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

TrueDater; True or False Profiles

STAR LEDGER -- Aug 7 -- People can post reviews of their dates on TrueDater.com and also plug in a prospective date to see if anyone else has posted a comment about the person. More than a half million people have used TrueDater since the site launched last year. TreuDater staffers monitor the remarks.  Mark Brooks, onlinepersonalswatch.com, said "I think it answers a definite need in the online dating market."  Brooks said Friendster allows people to write testimonials about a date, but the person being reviewed has to approve it, "so nothing negative gets in." Brooks said TrueDater is the kind of site that makes people think more about their reputation, which is a new issue in online dating. Marcus Frind, founder of plentyoffish.com said both men and women are equally guilty when it comes to fudging profiles. "With women, it's weight; for men, it's height. A third party (giving an assessment) is the simplest way to go."  "You have to be honest," said Moreno, Ph.D. student in social psychology at Rutgers University. "The picture is the hook, it gets you in. You see a cute picture and you click on it. I met one guy for dinner a couple of weeks ago and his picture resembled him, but you would not have been able to pick him out of a crowd based on his picture."  Moreno suggested singles should not upload their best shot. That way dates can be pleasantly surprised on the first meeting. Eric Straus, president of Cupid.com, said "I don't think it adds all that much to the process," he said. "People tend to exaggerate and I think that's the nature of the beast."

The full article was originally published at NJ.com, but is no longer available.

Cheating Hearts Caught Online

NEWSFACTOR --  Mar 8 -- Welcome to the online antidote for a broken heart. Web sites such as www.DontDateHimGirl.com , www.WomanSavers.com (formerly www.ManHaters.com), and www.TrueDater.com have taken up the call to expose dating liars and cheats before they have a chance to make a fool of you. 

The full article was originally published at CRI English, but is no longer available.

Hitwise Rankings

OPW -- Mar 7 -- TRUE moves up one spot to take 3rd spot from eHarmony.  Plentyoffish moves up two places to 5th  place.  Webdate vaults back onto the top 15 taking 10th spot. 

Beware of Online Dating Fakers

ABC NEWS -- Feb 12 -- Some 50 million Americans have pursued romance online, and online dating is now a $500 million industry. But it is not difficult to invent a more attractive identity. According to a Truedater.com survey, people most often embellish their physical appearance and lie about their age and marital status.  Truedater.com allows online daters to write reviews of their dates and expose those who lie.  FULL ARTICLE @ ABC NEWS

TrueDater Adds MySpace and eHarmony

BUSINESS WIRE -- Feb. 8, 2006--TrueDater added MySpace, eHarmony, HotorNot, PlanetOut, and BlackSingles.  Last year Truedater was featured on Wired.com, Time Magazine, Newsweek and NBC's The Today Show. It's free, anonymous and is supported by ads and sign-ups for dating sites. A majority of TrueDater members are women. The site encourages members to review those who are "TrueDaters" as well as those who exaggerate or mislead. Nearly half the reviews on the site are positive endorsements.

Mark Brooks: Greatboyfriends and Greatgirlfriends are alternative spins on this idea. 

Truth in Dating

MAIL TRIBUNE -- Nov 19 -- TrueDater.com is helping put honesty in the online dating experience by providing a venue for reviews of online singles, posted by the actual men or women who date them. The reviews are anonymous and generally focus on whether a person's online image is accurate and profile answers appear to be true. "People fall in love over the Internet before they even meet," Diamond says. "It's not a matter that I wasted 20 minutes. It's crushing. " Amazon.com has book reviews," he says. "Why not have online dating reviews?"

The full article was originally published at Mail Tribune, but is no longer available.

A Truth Monitor for Online Dating

ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION -- July 20 -- Truedater.com, serves as a self-styled truth squad. Truedater.com was started by Mark Geller, a single tech worker in California's Silicon Valley who kept hearing horror stories about people posting 15-year-old photos and magically shedding 50 pounds in their Internet dating profiles. Surprisingly, about half the reviews are positive.

Mark Brooks: I wonder how much traction Truedater can get without a direct partnership with the major online dating companies?  How will they make money?

