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March 30, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
IDEA OASIS has issued what I believe to be their first press release pertaining to the current industry legislation. Let me be the first to say that I don't think is was the smartest idea to base the IDEA-OASIS anti-legislation coming-out party on the security issues of the data providers. There are several stronger arguments they could have made, but I understand the value of capitalizing on an existing groundswell of publicity for your own gain.
From the press release:
IDEA-OASIS, the Internet Dating Executive Alliance/Online Association for Social Industry Standards (www.ideaoasis.org), today announced its formal opposition to various state legislative efforts that would require personals companies to conduct background checks on all users of Internet dating and online matchmaking services. The organization also warned of security concerns surrounding the data providers that would potentially provide the proposed mandated checks.
Comments (7)
+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
Blogs like ODI make it easy to broadcast one-to-many. Unfortunately, when it comes to ongoing discussion the comments field tends to be overlooked by many readers. If you're not one who usually peruses the comments attached to individual posts and you're interested in learning about True.com's take on their legislative efforts, check it out here.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
Invites went out today for Yahoo! 360º. If you're signed up, let me know what you think of the service.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Blink ›
Posted by Dave Evans
Local newspapers have the leading websites in 74 of 81 markets, according to a new survey by The Media Audit. Personals providers such as SpringStreet and Premiere Singles are uniquely positioned to leverage the local paper market. SpringStreet has deals with scores of newspaper and special interest websites, while things have been quiet about the deal Premier Singles has with Knight Ridder.
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March 29, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Saturday's PossLTR pilot was a big success. Looks like the show got good ratings and it was a lot of fun to be a part of. The producer, the esteemed Roberto Mighty, has asked me to put out an all points bulletin for dating services interested in exploring category-exclusive sponsorship opportunities with the show.
Roberto Mighty has been producing prime-time ABC-affiliate TV programming since the mid 1990's. His current project, "PossLTR™," is the first TV reality program about dating after divorce. After three years in development, it had a single market test on Boston's ABC affiliate on Saturday, March 26th in prime time, followed immediately by a one-hour Live Web Forum with relationship experts. PossLTR scored a massive rating and share, beating out "Wheel of Fortune," "Friends," and "Entertainment Tonight." Surprisingly, it drew a slightly larger male than female audience in the crucial 18-49 age demographic. Roberto is interested in discussing a category-exclusive sponsorship/web development deal with an online dating service. You can find out more about the series at www.possltr.com, or email him at rmighty@celestialmedia.com.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing
Posted by Dave Evans
Rich Gosse, founder of the IADW, will be interviewed for about 5-6 minutes on Fox News Live on the Fox News Channel on Wednesday morning, March 30, shortly after 8:30am Pacific Time. During the interview Rich will speak out against the proposed legislation in several U.S. state legislatures regarding criminal background checks on dating websites.
The International Association of Dating Websites is opposed to this proposed legislation. Rich hopes you will join the IADW in urging state legislators, particularly the state senators in Michigan, to vote no on this special interest legislation which is harmful to the online dating industry.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
I learned a few minutes ago that the FL legislative meeting is off, the bill is being amended. More details when I have them.
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Posted by Dave Evans
I just re-upped my Match and Yahoo! subscriptions. I was paying $16 a month on Match and today I signed on for six months for $77.94,which works out to $12.99 per month.
When I went to update my Yahoo! billing information I was surprised to find that I couldn't figure out what my current payment plan was. When I went to select a subscription package, it defaulted to one month at $19.95. Where is my current status?
Another strange this is that Yahoo! Personals and Personals Premier are priced exactly the same.
Look at this. I think I am about to change my membership but I have no idea if clicking "Continue" button will actually cancel my membership or take me to an intermediate page with more options. Confusing!
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
FriendFinder has offered members the ability to highlight their profiles with colors that stand out from everyone else in the search results. Match is now offering a similar feature. For $2.15 a month, which works out to $12.90 for six months, members can choose the Highlight Profile option. For another $12.90, members can "Improve your chance of being contacted by being seen by our newest members in their first round of emailed matches." Sounds confusing, but I think it means that when a person signs up, their first email will contain a link to your profile if you're a good match.
It would be interesting if members could bid themselves up the search results. Imagine the bidding wars that would ensue.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
The May 12-13 Hong Kong event is only 6 weeks away. Executives from some of the largest online dating sites in Asia will be in attendance. This includes China. The 4th Internet Dating Conference will focus on management and internet marketing for the online dating and internet social networking industry to the far East. Attending will be senior level executives from: internet dating/social networking business, marketing firms, software suppliers, affiliates and portal webmasters of singles related sites.
Special early registration for this event ends on March 31st (a USD $150 savings on the conference pass). To register early, go here.
Did you catch how the event covers social networking?
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Events
Posted by Dave Evans
This just in from Mike Jones at Idea Oasis. The House Committee on Criminal Justice will hear the background check bill at 9:15 Wednesday morning in Tallahassee, Florida. If you can, Mike recommends you attend to testify against the bill. It will be in one of the Florida House of Representative meeting rooms in the Capitol. The address should be available at: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/ and here is the schedule.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
TheKnot, the wedding resource site and company, is getting out of the backwaters of the over-the-counter trading and listing on Nasdaq national market, under the stock symbol KNOT.
The company has made some good moves into broadband content and diversifying beyond just the wedding market, with TheNest.com. Press release
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Finance
March 26, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Yahoo! has announced that its Personality & Love Style Test results have become a key factor in identifying best potential matches. What they mean is that they have taken the WeAttract test that used to be on Match and integrated it into the Yahoo! Personals search feature. This is a very smart move, something that I believe Match was unable to accomplish due to the tenuous nature of the relationship with WeAttract. Yahoo! also mentions that members can now print out their Personality and Love Style Test.
I recently spoke with Dr. Mark Thompson, one of the authors of the controversial WeAttract whitepaper and the designer of the WeAttract Personality profiling and Physical Attraction tests. I'll have more on our conversation soon.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
Somebody winked at me today on Match. Maybe I didn't notice it before, but on the Wink page I see ads to "Email this member for free" brought to you by the Discover Card. The ad is being displayed totally out of context and doesn't make sense in my case as I'm a paying member and I'm already logged in. Looking more closely, at the top of the page Match is asking me to subscribe today. Why am I being served up inappropriate advertising when Match knows so much about me personally?
Dating sites are perfectly suited to highly specific contextual and demographically-targeted advertising. What sites are taking advantage of the revenue opportunities?
I think part of Match's problem is that IAC is involved with all the ad deals and there are clearly too many layers of management and approval to go through at this point as Match struggles to keep up with the Yahoo! Personals juggernaut.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing
March 25, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Out of curiosity I typed the phrase "online dating" into Google to see what came back. Click the picture at the right to see the actual results.
#1 - It seems that harmonysingles.net has copied the look & feel of eHarmony in order to funnel affiliate sales through it's website. The ad itself displays the eHarmoney.com url as well as Harmonysingles.net. How confusing must this be to consumers?
#2 - heartdetectives.com. Looks like any generic dating site, how can they afford the #2 spot?
#3 - perfectmatch
#4 - Senior Friend Finder
#5 - Yahoo! Personals
#6 - iMatchup.com
#7 - Great Expectations
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing
Posted by Dave Evans
Those of you in New England who are near a television Saturday night night can tune into Boston’s ABC affiliate WCVB-TV at 7:00 PM and catch yours truly as a "Dating Expert" on PossLTR, a half-hour reality-show type pilot program focusing on post-divorce dating. I have no idea how the show will end up but it was great fun to be involved in the project.
