to send each member 6 daily matches.
| |
Credit Score: For Some Important Factor In Dating
NY TIMES - Dec 25 - The credit score, once a little-known metric derived from a complex formula that incorporates outstanding debt and payment histories, has become a bigger factor in dating decisions. “Credit scores are like the dating equivalent of a sexually transmitted disease test,” said Manisha Thakor, the founder and CEO of MoneyZen Wealth Management, a financial advisory firm. “Good Credit Is Sexy,” says one site, Creditscoredating.com, which allows members to view the credit scores of potential dates who agree to provide the numbers. On another site, Datemycreditscore.com, a member posted on the site’s home page that others should to “stop kidding” themselves and realize that credit scores do matter.
| |
When Going Solo Is Not the Goal
NY TIMES - Dec 26 - Meet at the Airport.com asks users to include the name of their local airport, the time they’ll be there or the location and time that they’ll be at any other terminal in the world. The site connects travelers with one another for friendship, love or something in between. Women who are traveling alone but don’t necessarily want to eat alone can scour Inviteforabite.com for public invitations from other female travelers. Triptrotting.com connects travelers with locals for advice and activities like bike riding in Beijing or a photo tour of New York landmarks. On Globetrooper.com, users can post a trip they’re planning and invite strangers to join. Banjo, an app for iPhone, uses location technology to facilitate spontaneous meetups while you’re on the go. Its creator, Damien Patton, came up with the idea after learning that while in an airport he missed connecting with a friend he hadn’t seen in years. Planely.com matches you with fellow airline passengers, allowing you to connect with them on the Web before you connect in the air.
| |
Outsourcing Customer Service?
| |
Online Dating Traffic Surges Between Boxing Day And New Year's Eve
HUFFINGTON POST - Dec 26 - Mark Brooks, a dating analyst and consultant to the Internet dating industry, said it was the endless stream of awkward questions from family members that prompted many to search for love online this time of year. “The effect becomes more pronounced over the Xmas vacations and party season," he said. “Questions such as 'have you been dating anyone recently' and 'do you think you’ll ever marry’ become 'On your own, are you?'." Kate Taylor, a relationship expert at Match.com, said people look back at their achievements over the past twelve months, and think about their New Year's resolutions. On Match.com ~4M unique connections are expected to be made; with 3M email messages written; 2.5M 'winks' sent; and 500K IM conversations taking place. Brett Harding, managing director for Lovestruck, said registrations increase by 48% during this period. For eHarmony, the number of registrations was 3.5 times higher than the week immediately before Christmas. Cupid.com's Sean Wood also suggested that the pressure on couples in the Christmas period could also lead to more break ups – resulting in more singles on the scene by Boxing Day. AshleyMadison.com biggest spike came immediately after New Year's Eve. The first working day after New Year's there was a 413% increase in member sign-ups with a total of 9,857 new members. What's really interesting is that for many sites, the traffic then falls again drastically in the spring. “Internet daters tend to stick around for about three months," said analyst Brooks. "Then they bail, then they come back, or go to another site, or multiple internet dating sites."
by Charlie Thomas
See full article at Huffington Post
See all posts on Match.com See all posts on Lovestruck
See all posts on eHarmony See all posts on Cupid
See all posts on Ashley Madison
| |
Sailors Search Online For Love
CNN - Dec 21 - LoveSail.com is a website catering specifically for boating enthusiasts. Launched in 2004, LoveSail now has ~5,500 users ranging from professional skippers to hobby sailors. As the name suggests, most are looking for love but there are also offers of friendship, sailing trips and work opportunities.
by Sheena McKenzie
See full article at CNN
| |
Meetic Acquires Twoo.com
PRESS RELEASE - Dec 21 - Meetic has signed an agreement for the acquisition of Massive Media, the company behind Twoo.com. Twoo is a social discovery service. Since launching in April 2011, Twoo has leveraged their organic and viral growth to build a global audience of 9.6M unique visitors1 in October 2012 and is available in 38 languages worldwide. Meetic will acquire 100% of the Company's capital and voting rights for 18.9M Euro cash. IAC/InterActiveCorp is Meetic's main shareholder, with an 81% stake.
See all posts on Meetic
See all posts on Twoo.com
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.
| |
Jiayuan Announces Share Repurchase Program
PR NEWSWIRE - Dec 21 - Jiayuan.com, operator of the largest online dating site in China, has approved a new $10M share repurchase program. The program permits the company to purchase up to $10M of its American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, over a period of twelve months.
The full article was originally published at Equities, but is no longer available.
| |
MeetMe® Launches In French, Italian, And German
PRESS RELEASE - Dec 20 - MeetMe, the public market leader for social discovery, is now available in French, Italian, and German. This latest addition culminates a year in which the previously English-only service expanded to offer six language options in total, including Spanish and Portuguese versions that became available during the third quarter of 2012. MeetMe plans to release seven more language options in the first quarter of 2013, expanding the service’s addressable market to include more of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
The full article was originally published at Marketwire, but is no longer available.
| |
World Singles Networks Debuts TV Campaign For IslamicMarriage.com
PR WEB - Dec 20 - World Singles Networks debuts its new IslamicMarriage.com TV campaign on Islam Channel, a London based media outlet that provides alternative news, current affairs and entertainment programming from an Islamic perspective. World Singles Networks, along with its own market leading brands, powers online dating and introduction services for top media companies, online publishers and affiliate marketers.
| |
The Profile Of Romances Born Online
YOUR TANGO - Dec 20 - The top two ways that people meet are through friends or via cyberspace. More and more couples are getting help from POF.com, just like Alex and Aggie of CaughtMyFish.com. Markus Frind, founder of POF.com, describes what makes online chemistry connections distinct.
Q: Do you agree that online dating makes people unrealistic and picky?
A: Having so many options to choose from can cause a disconnect between you and people you might be interested in dating in real life.
Q: Has fate and society propelled people to rely on technology to find their other half?
A: The fate factor is always up for debate, and I wouldn't say that people have to reply on technology to meet someone special, but POF definitely expands people's dating horizons.
Q: Is online dating best suited for certain types of people?
A: Online dating can work for anyone who is ready to meet someone and is willing to open themselves up to new experiences.
| |
GuySpy Gay App Now Available For Windows Phone Platform
PR WEB - Dec 18 - GuySpy is the fastest growing, all male location-based mobile social networking app for iPhone, Android and now Windows. GuySpy uses location-based services, such as GPS, to connect gay, bi and curious users for free live gay chat - members can find gay men by location, view profiles and photos, send and receive image files, receive video files and text chat, all for free.
| |
Two Thirds Of People 'Facebook Stalk' Before A Potential Date
MARIE CLAIRE - Dec 18 - Two thirds of potential dates check out Facebook and Twitter before a first date, with three quarters of these cancelling if they find something that paints their prospective love interest in a bad light, according to a survey by Parship. The top "turn offs" were bad profile pictures, a lack of humour, aggressive online behaviour, flirting with others via profile and over sharing.
| |