IT BUSINESS - Feb 14 - Plentyoffish has released a white paper indicating that its social media dating formula may be more effective at hooking you up than the matchmaking algorithms employed by other dating sites. “Traditional online dating sites provide a very linear and singular experience,” said Mark Brooks, principal analyst of Courtland Brooks, a media relations and marketing company that does work with POF. Brooks released a whitepaper titled What is Social Dating? Courtland Brooks released a graph showing that feature-for-feature it outguns both Match.com and eHarmony. Brooks said the process of making users browse through numerous profiles based on specific criteria with the intent of finding a potential date or partner is too time consuming and requires “significant commitment.” With most online dating systems, he said, users have to create profiles to “sell” themselves to others. “This leads to misleading information or a frustrating experience.” On the other hand the social networking focus such as that employed by POF offers a “more relaxed environment,” Brooks said.” Social networking is very much centered around activities and interest, which give excellent representation of who a person really is.” Brooks also pointed to as study authored by Dr. Eli Finkel, associate professor of social psychology at Northwestern University, in New York, who pointed to several “pitfalls” of online dating. “To date, there is no compelling evidence that any online dating matching algorithm actually works,” Finkel said in statement. “Our report concludes that that it is unlikely that algorithms can work, even in principle, given the limitations of matching procedures that these sites use.”
21 posts categorized "All 2012 Valentine's Day News"
Plentyoffish Fires Darts At eHarmony, Match.com On Valentine's Day
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Valentine’s Day To Be ‘Starting Gun’ For Investment In Online Dating
PRESS RELEASE - Feb 14 - This year Valentine’s Day will mark the start of a business boom across the online dating world with more companies seeking to capitalise on the millions of people turning to online dating. Over February 13 & 14 in 2011 Global Personals.co.uk saw a rise ~30% in subscriptions across its sites. Global Personals expects these figures to rise again in 2012 by 150%. Global Personals operates its own dating sites including Singles365.com, DatingAgency.com and JustSingleParents.com, whilst its B2B service, WhiteLabelDating.com, offers a platform for brands and individuals to power their own dating sites.
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Sites That Cater To 'Discreet' Encounters Thriving
USA TODAY - Feb 14 - For Noel Biderman and others who have founded dating websites for married people, it's a lucrative business. "The day after Valentine's Day is one of our biggest days of the year," says Biderman, founder and CEO of AshleyMadison (AM). Some of the sites are based in Europe and increasingly have become international, with their eye on the USA. "American people are really hypocrites about infidelity," says Teddy Truchot, co-founder of Gleeden, which launched in Europe in 2009, moved into Australia and entered the U.S. market last fall. "Everything from the U.S. which comes to Europe is about infidelity," says Truchot. "You see cheating all over TV and in real life." Data from 2010 from the General Social Survey shows that 19% of men and 14% of women reported ever having had an extramarital partner. AM earns well over $60M a year, suggests online dating industry analyst Mark Brooks. Biderman says that estimate is "on target," but he's expecting greater revenue this year ($100M). Industry tracker Brooks counts well over 30 cheating websites. He is quick to disclose that he has been a paid consultant for many online dating services, including those he calls "philanderer sites." "The philandering sites are specific to people who are wanting to be discreet," he says. "As much as I abhor these sites, they do actually do something good for the industry. People can be who they are on the philanderer sites," he says, rather than have married people claiming to be single, which happens on singles dating sites, he says. Biderman says it took five years to get the first 1M anonymous members. Currently, ~2.3M are registered and considered active by logging in or taking an action within the past 30 days. Brooks says he's surprised that in 10 years, Biderman's site hasn't had a lot of direct competition. Part of it, he says, is that "people don't like to start that kind of business." But Gleeden is ready to take that on.