The title, "PossLTR," comes from personals ads that are in newspapers and online. In date-speak, "PossLTR" means "possible long term relationship." In the Pilot broadcast of "PossLTR"-- filmed in locales throughout Greater Boston -- two divorced single parents go on a marathon, all-expenses paid blind date, with various stops around the city, but not before undergoing a complimentary pre-date makeover to give them added confidence.
There will be a webchat after the show where participants, and the show's experts will answer viewers' questions. The website for the show and chat is possltr.com.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Uncategorized
Posted by Dave Evans
Cheryl Meyer at The Deal has an in-depth look at the online dating industry financials and investment. This is a must-read article with lots of new information about funding and new market entrants.
Best quote by far is from David Simonoff, CEO of Spark Networks:
If Yahoo! or Match bought us, we would be the swing vote that would give them bragging rights to be the online mass market Internet personals company.
The acquiring company would also be saddled with all the financial, marketing and branding baggage that Spark brings to the table.
Simonoff, who took over at the company last year, says Spark has been approached by suitors for two years and this year will make its own acquisitions or consider "other scenarios," such as an expansion into other verticals, or a possible sale. San Francisco equity management firm Criterion Capital Management took a 7.4% stake in Spark last fall.
The article goes on to mention opportunities in Europe, new features such as anonymous contact through mobile phones, new market entrants and a great overview of funding that has occurred in the dating industry during the last year.
It closes with a quote from eHarmony's CEO Greg Forgatch, who says, for now, his company is staying focused on its main goal: lowering the divorce rate:
We are about one thing: building lifelong relationships for serious-minded singles," he says. "We're not a date for Friday night.
Companies who target serious daters continue to raise the most money, land the best deals and have the best cross-marketing deals. When are the value-added service providers going to get in there an raise the bar, plug the holes and offer the features and services that daters will use, whether through their dating site or as standalone services?
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Finance
Posted by Dave Evans
Los Angeles-based Intermix Media said this morning that it has hired Lisa Terrill, former VP of Finance and Corporate Controller of Ticketmaster, as CFO and Executive Vice President. Terrill has also previously served at LA Gear and PWC/Arthur Andersen. Intermix operates a network of Internet sites and owns the MySpace.com social networking service.
The Intermix Network (IMN) is a leading network of more than 40 web sites providing more than 15 million unique monthly visitors with a compelling array of content. It’s also a permission-based marketing network providing more than 60 million subscribers with more than 35 email newsletters on topics such as sport, news, technology, entertainment, business, and finance.
I was not aware until recently how large the InterMix Network is. Expect a slew of announcements soon as Myspace continues to chart new territory in the social networking and online dating spaces.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Jobs
Posted by Dave Evans
"That '70s Show" lead Topher Grace is slated to play "a character that will utilize the Web site, as well as instant messaging and camera phones, as he looks for love on the Internet. The Friendster flick will be helmed by Harold Ramis, who directed "Groundhog Day" and wrote two of the best films ever, "Animal House" and "Caddyshack." Read the story.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
Friendster has disclosed its partnership with a Filipino company in a new online classified service for the local Filipino community. Joe Hurd, Friendster director for international business development, said in a telephone interview that the partnership is with a company called Pusit, which has been running an online classified service since last year. Last year, Friendster launched its first mobile service in the Philippines with a Filipino mobile phone content provider, the Entertainment Gateway Group. The Friendster online classified community will be launched officially on Monday but the site is now live at pusit.friendster.com.
Read the whole story.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
Social Singles is a lucrative business model into the offline dating industry born from the idea of bringing single men and women together that match in age range and interests through the use of live events. Members of Social Singles select to participate in a number of events, such as dinners, rock climbing, game nights, and wine tastings. Revenue is generated through membership and activity fees, as well as through corporate and local sponsorships. Bringing singles together based on compatibility is a much needed addition to the “live event” singles arena. Most competitor events are run on a first-come-first-sold ticket basis and often open to too broad a range of singles. Keeping groups small, between six to twelve persons, provides for more interaction and comfort for singles, and the ability for the business to offer a broader range of activities and charge a higher premium. Social Singles offers a turn-key solution, including a portable ecommerce website; a PHP driven database for capturing and managing member data, events and payment transactions;a data model for identifying compatibility; service marked name and logo; URLs socialsingles.com and socialsingle.com, as well as a developed business and marketing plan content. All open source code, data and images can be delivered on CD. Minimum bids of $5,000 will be considered. No payment plans, partnerships, or trades. You must be a cash buyer. Serious parties should contact Nora Ferguson at nora@socialsingles.com or 617-821-0513.
Social Singles Summary.pdf
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Uncategorized
Posted by Dave Evans
Director of Product Management (USA)
Company: www.enpocket.com
Location: Boston (USA)
Remit: Americas
Required: ASAP
Compensation: $75-85,000 + bonus + stock options
Reports to: SVP Product management
BACKGROUND
Enpocket is a global mobile media company that provides integrated entertainment and marketing services to build and retain mobile audiences. Enpocket’s mobile community and content applications empower leading operators, handset makers and media companies to achieve deeper consumer relationships and generate new revenues. Enpocket’s mobile marketing technology and campaign solutions enable clients to target brand messages and content, improving the effectiveness of marketing spend through the mobile medium.
Enpocket prides itself on optimizing end-user experience via an unparalleled understanding of mobile phone owners’ behavior. Enpocket provides compelling entertainment and marketing services to more than 50 operators and 400 brands across Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Enpocket clients include: Vodafone, Cingular, TIM, Sprint, Verizon, Orange, Telefonica, Singtel, Nokia, Motorola, Microsoft, Sony, BBC, Fox, Time Warner, Universal Pictures, Time Out, Match.com, Snapple, Levi’s, Hallmark, and Nike. Enpocket is headquartered in New York and has offices in Los Angeles, Boston, London, Helsinki, Reykjavik and Singapore. To learn more see www.enpocket.com
THE ROLE
Enpocket is looking for a self-starting product manager/marketer with a strong track record of product management, ideally in the online/mobile media/marketing or communities sectors.
The role will lead the ongoing development of Enpocket’s products for the America’s.
As Product Manager, you will be charged with a product line contribution as a business unit. This extends from increasing the profitability of existing products to developing new products for the company. You will build products from existing ideas, and help to develop new ideas based on your industry experience and your contact with customers and prospects. You must possess a unique blend of business and technical savvy; a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality. You must enjoy spending time in the market to understand their problems, and find innovative solutions for the broader market.
You must be able to communicate with all areas of the company. You will work with development to define product release requirements. You will work with marketing communications to define the go-to-market strategy, helping them understand the product positioning, key benefits, and target customer. You will also serve as the internal and external evangelist for your product offering, working with the sales channel and key customers.
Our products are market leaders on a global basis in both the mobile marketing and communities’ spaces, and we have ambitious plans for their ongoing development. Mobile itself is a rapidly changing environment, and the US market is especially exciting, with many consumers experimenting with text messaging for the first time, while others are using their handsets to watch video and TV services. The combination of this rapidly evolving market place, and the fast development of our own services, make this a unique and exciting opportunity for an experienced product manager/marketer who can excel among these challenging dynamics.
