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

Where Singles Click

MERCURY NEWS -- Sept 11 -- Wendell Loyd has gone on plenty of bad dates. He wasn't meeting the right woman so the former software developer created www.realidate.com, which helps singles meet through volunteer activities benefiting Bay Area charities.  "A lot of people don't tell the truth," says Wendy, who met her boyfriend through www.datemypet.com. "With the big sites, you're getting at a demographic that's just, well -- everybody. There's no pre-screening for people who might have the same interests or what you're looking for." Sandler, of San Francisco, is working on www.asoundmatch.com, which matches music-loving singles. 

Mark Brooks: If you have a particular 'thing' that you are looking for, there's probably an online personals site that caters to your needs. However, I recommend choosing from the top 15 if you don't have a particular preference. 

GoingOn Aims to be Social `Network of Networks'

MERCURY NEWS -- July 22 -- GoingOn, will work on an open-standards platform, is expected to launch this fall, and will mix social networking and blogging.  Perkins and Canter said they want the company to be a "network of networks" -- a platform open for integration with other social networking players, such as Tribe or Friendster, and other large media companies, such as Yahoo, and even other corporate sites. All these players could create their own networks on GoingOn.  Being interoperable is not entirely new. SXIP sells a product that allows the same user name/password information to be used across many networks.

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Site Helps Teens Find Old Friends

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- May 3 -- Move over, Friendster. There's a hotter site on the Web.  Teens are turning to Myspace to keep in touch; 14 million users.  Myspace is more than a personals site. Some musicians are creating pages dedicated to their work. The site dedicates a section of its home page to 'Myspace Music,' where unsigned and popular bands alike are profiled with links to their Myspace sites.  It even released a single by the rock group Oasis that could be heard only on www.myspace.com/oasis 

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: MySpace has empowered their users with far more customization options.  They live up to the name 'my space' and that's something worth talking about apparently...to the tune of 14 million users!  What can online dating companies learn from MySpace?  Your comments please...

Aiming For Love Online; Sites Reviewed by Couples

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- Feb 14 -- Now there's even more help. Online dating sites are boasting they have uncovered the digital alchemy for amour, offering 'scientific' tests to help the lovelorn find their true soul mate. How good are they? We let four married couples try the tests at eHarmony, Yahoo Personals, Tickle and True. Each partner took the online personality tests designed to probe their psyches (fibbing a little to indicate they were single) and checked out whether the system matched them with their real mates. The results suggest that 'science' isn't always the last word when it comes to true romance. 

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Tech-Savvy Singles Find Online Personals Nothing Like Real Thing

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS -- Feb 13 -- Nearly all of the 1,650 new Bay Area members who joined Table for Six in 2004 were singles who stopped fishing online, said owner Julie Paiva. "A big reason why someone does online dating is to expand their social life,'' said Paiva. "But they find out what they're mostly doing is spending time in front of a computer screen."  Cali, for one, paid for memberships at five sites before pulling the plug. ``If you're serious about finding someone, you have to spend money and stick around to make the effort,'' she said.  In 2000, when eHarmony homed in on the population of serious daters -- armed with a 436-question personality test -- many of its competitors laughed.  EHarmony's algorithms for romance struck a chord; boasts a membership of 6.5 million, up from 1 million in 2003. Yahoo Personals, True, PerfectMatch.com and Tickle followed suit with their own love alchemy tests. At ColorCupid members are matched based on color preference tests.  Mary.com launched this month offering compatibility testing,  background checks and certified photos taken by its photographers to ensure people look like their photos.

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Mary.com, what a great name!

Charity Work Helps Singles Find their Future Mates

MERCURY NEWS -- Dec 19 -- Philanthropy is the theme of Meeting For Good. All you have to be is single and looking and willing to volunteer with local Bay Area charities. Members can choose from activities that range from serving at soup kitchens to helping out at homeless shelters to working on educational projects for kids. 

The full article was originally published at San Jose Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Would be great to have a nationwide Meeting For Good service. We have online personals sites for pet lovers, republicans, big and beautifuls, how about a community for singles who like to give their time to charity.

Social Networks Seek Financial Friends

Mercury News, Sep 19th -- A year after Silicon Valley entrepreneurs launched a slew of faddish social-networking companies -- Web sites like Friendster, Tribe Networks and LinkedIn -- reality is beginning to bite.

The full article was originally published at Mercury News, but is no longer available.

Love with a leash

Mercurynews.com -- Wendy Peikes was tired of dating guys who'd vanish when they'd met her housemates -- three hairy, energetic dogs. So she took to her computer keyboard and found an online dating site where pet aversion is not tolerated. This new breed of Internet dating is no Chihuahua. ``There are 40 million single pet owners,'' said Dan Cohen, CEO of animalattraction.com. What (datemypet.com)'s creator, Rob Yau, recognized as this market's appeal is the strong sense that many people have: People with animals translate to people with heart.' Two-thirds of the surveyed users said they'd prefer to see a picture of a potential date with his or her pet than without.

The full article was originally published at San Jose Mercury News, but is no longer available.

PlanetOut Postpones IPO

San Jose Mercury News / AP, Thurs 12th Aug -- PlanetOut postponed it's IPO due to unfavorable market conditions. "Given the current difficult market for IPO's, we feel the appropriate value of the company would not be realized," CEO Lowell Selvin said. The SF company hasn't withdrawn it's registration but will continue to evaluate the timing of a share sale.