New Sites Rate Online Daters

FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE -- 20 Jun -- The online dating scene can be full of intrigue and mystery. Daters sometimes don't know who they're dealing with on the other end until it's too late.  www.truedater.com allows people to review other users of dating sites and reveal whether they're really who they claim to be.  Founder Mark Geller said the idea for his site came to him while researching an idea for a TV show about an online dating company. A majority of the TrueDater reviews appear positive. But some take people to task for their alleged dishonesty in their profiles. "Picture is old ... he's about 40 lbs. heavier in person than in the photo." Another new company, www.opinity.com, allows people to collect all of their online identities and screen names - from message boards and gaming sites to eBay - into a single list so that others can more easily see the digital footprints they've left across the Internet.  Opinity users can register all or some of their various screen names with the service. Registered Opinity users can rate each other based on encounters they've had. Opinity uses those ratings to tally an overall "online reputation score" for each person. Opinity users can even begin to build a dossier - viewable by Opinity users - on people who are not registered with the service as long as they know one of their screen names.  www.niftyguy.com is a new San Francisco Web site where people can rate everyone from their favorite plumber to dentist.  "Let his flattering lines draw you in, but let it end there.  He's a fun guy to hang out with, but very flaky and not the brightest crayon in the box."

Mark Brooks: eBay seller reviews meets Friendster testimonials.  Friendster testimonials were a significant factor in Friendster's success.  Truedater attempts to bottle that element in a 3rd party site.  How will they make money?

Dating Trends

TIME -- June 13 -- Online dating has boomed into a $500 million industry. But as sites for singles multiply, the old one-size-fits-all approach seems hopelessly dated. Here's a look at some new trends at the heart of today's digital romance.  MOBILE; Match.com Mobile enables online daters to transfer their profiles to cell phones.  DATE RATERS; Sites like Lemondate.com and Truedater.com post reviews of online-dating candidates by people who have met them.  ATLAS HUGGED; Need to narrow the choices? Super-specialized singles sites exist for bikers, smokers, democrats, NASCAR devotees and people with sexually transmitted diseases. Even randy Ayn Rand aficionados can gather at TheAtlasphere.com.  DATING ON DEMAND; Comcast cable customers can watch video profiles and then log on through Hurrydate.com. 

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

Mark Brooks: Webdate allows it's mobile users to view ALL it's users.  Match has a limited pool of mobile daters. Seems Webdate has one upped them with their mobile service, for now. 

Tell-All Sites Put Online Dater Profiles to Truth Test

WASHINGTON POST -- May 30 -- There's a handful of new Web sites that are making it their business to let users review their online dates.  "This dater takes great photos, but when you meet face to face, he's small and skinny. The face is the same, but none of his photos show his true size," says a typical posting.  Singles, be afraid. Be very afraid.  Truedater launched in January.  Visitors can input online identities from Match, American Singles, Yahoo Personals and JDate and search for reviews that'll tell them if, say, Lovinit62 isn't quite the six feet he claimed, or if Cutedoctor14 seems longer in the tooth than 32.  Helpful links take you to the target's profile with a button click.  The site's basic question: whether the person reviewed is a "truedater," i.e., truthful in his or her self-portrayal.  Match.com's Kelly  says, "a free-form venue to discuss people is interesting.  That does seem to be something that consumers want to do. But you have to be real careful about violating people's privacy."  Opinity.com launched last month as an "online and social reputation services company," also guards its information carefully.  "We don't let users browse the reviews," says CEO Ted Cho. "This is not for fun."  Users can rate other people online under the categories of commerce (say, a seller on eBay) , community (a voice on a Yahoo message board), gaming (a player of Ultima Online) or dating.  FULL ARTICLE @ WASHINGTON POST

Mark Brooks: This idea may well catch on.  Bodes well for Truedater.com.  How will they make money though?  Background check add-ons perhaps?  Advertising?

TrueDater.com: Online Daters Most Likely to Misrepresent Weight and Physical Appearance in Profiles

BUSINESS WIRE --Apr 26 -- TrueDater provides online daters with the ability to read or review the truthfulness of people's dating profiles.  Users were asked what qualities online daters exaggerate or lie about most often. Choices were: height, weight, age, income, marital status, physical appearance and other.  Male voters ranked...1. weight 45%, 2. physical appearance 20%, 3. Marital status 13%.  Female voters...1. general physical appearance 36%, 2. weight 19%, 3. age 16%.

Mark Brooks: Truedater users can list JDate, Match and American Singles profile id's with reviews of users.  Interesting concept.  Alexa rank is 200k.  Does anyone know if JDate, Match and American Singles link to or promote Truedater?