Enpocket strongly adheres to a customer centric view of product management.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- End to End management of product development and lifecycle, from strategic planning to tactical activities
- Specify market requirements for current and future products by conducting market research, supported by on-going visits to customers and non-customers
- Define the product, build the business case, then manage the implementation of the plan
- Maintain excellent relationships and knowledge of our customers use of our products – experience of collection and prioritization of customer requirements is more important that primary market research.
- Work alongside marketing to communicate the products to existing and future clients
- Be the lead expert for our products within the Americas.
EXPERIENCE
- Degree educated
- Proven track record of 5 years+ in product management
- Technical background/experience is important
- Ability to demonstrate experience of driving a new product to market including both the conception of the idea to business development deal execution
- Ideally experience of product management for a digital marketing/communities environment Strong company and customer references
- Experience working in a high-growth organization with a minimal amount of management oversight or support staff
- Ability to write concise requirement documents and supporting documents
- Experience in wireless technology industry desirable (i.e. SMS, WAP, MMS, Java/BREW, etc)
- International experience is desirable
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Jobs
Posted by Dave Evans
Lately I've had several discussions with people about the future of the dating industry. Niche portals, open profiles, customer acquisition costs, personality testing, conversion rates (thanks bob!), enhanced search, blogs and advertising seem to be the topics that pop up most frequently. I'll tackle a few topics now and base additional posts on feedback from you loyal readers.
Niche Portals
The dating site becomes a branded niche portal, in a way that the large date warehouses never will. We're back to the SpringStreet model, but it's been a few years and the industry has has time to learn from SpringStreet's mistakes and improve on the model of a shared database. Brand the interface however you want, NASCAR, NFL, Starbucks, etc. Provide members with great customer service and an experience they can't get anywhere else. When is the last time you heard two people at a bar say how fantastic their online dating site is?
Lower customer acquisition costs
There is much discuss about rising customer acquisition costs ($40!). What if sites made it easier for people to come and go? Would more people leave existing sites for other sites, thinning the crowd of sites out there that are barely hanging on? Or with the right marketing, would more people try online dating, raising up the entire industry?
Towards a single profile
I am tired of maintaining multiple profiles on scores of dating sites. I had 20 at one point, now I'm down to a handful. In my mind, more than one is too much. I have a master document with all my profile text on all the services. It's something like 25 pages long. A total nightmare to maintain. I love the idea of a single profile. Easy to maintain, portable and upgradable. Try doing that with your current dating profiles. Never happen. Sooner or later, people will get sick of filling out and maintaining all these profiles.
Large date warehouses like Match and Yahoo! don't want to talk about "open profiles" which can be shared across several sites. Why make it easy for the customer to leave? The value becomes apparent when looking at smaller dating sites.
An initial step towards a single profile is a FOAF (friend of a friend) file. A FOAF file is human-readable XML file containing personal as well as professional information. For example, my FOAF file is located at http://www.socialpeople.com/foaf/foaf.rdf. Most web browsers are unable to read the file unless the server has been configured to display the information so you can read it. FoaF Explorer is a discovery service that searches FOAF files of your friends. XFN (XHTML Friends Network and FOAF together provide the building blocks for remarkable services that provide new contexts, features and services that will make look today's dating sites look like stone tablets.
Think of all the different profile a user may have:
personal ads
business networking
social networking
banking
medical
e-commerce
What if there was a central repository where you could manage your profiles? The service would serve up profiles based on the context of the interaction. In my mind, a new player is going to have to enter the space, offering profile management, reputation management, taxonomies for tagging entities to indicate relationships (friend of, works for, dates, knows, belongs to) and other essential services and security infrastructure to support a working system based on contextually relevant profiles.
Mark Eisenstadt writes more on the subject.
Comments (4)
+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
March 23, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
From Monster.com
Match.com
Engineer, Support
Manager, Product
Engineer, Quality Assurance
Sr. Engineer, Quality Assurance
Date.com
Creative Director
Junior Affiliate Account Manager
Favorite job of the week: Gabriel Production Studios ( ) is launching a unique type of Jewish Dating and Community website. they are seeking a NY-based Relationship Advice Expert (or "Yenta") with a strong understanding of the Jewish culture.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Jobs
Posted by Dave Evans
AshleyMadison.com, an online dating serivce that caters to people already in relationships which purports to have over 375,00 members, is introducing an affiliate program. Details here.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Blink ›
Posted by Dave Evans
I received this from Paul Bunting, president of Pretrieve:
Pretrieve is a public record search engine designed to help make finding and researching public record information from free sites on the internet faster and easier for everyone. Pretrieve is a Deep Web search engine, not a web crawler. Our engine is designed to query third party databases on the users' behalf to retrieve specific information related to the business, person, or address they are researching. We're not just a "List of Links" that dumps users off at the front page of a website to let them navigate their way to the information they seek. We present our users with a categorized menu of information options and take them to their search results in one click - no more redundant data entry. You can use the quick search to see if the business or individual is listed in an online phone directory and start your research, or you can use the "Advanced Search" function and enter more specific information about your subject to get more refined results.
We feel that free web based public records is a valuable information resource that most researchers and consumers fail to take advantage of because it takes too long or they simply can't find them. We believe that we can help our users make better decisions about the companies and people they choose to do business by helping them make better informed decisions.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Safety
Posted by Dave Evans
The Singles Industry Trade Association (SITRAS) is sponsoring a conference for the dating industry (both online and offline), April 11-13, 2005.Rich Gosse of the IADW will be presenting a one hour seminar on "Additional Profit Centers for Dating Companies" on Tuesday, April 12, 4:30-5:30pm. Rich will be focusing on new revenue streams for dating websites, matchmakers, and dating services, including singles travel and singles events. The conference will also bring you up-to-date with our combined efforts to defeat legislation detrimental to the dating industry.
I'll continue to update the list of speakers as they email me their presentation information.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Events
Posted by Dave Evans
gNumber has launched Date Number, the first two-way identity protected add-on phone service for online daters. DateNumber let's users select unique phone numbers they can use when they don't want to provide their real phone numbers. The numbers, chosen from local or national exchanges, supposedly work on all phones and plans. When someone calls your Date Number, the call is routed to your chosen number, providing an additional level of safety and comfort to online daters.
Managing calls is easy. Call rules are configured using a standard web interface. Calls to your Date Number are saved as audio files and emailed to you. Audio quality is fair, somewhat worse than a decent phone connection.
Feature list included Identity Protection, Outbound ID Cloaking, Inbound Call Filtering and Call Redirection. Date Number is priced at 100 minutes for $9.95.
More information at Date Number.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Safety
March 22, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
This just in. Identity Verification in California is basically dead. Mike Jones tells us the sponsor is currently not renewing their interest in sponsoring the bill. On to Michigan.
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March 21, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Enpocket has aunched a complete service that opens up new revenue streams for brands and enables their customers to chat, flirt and make new friends using SMS / text messaging.
The premium SMS solution is the latest extension of Eden (the Enpocket Dating Engine) and provides all that is needed for a rapid roll out:
- SMS short codes
- Brand names and logos
- Mobile operator connectivity & billing
- Customer support
- Advertising production across media channels
- Moderation tool for content control
Mike Baker, President and COO, Enpocket:
Enpocket has built a track record of providing the most advanced and widely deployed mobile dating services on operator portals across the globe. With the release of the premium SMS version of Eden, we’re enabling our media partners to leverage their own media assets and audience to drive immediate revenues from mobile content services.
