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March 31, 2006
Posted by Dave Evans
Took a nice run today, my body is not used to the heat, 73 today. Running along the Charles this time of year is sobering, as the Boston Marathoners in training fly by doing 6-minute miles.
Myspace has removed 200,000 objectionable profiles. Dating sites, take note, this is how you leverage goodwill into good PR. Transparency is a benefit, get it? Ross Leinsohn, head of New Corp's internet division, says myspace is safer in the last two months. Foolish quote, doesn't he read his own media?
250k new signups a day at Myspace, not losing members like Facebook, which Businessweek recently said may be on the block for 2 billion. More irresponsible journalism from a trusted source. Where is the fact-checking website for reporters and bloggers? Anybody who pays more than $500m for Facebook is getting the bad end of the deal. Facebook ain't no Myspace.
50 is the new 30. From Adrants:
Results released yesterday from Survey Sampling International review of Census data notes 78 million baby boomers will turn 50 over the next ten years increasing the size of the 50+ demo from 89.3 million in 2006 to 111.3 million in 2016, a 25 percent increase. In contrast, the 18-49 demo, while still larger overall, will see a measly one percent increase in size from 135.1 million in 2006 to 135.9 million in 2016.
Technorati Tags: myspace, seniors
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Seniors | social networking
April 12, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
NY Times has article (reg req's) about senior dating. Not much to it but here are some stats. According to Nielsen/Net Ratings, the number of online dating site users 55 or older rose 19.4 percent in the last year. Match.com's 50-plus membership has tripled since 2000. SeniorFriendFinder has 400,000 members. With a name like Gorgeousgrandmas.com, I thought it was going to be my new favorite website. Alas, it seems to be down at the moment.
[Update: SingleChristianNetwork.com is down as well. Calling all tech support!]
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Seniors
March 10, 2005
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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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Research | Seniors
February 14, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
On Valentine's Day, Comcast Corp. is launching a new video-on-demand service called Dating on Demand. Digital-cable subscribers who are seeking dates will be able to download videos of singles and upload their own videos. The free service is rolling out today in Philadelphia and Chicago, with Baltimore, Washington, Portland, Ore., and Denver being added in the spring.
If a viewer is interested in contacting someone featured on Dating On Demand, they will need to:
1) Write down the HurryDate ID of the person from the video profile
2) Go to www.hurrydate.com, register for the online service and create a HurryDate profile.
3) Find the single they are interested in contacting and send him/her an email to their HurryDate email account.
More info here.
This is a great idea. Think of the advertising revenue, cross-promotions and couch-potato aspect and you've got a potential winner, but only if they put some budget and decent marketing behind it.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Seniors
February 1, 2005
Posted by Dave Evans
First it was Apple with their Switch campaign. Great vignettes of former PC users who had made the switch over to Mac. Recently, my bank started their own switch campaign, complete with an 800 number for assistance. This got me thinking about the PerfectMatch vs. eHarmony battle underway (By the way, watch for True to join in, they really have to at this point to stay relevant.) I can imagine we will start to see some of the smaller niche sites offer a switch campaign to woo customers away from the large date-warehouses. The marketing copy practically writes itself and the customer feels warm and fuzzy about the attention being paid to them.
At ProfileDoctor we built a system which would take our customers' Match.com membername and automatically go out to Match and slurp down the profile for our editors to revise. The profile templates for most sites never change, so the structure of the data are pretty solid. At least until sites start using blogs as their profiles. What's keeping dating sites from doing the same? Obviously there are legal implications, but what if the customer emailed their profile to the competitor? Even a semi- automated switch option would be a cool option for anyone who could save their photos to their hard drive, re-upload them to the new site and paste their essay into a textbox. That's just about everyone as long as you have a non-geek write the instructions.
This post was written while listening to Keeping The Faith [Just A Touch Mix] from the album "The Works" by De La Soul.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Marketing | Seniors | Technology
September 30, 2004
Posted by Dave Evans
In August, more than 16 percent of those active on the top five dating sites, including Yahoo Personals and Match.com, were 55 and over, and more than 5 percent were 65 and over, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. That's up from 15 percent in the 55-plus category and 4.8 percent in the over-65 group a year earlier. Overall, the number of people active on top dating sites grew to 22.53 million in August from 22.28 million a year earlier. So much for growth in this segment.
This kind of reporting drives me crazy. "Imatchup.com, a dating site with 2.5 million members, said the number of users 55 and older is rising as much as 30 percent faster than its total population."
Thats like MatchLive stating revenue is up 200% and then shutting down operations a few months later. Where's the baseline? Link
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Research | Seniors
June 1, 2004
Posted by Dave Evans
According to the StatsmanJournal, registrations by singles 65 and older grew 122 percent last year on Match.com.
The singles trend is expected to explode after 2011, as the baby-boom generation enters its golden years. At their peak, boomers will drive the over-65 population up to 25 percent from slightly less than 13 percent today.
We'll have more on the senior segment soon.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Seniors
February 25, 2004
Posted by Dave Evans
"The fastest growing group is singles over 50," said Rich Gosse, Chairman of American Singles. "That group is becoming humongous, and it's been ignored for so long. Match.com said thereâs been an 88 percent increase in the number of members over 50 in the last year. more...
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| Category: Seniors
February 22, 2004
Posted by Dave Evans
Of the 97 million Americans who are 45 or older, almost 40 percentâ36.2 millionâare on the loose, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. "The stigma of looking for someone is vanishing," says Susan Fox, founder of Personals Work, a Boston-based service that helps people create effective personal ads. "You get over your embarrassment when you look around and see how common it is." AARP has more...
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| Category: Seniors
Posted by Dave Evans
Here are 10 smart first-date ideasâfrom active to creative to educationalâthat are ideal for more mature singles.More...
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| Category: Seniors
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