by Sharon Jayson
See full article at USA Today
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POF.com: Dating Is A Numbers Game
STANDARD FREEHOLDER - Feb 14 - Is there such a thing as love at first “site?”. Sarah Gooding, a dating coach with PlentyOfFish (POF.com) said people the world over are going online by the millions to find out. “We have 40M users worldwide, we’re the number one online dating site in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Brazil,” she said. "POF sees its most traffic between the time right after Christmas up until Valentine’s Day itself,” she added. “We see a 15% increase in traffic in that time period.” The site’s other biggest spike in traffic is the period right before summer and the most popular day of the week for the site is Sunday, according to pof.com public relations consultant Shannon Smith. For Gooding, who met her own boyfriend by logging on to pof.com, dating is a numbers game. “The more people you meet, the more likely you are to meet that special someone,” she said. Since pof.com has gone mobile, it has seen a staggering 3% increase in site traffic per day.
by Tony Muma
The full article was originally published at Standard Freeholder, but is no longer available.
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Cupid In Dating Brands Lease Deal With Brightsolid
BBC.CO.UK - Feb 14 - Cupid is to take on several brands under a leasing deal with Dundee-based Friends Reunited owner Brightsolid. Under the 10-year deal, Cupid will operate Friends Reunited Dating, Friends Over Fifty and Swoon. Brightsolid will retain ownership of their domain names, trade marks and intellectual property rights. Brightsolid CEO Chris van der Kuyl said: "Our acquisition of Friends Reunited in April 2010 helped the company to achieve significant growth last year, with overall sales up by 75%. "However, it is clear that Cupid has real strengths in the online dating sector, so it makes absolute sense to enter this agreement with them for our dating business.
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Looking For Love On LinkedIn
FINANCIAL POST - Feb 14 - A new dating site called Hitch.me turns your LinkedIn network into a search for a soulmate. Although Hitch.me only launched about a month ago, some 2K people have already signed on. And so far, it’s somewhat of a ladies market with more men using it. The site was built by Toronto resident Naveed Nadir. “This idea came to me last year after LinkedIn launched their API." Hitch.me does not search through your whole LinkedIn network looking for suitable mates, only those who join Hitch.me. But it does allow you to see the full profiles of people it matches to you.
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Dating Website Fraud Is Running Rampant
BUSINESS INSIDER - Feb 13 - According to the fraud protection firm Iovation, instances of fraud on dating sites has jumped more than 150% in the past year. In 2010, 1.4% of the online dating site transactions Iovation processed using its ReputationManager 360 program were found to be fraudulent; that number jumped to 3.8% in 2011. "Those bad actors can cause millions of dollars in lost revenue and damaged reputation to online dating sites, not to mention a loss of innocence for its users," Mark Brooks, said editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com.
by Matt Liebowitz
See full article at Business Insider
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WhyTheyReSingle.com Launched Today
PRESS RELEASE - Feb 14 - Operators of WhyTheyreSingle.com, a new site that posts humorous and sidesplittingly bad examples of online dating, launched their public debut today. Why They’re Single bills itself as the “tribute site to excellence and failure in online dating.”
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Money Can't Buy Me Love - Or Can It?
IRISH TIMES - Feb 14 - A European Singles survey found that Irish men are likely to spend €106 on a date, compared to British men, who were likely to spend €60. According to a study conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute last year, one in 16 Irish people surveyed started their relationship online. Services range from the free, such as PlentyofFish.com to subscription-based sites like Match.com. While there are never any guarantees, does a greater financial investment result in a higher success rate? “They know that a paying member is serious about dating,” says Grainne Barry of Another Friend, Ireland’s largest dating site with ~60% of the Irish market share.
by Claire O'Mahony
See full article at Irish Times
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Spiritual Profile Crucial To Many Seeking Romance
HUFFINGTON POST - Feb 14 - For some people a potential mate’s religious profile is the most important of all. “God has a match for you," claims a Christian dating site called Christian Mingle. Shaadi.com, a site for the South Asian community, breaks it down even further -- first between Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and others, and then among caste and background. Statistics seem to support this, with interfaith marriages having a slightly higher rate of ending in divorce. "It's about a baseline of comfort," explained one gay Jewish man who used J-Date in his search for a partner.