Enpocket has already successfully set up mobile dating services and brands for customers such as Match.com (US), Time Out Dating (UK), MyCupid (Australia, Philippines and Thailand), Trak Ur Mate (India), and Busca Citas (Spain).
Press release.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Mobile
Posted by Dave Evans
Last week I had a conversation with Robert Mehta, a lawyer who has been contacting dating sites to inquire about representing the online dating industry in California. Robert is trying to get a group of dating sites to support his testifying and "making the rounds" of Committee member’s involved.
To recap, two bills have been introduced in the California State Assembly:
AB 766, which would require online dating services to remove a subscriber, and his or her personal information, from public display if requested by a California subscriber.
AB 1681 requires online relationship service providers to either provide criminal background checks or to provide a notice indicating that no such check has been done.
Background on Robert Mehta:
I believe Capitol Advocates is uniquely qualified to assist in defeating this legislation due to our extensive legal/lobbying experience representing numerous public/private companies on legal and legislative matters, coupled with our extensive relationships with numerous Legislators on both sides of the aisle. Moreover, having worked as a Senior Staff member to former Governor Pete Wilson, I have extensive relationships with Governor Schwarzenegger’s Administration. Additionally, as a former prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s office, I have extensive relationships with most California District Attorney’s, Police Chiefs of most large cities, Sheriffs, California District Attorneys Association, and other law enforcement agencies. I anticipate that unless we work with law enforcement, those entities will naturally lend their support for legislation that appears to enhance public safety.
If you would like to contact Robert, his email is rmehta@capitol-advocates.com.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
A busy day for Match.com's parent company, IAC. IAC has announced that they will acquire AskJeeves for $1.85 billion. IAC will integrate IAC's brands into the Ask Jeeves service; enhance Ask Jeeves' local search capabilities — a hotly competitive area among online companies — and promote the Ask Jeeves service on IAC sites. Ask Jeeves shares jumped $5.56 to $29.80 and IAC's shares fell 98 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $21.31.
Press Release
IAC also announced the launch of Gifts.com, an online gift shopping resource that allows consumers to purchase gifts tailored to their interests, hobbies and personalities. I have always liked how Barry Diller has cobbled together a nice portfolio of complimentary websites. I wonder if Match.com members will be able to buy each other gifts?
Press Release
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
Tango Magazine, "The magazine about relationships" is offering a special introductory rate of $14.95. Duane Dahl of PerfectMatch has been an early supported of the publication.
At first glance, I was thinking that Tango could be categorized as the print version of Match.com's Happen Magazine. After a brief conversation with the publisher I realized that a full review of the magazine is in order.
I like that Tango features the Tango Relationship Index (TRI), "an innovation in evaluating the relationship zeitgeist for dating and married couples...The TRI is calculated using consumer information, commodity prices, and U.S. marriage data."
TRI pulls data from sources such as the Weekly Jewelry Purchase Index and Nielsen BookScan. Tongue-in-cheek in nature, the TRI reminds me of the old Vice Index.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing
March 18, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Digital ID World
May 9-12, San Francisco, CA.
Details
Digital ID World is the industry event for learning how to help manage your business with identity. Leading thinkers and managers solving business challenges with new identity solutions come to exchange ideas and see the latest security technologies in action. The 2005 Conference is packed with 40 insightful hours - workshops, tutorials and panels to give you all the knowledge and perspective you need to bring identity to your business.
Digital ID World puts the benefits of this rapidly changing and fast growing security marketplace into clear focus. You will leave armed with the strategic and tactical knowledge necessary to make sure your identity initiatives succeed.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Events | Safety | conferences
Posted by Dave Evans
A little over a year ago Cardservice International decided to stop offering merchant accounts to dating sites. The change in terms of service came after Visa changed its regulations regarding online dating sites. Since January of 2004, dating websites have been required to register as a high-risk merchant with Visa at a cost over $1,000. The registration process takes 4-6 weeks on average. This effects more than just Cardservice International, many other payment processors are cracking down on dating sites and other high-rick merchants. Mike Jones is compiling a list of dating site friendly payment processors. Learn more at the Userplane blog.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Finance | Legal
Posted by Dave Evans
Internet Stock Blog talks about rising marketing costs at a number of companies, including Spark Networks and Planet Out.
LGBT - PlanetOut.com
Sales and marketing was $2.6 million versus $1.5 million. Revenue of $7.1 million was up 34%, in line with consensus. Noted: Yet another Internet company with rocketing marketing costs. From the press release: "The company increased marketing activity in 2004 as part of its strategy to provide long-term benefits to its brands, particularly Gay.com. As a result, sales and marketing costs for full year 2004 were $8.8 million, compared to $6.6 million for full year 2003. Sales and marketing costs were $2.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, compared to $1.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2003." And later: "Guidance for first quarter revenue, Adjusted EBIDTA, and net income (loss) reflects several factors, including seasonality in advertising revenues.
SPRK - Spark Networks
JDate accounted for less 2004 revenue than AmericanSingles.com ($24 million versus $35 million) but much more gross profit ($22 million versus $10 million). The reason? Direct marketing costs for JDate were only 7% of revenues, versus 71% for AmericanSingles.com. Subscriber acquisition costs were dramatically lower ($8.09 versus $43.29) and monthly revenue per subscriber higher ($28.42 versus $22.16).
From the S-1: "In general, the costs of online advertising have recently increased substantially and we expect those costs to continue to increase as long as the demand for online advertising remains robust. If we are not able to reduce our other operating costs, increase our paying subscriber base or increase revenue per paying subscriber to offset these anticipated increases, our profitability will be adversely affected."
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March 17, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
A woman has been seen around the interweb lately, hawking everything from handbags to MSN Dating Tips to dating sites. Which sites you ask? Elite Mate, American Singles, Where Christains Meet and eHarmony to name a few. Read about the hardest working model here.
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Posted by Dave Evans
TRUE is now accepting advertising. Oxygen Media is advertising two original shows. Mr. Romance, which is sponsored by TRUE, and Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber.
According to the press release:
TRUE is able to segment its core audience based on criteria such as income, location and hobbies, Oxygen Media can reach its key audiences with tailored messages in places where TRUE's members take the most action, including TRUE's home page, its search engine and its popular online magazine, "U."
This is a smart move for TRUE. Advertisers will appreciate the ability to target specific high-yield demographic segments of the membership database.
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March 16, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
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Posted by Dave Evans
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Posted by Dave Evans
Traffic and ranking statistics from Comscore, Hitwise and other vendors will begin appearing in the new Traffic category.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Sponsorship: Online Dating Insider is read by top entrepreneurs, executives, funders and followers in the online dating industry? We're part of Corante, a network of thought leaders and industry insiders covering the social networking, dating and many other leading-edge industries. Click here to learn about sponsorship opportunities.
Consulting: Corante works with many companies primarily looking to enter into, or offer services to, online dating companies. Want to pitch your blog software, photo enhance tools, coaching services or other value-added services to dating sites? Email me to learn more about how we can help your company navigate the most active and exciting space in the internet today.
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Posted by Dave Evans
The email sign-up box in the left column of this page is where you enter your email address to receive our soon-to-be-launched weekly digest. Get the best of Online Dating Insider each week in your inbox. You'll also receive periodic special alert emails covering important events and topics.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Detroit Free Press on Michigan legislation:
The proposed Michigan law, somewhat similar to anti-spyware legislation passed in Utah and California, would also make it illegal to collect personal information without a user's permission or modify Internet security settings or disable antivirus software. Violators would be guilty of a felony and could be punished by up to 5 years in prison or a $10,000 fine...Its intent is to address the issue of phony profiles entered by married people or online predators seeking relationships...But really, this proposed legislation is a masterful example of marketing and special interest legislation.
