Hello, and welcome to Online Personal Watch’s Weekly News Roundup. I’m Mark Brooks, and here are the latest headlines from around the industry.
This edition of the weekly news roundup is kindly sponsored by iovation.
In shocking news for the online dating industry, BeautifulPeople.com parted ways with 5,000 members. The members reportedly posted pictures of themselves with extra weight gain from the holiday seasons. Surprisingly, the move was prompted by fellow members of the website. These members patrol the site to maintain a high standard of attractiveness. However, the situation could prove to work in favor of the business. Site founder Robert Hintze is standing firmly behind his reputation and brand. he believes that, quote, “LETTING FATTIES ROAM THE SITE IS A DIRECT THREAT TO OUR BUSINESS MODEL AND THE VERY CONCEPT FOR WHICH BEAUTIFULPEOPLE.COM WAS FOUNDED.”
5,000 members seems like a big loss for BeautifulPeople.com, but as the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure. eLove.com is jumping in to save the day opening up its doors to all the rejected members from BeautifulPeople.com.
Speaking of the niche dating sites, the increase in the number of specialist dating websites is expected to lure record numbers of singles online this decade. Analysts are predicting the industry will grow by almost a third! The Australian online dating industry alone grew 5 percent last year and is expected to grow another 5 to 10 percent this year. A recent survey of more than 3000 people prompted by dating website RSVP found that, 50 percent had tried online dating and 10 percent had met their current or most recent partner on the internet. This figure is likely to increase over the next few years as Australia catches up to the US and Britain.
The cold weather of January seems to be working in favor of adultery website AshleyMadison.com. It has been reported that on a typical day anywhere from eight to ten thousand people sign up to AshleyMadison.com. However, last Thursday over 25,000 new members signed up, making it AshleyMadison’s most profitable day ever.
Ashleymadison.com isn’t the only website seeing member increases from the weather however. MySingleFriend.com says visitors to it’s website soared by 55 percent on a single Tuesday. Meanwhile, rival site Singles365.com experienced a visitor increase of 27 percent across a single Tuesday and Wednesday compared to one year prior. IllicitEncounters.com also gained 2,567 members over a six day span in January of this year.
CityDate.com recently launched a new dating website, SensualityDating.com. The website caters to the needs of women seeking romantic experiences without the commitment. SensualityDating features a virtual dating app which will allow people to get to know each other in a virtual coffee shop or restaurant. This will in theory allow members to flirt and explore their chemistry.
Looking for a job in the dating industry? We might have a bit of valuable information you should take a look at. We’ve updated the OPW industry job listings again. If you think you might be interested, just head over to opw1.com and look for the post on the 10th of January.
Last but not least, Courtland Brooks recently did a preliminary study of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk Service. The big question was whether or not it was appropriate to use this service for profile approvals. Chances are it probably isn’t. To check out our blog and see an overview study, head over to internetdating.typepad.com, and you can see the post and study from January 4th.
As a reminder, if you are genuinely interested in selling your company or ready to make a cash purchase, your chance is right around the corner. Remember to head over to iDate’s Buyers and Sellers session with prices in mind. The private session hosted by me will be held one day prior to iDate at the Miami conference center from 5:45pm to 7pm on Wednesday, January 27th.
This edition of Online Personal Watch’s Weekly News Roundup has been sponsored by iovation. iovation, helping companies expose cybercriminals and fight fraud with device reputation.
That’s all for this week’s news roundup. To check out AdExchanger.com’s interview with PlentyOfFish CEO Markus Frind, head over to opw1.com.
Tune in again next week as we bring you the latest and greatest from the world of online dating. No ads, no fluff, just raw news and CEO interviews. I’m Mark Brooks. Thank you.