See full article at Huffington Post
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SNAP Interactive Reports Q4 Results
PR NEWSWIRE - Feb 14 - Quarterly revenue increased 98% to $5.5M YOY. Annual revenue increased 188% to $19.2M YOY. Net loss for the quarter increased to $1.4M YOY while net loss for the year was $3.5M compared to a net loss of $1.2M for 2010. "At the outset of 2011, we identified two clear goals for SNAP: continued revenue growth and the build-out of the organization so that we could properly sustain our growth and build for the future," said SNAP's President and CEO, Clifford Lerner.
The full article was originally published at Sacbee, but is no longer available.
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Valentine's Day For Cheaters
CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Feb 13 - Everyone knows Valentine's Day is Feb 14th. Not quite as as many may know that Feb 13th is Mistress Day. "79% of married men that we polled planned to spend Feb 13th with their mistress," said Noel Biderman, the founder of AshleyMadison.com. Biderman said, despite having a company slogan that states "Life is short — have an affair," he is not trying to convince people to cheat, but merely creating a community of discretion for those who do. With~13M members throughout 17 countries, it seems like it's caught on. While the majority of the members are married men seeking women, Biderman said 22% are single women seeking married men. And Biderman said when you factor in hotels, jewelry and luxury travel, the infidelity economy is a trillion-dollar-a-year business.
by Jen Weigel
See full article at Chicago Tribune
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Online Dating Makes And Breaks Relationships Study Finds
REUTERS - Feb 14 - Released on the eve of Valentine's Day, the survey of 1K people commissioned by marketing consultant Euro RSCG Worldwide found one in five said they have had a romantic or sexual relationship start online. 49% knew someone whose relationship began that way. Conversely, one-third of respondents knew someone whose relationship ended because of online actions, and three-quarters believed strongly sexual communications conducted online outside of a relationship constituted cheating.
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Falling In Love Is All In Our Brains
WASHINGTON POST - Feb 13 - Basic biology may play at least as strong a role in love as do socialization, environment, fate and other factors. "Some of our very complex behaviors like love is still regulated, to some degree, by a fairly simple set of neurochemicals”, says neuroendocrinologist Tom Sherman, an associate professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Researchers have now identified three brain systems that are at work in mating and reproduction: lust, which is primarily mediated by the sex hormone testosterone; romantic love, which is primarily mediated by dopamine, a neurotransmitter that drives the brain’s reward and pleasure centers, and is characterized by craving and focused attention for just one person at a time. However, it remains to be seen how big a part neurochemicals and brain circuits play in love and relationships. A new study found that monkeys that inhaled oxytocin paid more attention to one another and treated one another more kindly.
by Carolyn Butler
See full article at Washington Post
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Million Pound Cupid: We Meet Match.com's Karl Gregory
LONDON LOVE BUSINESS - Feb 14 - According to Match.com, ~37M dates take place each year, adding a whopping £3.4bn to the economy. “January and the start of February is incredibly busy,” says Karl Gregory, MD of Match.com UK. Last February, coming up to the 14th, an impressive 6M people visited Match.com - and the team expect no fewer this time around. So what does the MD of the country’s most powerful dating site think of the niche sites that seem to multiply like rabbits? “Niche dating sites are a quite romantic notion but the number and the logic doesn’t add up,” he says. “Daters want to access a pool of individuals that are looking for the same thing, but as soon as you start narrowing it down the pool gets smaller. We find most people don’t want to travel further than 23 miles, narrowing your choice makes it harder to find someone. The area of mobile dating is one area Gregory believes will grow as Match.com develops its apps. Match.com has also upped the ante when it comes to intelligent matching. The site now offers users “the daily six”, this being “six people we think might appeal to you that you might not have necessarily searched for.”
by Gabriella Griffith
See full article at London Loves Business
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