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Posted by Dave Evans
From Rich Gosse, founder of the International Association of Dating Websites:
Last week the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would require dating websites to conduct criminal background checks or post a very large notice on their homepages saying that they do not conduct these checks. As you know, The International Association of Dating Websites is strongly opposed to this proposed legislation. Therefore, we have sent the following letter to all 38 members of the Michigan State Senate. We hope you will take the time to do likewise. Special interest legislation such as HB 6234 has no place in American government.
Cordially,
Rich Gosse
Founder, IADW (www.iadw.org)
-------------------
Dear Senator (name of Senator)
The International Association of Dating Websites (IADW), a non-profit trade association for the online dating industry, is opposed to HB 6234, which requires online dating services to conduct criminal background checks or to provide certain notices, which was recently passed, by a 4-3 vote, by the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bill is unfair to the online dating industry. No other websites are required to do this, nor are offline dating services, matchmakers, speed dating, non-profit singles organizations, newspaper personal ads, etc. Only a tiny percentage of the many hundreds of thousands of organizations and associations in America do criminal backgorund checks. So why single out the online dating industry?
Certainly it is is important for people to be careful when meeting strangers, whether it be for business or social purposes. This is common sense and does not require legislation.
IADW believes that every dating website should caution its members about safety issues. But requiring a criminal background check would be costly. One of the main reasons that the online dating industry is able to provide quality service to so many millions of singles is because the process is inexpensive. Criminal background checks can easily double the cost, making it too pricey for millions of singles. Offering background checks as an option (at additional cost) is the proper way to address this issue. There are several websites that already offer this option, so there is no need for legislation.
We urge you to vote no on HB 6234.
Sincerely,
Rich Gosse
Founder, IADW
415/479-3800
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Posted by Dave Evans
Enpocket, the global mobile media company, has announced the release of Enpocket Java Engine 2.0, a tool that facilitates the rapid development of customised Java applications that reside permanently on the mobile phone.
The Java Engine integrates with the Enpocket Marketing Engine, the world's most widely used mobile marketing software, to allow targeted Java content and relevant marketing to be transmitted to individual handsets. The Enpocket Java Engine 2.0 is ready for MIDP 2.0 and 1.0, providing stronger security features and allowing for updates to an application's core menu structure over the air.
The Java Engine adds to Enpocket's suite of products that enable brands to build deeper relationships with the consumer using the mobile channel. Other products include Eden (the Enpocket Dating Engine), a white label chat and dating application deployed across more than 13 countries under different brand names, and Enpocket mBlog Engine, a mobile blogging application, deployed across operators in Europe and Asia, that allows users to post pictures, video and text to both mobile and online blogs.
Press Release.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Premier Singles is showing some life. I received this email about a television show tie in. Not as polished as the PerfectMatch/Dr. Phil promotion but another example of online services working more closely with television.
Major Network Seeking Recently Separated or Divorced Women
Are you recently separated or divorced and having a difficult time coping with your transition? Many separated women feel lonely, scared and unable to trust.
This new prime-time talk oriented television project will EMPOWER all women. Our team of experts will help you surface again and overcome your anxieties and fears. Get ready to be spoiled and pampered and receive THOUSANDS IN GIFTS! Learn how to let go, re-build self esteem and discover the NEW YOU!
Your life starts when the end becomes the beginning! There is hope in finding happiness and obtaining closure.
If you or anyone you know is recently separated or divorced, please write and tell us about your specific situation. At this time we are looking for women in the Southern California area. E-mail contact information and picture to QualityCasting@aol.com or call 818-566-6680 for more info!
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Posted by Dave Evans
Mark Pincus turned me on to Indeed.com, a site which harvests job search results from several popular job sites. Here are the results for the keyword "dating".
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Posted by Dave Evans
Yahoo! is getting into blogging and social networking with Yahoo 360. The service is designed to enable Yahoo's 165 million registered users to pull content from the Web site's discussion groups, online photo albums and review section to plug into their own Web logs, or blogs, the Internet shorthand used to describe online personal journals.
Yahoo also is making it easier for the service's users to connect with others who share common interests and friends — a practice known as social networking. Participants can either choose to open their blogs to the entire world or restrict access to people invited through e-mail.
Online search engine leader Google Inc., Microsoft's MSN.com and Ask Jeeves Inc. all have become involved in the blogging movement. Google also is dabbling with a social networking service called Orkut, joining other well-known sites such as Lycos.
Along with Mike Jones, I've been making the case for blogs on dating sites for a while now. It's time for dating sites to start exploring the impact blogs can have on their service. Benefits include an increase the amount of time members stay logged in (more ad dollars), people present themselves in a much more compelling way than generic profiles (better results) and increases customer loyalty (more revenue).What's not to like?
Press release
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March 15, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
MySpace, Inc., the leading social networking site, announced the site's February page view ranking, as reported by comScore Media Metrix. The industry standard for Internet audience measurement data, comScore Media Metrix ranked MySpace as the as the 7th largest Web domain in February, in terms of page views. Additionally, comScore Media Metrix data reports that MySpace attracted nearly 9 million unique visitors for the month of February.
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Posted by Dave Evans
LexisNexis has been hacked, details from the Washington Post:
Identity thieves have penetrated another company that collects and sells personal information on millions of U.S. consumers, the latest in a series of breaches that is throwing a spotlight on the practices and safeguards of a booming data-collection industry.
LexisNexis, a worldwide provider of legal and business data, announced yesterday that information about 32,000 consumers was fraudulently gathered in a series of incidents. The data include names, addresses and Social Security and driver's license numbers.
The breaches occurred at the company's recently acquired Seisint Inc. subsidiary, a Florida firm that sells data amassed from extensive public records searches to law enforcement agencies, businesses, private investigators and others.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Mark Pincus, founder of Tribe.net says:
I believe we are close to the point where people will start to be organized online into a 'peopleweb' where browsers will surf and search through people not pages.
This is an interesting concept. Companies like Social Grid have proposed the idea of decentralized social networking communities linked together by search engines however I think it's going to be a long time before search engines will be able to display group affiliations and credibility ratings on the fly as Mark states.
Mark thinks that "big portals will all succumb to their audience's desire for openness and transportability of online identities." While the idea of an open web is appealing, in the context of the online dating space the reality of the situation becomes apparent if you replace "big portals" with "dating sites." I cannot imagine that Match or Yahoo! or Sparks will open up their database to anyone who wants to access their members, whether it be paid-for data-feeds or advertising rates. Big dating sites currently feel they need to lock in their members, making it easy for them to leave for another service is not in their best interest.
I will continue to watch how the this evolves. Fascinating stuff!
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Posted by Dave Evans
John Battelle's has written a piece on Transparensee at the esteemed Searchblog Many of you are familiar with Transparansee founder Steve Lavine. Steve has been showing off Transparensee search capabilities at the last few dating conferences.
Transparensee's "Discovery Search Engine" seeks to address the "stupid computer" problems which plague most structured databases. You most likely have experienced some variant of this: you put in a set of parameters meant to find just what you are looking for - for example, on Fodor's, you want French bistros in Chelsea priced at $35 with a food rating of 20 or above - and you get no results, or only one or two. You have a sneaking suspicion that the results are missing an entire set of possibilities which are "close enough" to what you want, but you've been limited by the parameters you chose - if you open it up too much, you get a bunch of stuff you don't want. What to do?
The ability to loosen search parameters to guarantee decent search results is an interesting idea who's merit becomes apparent the first time you get too specific in your dating site search queries. Nothing feels worse to online daters than being told that there are no matches for them.
The Example: Online Dating Example page has more information, as well as a PDF overview of the features and benefits of the service.
Transparensee's flagship product, the Discovery Search Engine™, is definitely worth taking a look at if you are looking for ways to differentiate your service and provide members with improved search capabilities.
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Posted by Dave Evans
My neighborhood was among the last to get upgraded to digital cable in Boston. While perusing video on demand I came across the Comcast Dating Channel, which launched on Valentine's Day.
The Dating Channel is based on video personals tied to online profiles on HurryDate.
Members are searchable by viewer favorites, age ranges 18-20, 21-29, 30-40+ and something called Greatest Moments which turned out to be a somewhat funny montage of excerpts of memorable profiles. The Viewer Favorites section was empty for some reason.
Almost all of the profiles I looked at features members who were well spoken, following scripted questions varied enough to make viewing a dozen profiles or more is entirely possible before growing tired of the experience. Contacting members is accomplished by logging into HurryDate and searching for the member.
The Dating Channel experience is best undertaken while browsing the HurryDate website, which makes it easy to jump back and forth between member videos and web profiles.
The first 15 minutes were fun, each profile is a few minutes long and you can fast forward, rewind or back out of watching any profile. After a while I began to think the experience would be much more compelling if it resembled Hot Or Not, with a faster pace and the ability to rate people. The service will be much more useful when the search capability is more in line with what users expect: search by smaller age ranges, interests, etc. The first-generation of the service is off to a good start, hopefully future versions will include more interactivity and personalized experience. For example, members should be filtered by area once the service rolls out to more cities.
Note to Comcast. When I return to the main category menu, the previous selection should stay highlighted, making it easier to select the next video profile.
DOD has video shoot days scheduled across the country. DOD also lets users send in their own amateur video, providing a special segment on how to make your own amateur video to show your unique personality. Keep it PG is the only guideline. I can only imagine the "Girls Gone Wild" videos that will be sent in.
Overall, I enjoyed the DOD experience. Tighter integration with HurryDate and better search functionality will improve the service to the point where all they need is a few million profiles to make it successful.
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Posted by Dave Evans
The results are in. Thanks to all who participated.
Are you going to SITRAConIII?
Yes - 28%
No - 58%
On the fence - 14%
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Posted by Dave Evans
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March 14, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
People have been asking me who is going to Palm Springs next month for SITRACon III. What are your plans for the event?
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Posted by Dave Evans
At the risk of putting dating coaches out of business entirely, I'll mention a new service for online singles:
Ever find your self stumbling for words when using online dating services such as MySpace, Friendster, Match etc.? Studies show that witty pickup lines are substantially more effective in landing dates then bunt invitations. That is why we have created PickupX.com. PickupX.com has a virtually endless supply of witty pickup lines and is always a reliable source of new and effective pickup lines for your dating needs.
My apologies to all you dating coaches.
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Posted by Dave Evans
David Jackson, over at Internet Stock Blog, has taken a fascinating look at the Sparks Network IPO filing. He makes the point that Sparks will be closely watched by investors since its filings and earnings results should cast light on the online dating businesses run by Yahoo! and IAC.
Some of the key stats he mentions:
- Operating expenses (excluding direct marketing) were 70% of revenue, down from 80% in 2003.
Net loss was $11.6 million.
- Revenue mix: JDate accounted for $24 million, AmericanSingles.com for $35 million, and other web sites for $6 million.
- Average monthly subscriber churn for JDate.com was 25.8% and for AmericanSingles.com was 35.6%.
- 226,100 average paying subscribers, up 79.7% over 2003.
- Subscriber acquisition costs: JDate $8.09 (versus $4.39 in 2003), AmericanSingles.com $43.29 (versus $45.70 in 2003).
David has done a fantastic job of deciphering the filing documents. This is an absolute must-read article if you're interested in PPC rates, customer acquisition costs and online dating site marketing costs.
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March 11, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Today my girlfriend and I are celebrating our one-year anniversary after meeting on Match last March. For all the grief I am periodically accused to dishing out to the industry, I do so because I believe that online dating works and I remain hopeful that the experience will continue to improve.
A year from now the industry is going to look a lot different. Some of you will still be here, a lot of you will have moved on to the next big internet thing. New services and technologies to enhance the matching process, better customer service and improved marketing will continue to drive the industry forward and I look forward to the changes to come.
There is 9 inches of powder falling in Vermont and I have a chair lift to catch.
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Posted by Dave Evans
David Ehrlich at TheDeal writes more about the Spark IPO filing:
The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based owner of AmericanSingles.com, JDate.com and CollegeLuv.com filed Thursday for a $75 million IPO of American Depositary Shares. The offering from Spark Networks plc, formerly MatchNet plc, is underwritten by Piper Jaffray & Co. as lead manager and sole book-runner and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and ThinkEquity Partners LLC acting as co-managers. The company withdrew plans for an offering in August 2004, citing a faltering market for Internet-related IPOs, but said at the time that it would reconsider a U.S. offering in 2005 if market conditions improved. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Spark said it plans to use the money from the IPO to expand marketing efforts and for general corporate purposes, including a potential rescission offer. Spark used Los Angeles-based Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP as counsel, with London's Steptoe & Johnson for advice under English law. Latham & Watkins LLP, also based in Los Angeles, acted as counsel for the underwriters. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol SPRK. It already trades Global Depositary Shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under MHJG, which closed at €7.80 ($10.47) a GDS on Wednesday. New York hedge fund Tiger Technology Management LLC holds a 26.7% stake in Spark.
Did you catch the part about the rescission offer? A rescission offer is basically the cancellation of a previous exercise of an incentive stock option, generally because of a substantial drop in the price of the stock acquired through the exercise. Rescission results in the employee surrendering stock in exchange for money that was paid for the stock. Google went through a similar situation before it's IPO.
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Posted by Dave Evans
My absolute favorite blog is Boing Boing, self-described as "A Directory of Wonderful Things." Today I found an entry about humanoid robots. Guests of Japan's World Expo opening on March 25 will be greeted by multilingual, rapping robots:
The humanoid can put on facial expressions suitable for the more than 2,000 types of answers it can give, but it may refuse to answer to some questions for "privacy reasons," making an X with her arms and bowing. She also has a sense of irony. When asked if she is a robot, she says, "Y.e.s, I. a.m. a. r.o.b.o.t" in a disconnected voice and moves about clumsily. A moment later, she says "Just kidding" and starts a natural flow of movements.
I want one. Link to story.
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March 10, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
The dating industry is made up of hundreds of companies, thousands of people and the countless number of transactions and events that made the industry what it is today. Keeping track of all the going's-on is time consuming and difficult. The graphical display of the relationships between high frequency and dynamic information such as stock prices, blog entries, press releases, job openings, regulatory issues and other data can enable us to better analyze and observe changes in the external business environment.
What if you could visualize the market, your competitors, partners and those companies just out of range of your radar?
I've added a handful of companies, people and events that shape the dating industry to our database which you can see here. Over time we'll be adding new data sources, views and controls to enable people to add to the display, correct errors and contribute to the network.
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Posted by Dave Evans
WeAttract has published a report titled "Consumers are having second thoughts about online dating." The report examines seven opportunities and threats facing online dating sites. Link to report.
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Posted by Dave Evans
weAttract.com, an independent research and development firm, announced today the formation of a new Science Advisory Board. This multi-disciplinary team of nationally renowned psychologists, mathematicians, and educators will advise weAttract as it designs a new generation of search engines and decision-making tools for the Internet.
weAttract has built search systems for leading online dating websites, including the recently launched, Yahoo! Personals Premier service. “When we first started, the industry scoffed at the idea of applying science to online dating,” recalls Dr. Mark Thompson, President and CEO of weAttract.com. “They said: It’s not rocket science! But it’s much harder to connect people online than most expected.” This Board brings new skills and insights to finding relationships, jobs, and information online.
WeAttract licences their personality testing systems to both Match and Yahoo! Personals for several hundred thousand dollars per year. They have 4 patents pending.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Spark has cut their net losses considerably but taken a big hit settling legal issues. Read more in the press release:
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2004 was $17.1 million, an increase
of 46%, compared to $11.7 million, over the same period last year.
Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2004 was $65.1 million, an
increase of 76%, compared to revenue of $36.9 million, for the year
ended December 31, 2003.
Including $2.1 million of charges related to the settlement of two
legal issues, the company reported a net loss of $1.6 million, or
$(0.06) per share, for the fourth quarter of 2004, compared to a net
loss of $6.8 million, or $(0.35) per share, for the same period last
year.
For the year ended December 31, 2004, the company reported a net loss
of $11.6 million, or $(0.51) per share, compared to a net loss of
$10.9 million, or $(0.57) per share, for the year ended December 31,
2003. The loss for 2004 included charges totaling $7.7 million.
These charges were related to costs associated with settlements of
legal disputes, costs related to an impairment charge, costs related
to severance payments and costs related to the postponed initial
public offering of MatchNet.
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Posted by Dave Evans
IPO attempt, round two. As expected, Spark Networks announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed public offering of up to $75,000,000. Piper Jaffray & Co. is serving as the lead manager and sole book-runner for the offering, and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and ThinkEquity Partners LLC are acting as co-managers.
In the last several months Spark has made additions to their board, undergone a re-branding and several executives have left the company.
Press release.
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March 9, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
A new dating “hybrid” has emerged. eLove, offering the best of both online and traditional dating services will launch operations in New York in April. The service merges traditional bricks and mortar screening and compatibility services with the convenience of online matching at an affordable price.
eLove is an affiliate of The Right One and Together Dating, the largest personal introduction service in the country with offices in 25 states and has made more than one million matches in their 30-year history.
All eLove members must agree to local and national background screenings that check marital status, bankruptcy, felony, and incarceration. In addition to screening, all eLove members have the exclusive benefit of being able to view video and audio clips as well as photos of prospective matches. Video and audio clips are taped on eLove premises and all photos are authenticated by the company before being uploaded to the membership database.
eLove, was formerly known as Perfect Match and was acquired by The Right One and Together Dating on February 14, 2005.
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Posted by Dave Evans
James Houran responds to the comments on the Michigan bill passing. Some choice comments:
Bloggers, industry insiders, and organizations like SITRAS, IADW, and IDEA OASIS do not speak for the industry -- THE CUSTOMERS DO. And, the customers keep telling the industry repeatedly in surveys sponsored by us and others that safety is their number one concern and that they support disclosure laws as proposed by TRUE.com.
TRUE.com is not concerned with pacifying industry insiders. We are here to address customers' realistic fears associated with online dating that the public has repeatedly told the industry are keeping that industry from growing.
No one is trying to legislate TRUE's business model into law. Too many industry insiders are promoting public perception of these bills as regulatory in nature. The fact is the proposed bills only concern disclosure.
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Posted by Dave Evans
This just in from SITRAS newsletter:
After being stalled last session, S.B. 486 passed the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee in a 5-4 vote on Tuesday, 8 March 2005. There were some amendments made to the Bill during the hearing so final language will be available soon. The Bill will now be slated for vote by the Senate before becoming law.
Mike Jones at Userplane is emailing the industry about recent California and Texas legislation and the IADW has sent out a press release outlining their position.
Rich Gosse of the IADW has reached out to other groups which I think is a good thing. Legislators need to hear industry concerns from a loud and clear voice made up of a solid cross-section of the industry. Whether that's Idea Oasis or Sitras or IADW is up to you. Visit the sites, read their opinions and get involved.
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March 8, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Vic Fatah, UK director of PerfectMatch, recently spoke to Netimperative on why he thinks the online dating market is ready for more than just a one-night stand. Fatah has been invoved in the online dating market for 10 years, first as part of the team for Kiss.com which boasted 4 million members in the US. After a sale to Match.com, Fattah, along with the entire Kiss.com team reunited to form Perfectmatch.com.
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Posted by Dave Evans
Heart2Heart Network announced the addition of Swingalicious to its network of premier online dating merchants. A spicy new online dating community geared towards swingers. Owned by FIRST media Group, Heart2Heart is offering dating affiliates who join Swingalicious right away an additional registration bonus of up to $100 based on their total registrations to Swingalicious during March and April 2005.
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Posted by Dave Evans
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Posted by Dave Evans
SocialPhysics is a new program affiliated with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at the Harvard Law School to "Develop a reusable, open source software framework that provides core services including: identity management, social network data models, authentication management, encryption, and privacy controls."
This is much more compelling framework on which next-generation introduction sites could be built than SocialGrid. Stowe Boyd has more over at Get Real.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Online Dating Software | Technology
Posted by Dave Evans
Interactive Corp is looking for an Associate Director, Mergers and Acquisitions.
POSITION SUMMARY
The position of Associate Director, M&A is the entry-level position into the highly visible M&A group of IAC. The M&A group works closely with the Office of the Chairman to determine acquisition opportunities, and it is responsible for the execution of all transactions initiated by the company. The Associate Director position represents a vital role in the group’s activities, assisting in all aspects of potential transactions. The Associate Director will attend meetings with management teams of target companies and the senior management team of IAC, lead all valuation analysis at the direction of the VP or SVP, and be an integral part of coordinating appropriate due diligence activities.
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Posted by Dave Evans
The International Association of Dating Websites has issued a press release announcing opposition to proposed legislation that would require all dating websites to either do criminal background checks for all of their members, or post a very large disclaimer on the website's home page saying that no background checks are being performed.
Rich Gosse, Founder of IADW:
This is unfair to the online dating industry. No other websites are required to do background checks. Most offline dating services and matchmakers do not perform background checks, nor do speed dating, other singles organizations, and newspaper personal ads. Only a tiny percentage of the many hundreds of thousands of organizations and associations in America do criminal background checks. So why single out the online dating industry?
IADW believes that every dating website should caution its members about safety issues. But requiring a criminal background check would be costly. One of the main reasons that the online dating industry is able to provide quality service to so many millions of singles is because the process is inexpensive. Criminal background checks can easily double the cost, making it too pricy for millions of singles. Offering criminal background checks as an option (at additional cost) is the proper way to address this issue.
Anyone wishing more information may visit www.iadw.org or call 415/507-9962.
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March 4, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
True has sponsored research that shows 77 percent of voters would support state legislation requiring background checks.
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March 3, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Danah Boyd blogs that Friendster is offering what is essentially a free version of TypePad to members. This is what Michael Jones has been talking about for a while now. Mike gave a great presentation at iDate which mentioned the values of adding blogs to profiles. Blogs are the next generation of profiles and personal ads, providing people with more freedom of expression, expanded findability and increases the stickiness of sites.
Frienster has been losing ground to competitors like Myspace for a while and the recent confusion over the deal with Eharmony didn't bode well for the biggest name in social networking. Will offering blogs to members stem the stop the bleeding?
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
From Yahoo! Finance:
Paul Widisky, sole shareholder of recently purchased PPI is receiving a base salary equal to $169,000 per annum and other benefits that are generally available to the vice presidents of Cherish. Mr. Widisky received $2,262,500 in cash and 426,244 shares of Company common stock. In addition, the Company issued to Mr. Widisky warrants to purchase an aggregate of 60,000 shares of Company common stock. Further, Mr. Widisky may receive an aggregate earnout payment of up to $450,000 based on the pre-tax earnings of the PPI Surviving Corporation for the first eight full calendar quarters following the closing.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Finance
Posted by Dave Evans
The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) today listed the common stock of CGI Holding Corporation under the ticker symbol THK.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Blink › | Finance
Posted by Dave Evans
Online Dating Magazine has relaunched Datelists after buying the directory last year.
Datelists.com has organized some of the top dating sites into nine easy-to-navigate categories. Whether an online dater is looking in the Major Dating category for popular sites like Match or True, or looking for something more unique from the Niche Dating category, Datelists.com provides a clean, organized directory to address all online dating site inquiries.
There are at least 50 dating site directories. These sites play the AdWords game, get on the first page of a search engine and you're going to make some cash, otherwise you're just taking up hard drive space.
The decent dating site review properties don't seem to have the great rankings that the directories do. Consumers want detailed review and analysis of dating sites, not affiliate links. If Datelists can get consumers to write a lot of reviews the site will prove beneficial, otherwise there are lot's of other sites out there that offer more thorough site reviews.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
Posted by Dave Evans
Joe Tracy over at Online Dating Magazine has launched the Online Dating Banner Exchange.
Swapping banners is a good idea for tier 2 and 3 dating sites, and I think Joe is on to something. For the major players, ad buys are the logical way to go. Creating a specific online-dating category in an ad network and offering it to advertisers along with some level of targeting is something the industry has resisted, mainly due to the perceived complexity and cost to get into the game. A company with a robust ad server in place is more likely to join the network than a site with rudimentary, or no ad server in place. Ad networking have dating categories, but usually these are not as targeted as advertisers would like. I think "singles" would be a better name for the category. I've spoken to several advertisers and dating sites who say they would embrace the idea. All it takes now is an enterprising company to connect the dots.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing
Posted by Dave Evans
A new dating site called eDipity sent out a press release saying that they built their whole site using Macs. One wonders if the site will crash less than Windows-based sites.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Blink ›
March 2, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Userplane Instant-Install is now available in simple HTML code, enabling users to cut and paste the multi-user, multi-room, audio/video chat application onto virtually any web page. Userplane Webchat has also been updated to version 1.7 with a host of important new features, including larger, resizable video windows.
When I get some time I might post it to the blog and host a chat with a special guest.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Technology
Posted by Dave Evans
Herb Vest responded to comments made by his son on Declan Mccullagh's story on News.com:
As always your opinions are well thought out and succinct. The opinion on this blog seems to be that TRUE is pushing for safer dating legislation for purely self interest reasons only.
As you know, your grandfather was murdered in 1946. You know first hand the effects of criminal predation on the victims and survivors of crime.
If some of the commentators seem unsympathic to the reduction of crime, it may be because they have not experienced its devastating effects and may underestimate the emotional impact on the victims and their families.
Some of the comments on this blog are valid. They point out ways in which criminals can circumvent the background search. However, they may be unaware of the thousands of ex-felons who are caught and prevented from preying on our members.
Moreover, our subscribers must represent that they do not have a felony conviction. If that is a misrepresentation they have committed wire fraud, criminal fraud, and an assortment of other crimes and torts.
TRUE will press for prosecution of any subscriber, attempting to communicate with another member, who has a prior felony conviction. We also will pursue civil remedies. Whether we win or not, the defendent will have extremely high legal fees to defend.
I am very proud of you. As always, you are very respectful of the opinions of others, while at the same time defending your own views vigorously.
Your Dad,
Herb Vest, CEO of TRUE
P.S. This article is extremely well written and interesting, even if the author is a little misguided (in my view). He did hit one nail squarely on the head, I am a scrappy entrepreneur (and proud of it).
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Safety
Posted by Dave Evans
Today's Motley Fool Rule Breaker (reg req'd) is Interactive Corp:
IAC is such an intriguing company because the cash flow makes the businesses it acquires less risky and more likely to succeed. These businesses have virtually unlimited access to the capital they need to grow and compete.
Sobering words to smaller sites struggling with cash flow problems who are better off letting Match and Yahoo! duke it out and focus on your core offering, niche or stupendous marketing tactics.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Finance
Posted by Dave Evans
Just got back from shooting a pilot for a new show called PossLTR (possible long term relationship). My role is similar to the guys at the end of Queer Eye or Extreme House MakeOver who provide snippets of feedback about the show. The show airs Saturday, March 26 at 7:00 PM on WCVB-TV, Boston’s ABC affiliate, followed by a Live Web Forum at 7:30pm that I will be participating in as ProfileDoctor. If the pilot takes off, there will be opportunities for advertising and sponsorship that I will post here.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Uncategorized
Posted by Dave Evans
Remove from searches- now you don't have to keep looking at the same people week after week.
Block from winks and emails- now women can blacklist over-persistent men and men can block Illya from Russia, who always says, "I live in Russia, email me at my hotmail address, I won't be on here long."
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Dating Site
March 1, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
Assemblymember Fran Pavley (D - Agoura Hills, CA), is the latest lawmaker to support labeling dating sites that don't perform background checks with a piece of text on their home page that says "WARNING: WE HAVE NOT CONDUCTED A FELONY-CONVICTION SEARCH OR FBI SEARCH ON THIS INDIVIDUAL." The more I read about this the more I shake my head at the groundswell occurring behind this legislation. Latest example- each state will have final say over the wording of the actual alert. The internet is global and people date across state and country lines all the time. Who in the world is going to police all 800+ dating site home pages? Don't forget social networking, business networking and other markets which may fall under the umbrella wording of the legislation.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Safety
Posted by Dave Evans
There is a lot of talk throughout the dating industry about identity verification and background checks. We've heard a lot about how important safety is to online daters, as well as the minutia concerning data retrieval issues and the adjudication process.
As a service to you our loyal readers, ODI is throwing down the gauntlet and inviting several ID verification companies to demo their services in our testing lab.
An independent investigator will go through the ID verification and background check process for each vendor. The goal of the shootout is an unbiased review of ID verification vendors. The idea is to review the process, reliability, effectiveness and overall user experience of the verification process. We'll also take a close look at the data sources used by each service. Because the benchmarks for measuring and comparison differ from vendor to vendor, we will attempt to create a review format that works for all involved.
Several companies have already agreed to participate. If you would like to have your company considered for the review, contact me to learn more.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Research | Safety
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