Hello, and welcome to the Monday, April 19th edition of the Online Personals Watch's Weekly News Roundup. This week we're in one of the most romantic spots on the planet, we're in Venice, Italy. So Buongiorno, I’m Mark Brooks, and this is what made industry news this week.
Spark Networks has quietly acquired Engage.com. No details have been released yet.
Engage
allows users to become virtual matchmakers and match other members.
It’s great in theory, but the site never really took off. Traffic
really tanked from May 2008 onwards when Engage ran out of money and
switched off their ad buys. In May they were seeing 300k uniques a
month, and now they see about 50,000 unique visitors a month. Where
Spark will take the site has yet to be seen, though a major overhaul
seems necessary to give Engage the edge and draw that it needs. We look
forward to seeing what happens when Spark relaunches the site in the
future.
Sugar Daddy sites are receiving some backlash lately as critics are saying that they are at best convenience stores for adulterers and at worst, virtual brothels. There are a number of sites offering this kind of arrangement, where wealthy men, either single or married, pay an allowance to a younger female “sugar baby” in exchange for companionship or intimacy. Whether or not these sugar relationships amount to prostitution is hotly debated amongst site members. Seeking Arrangement’s founder and CEO, Brandon Wade, does not let this criticism bother him at all and notes that they stress relationships that are mutually beneficial. Despite the debate, sugar daddy sites are having no trouble finding their place in the online dating market.
Several websites have recently launched new applications for Facebook. GenePartner, which matches people based on their DNA, announced GenePartnerID, and Facebook users will now be matched against others using this online application. DateRaters.com announced 3 new applications. One allows users to hurl harmless digital pastries at friends. The second is called Closure and invites users to get things off their chest. The third is called Rate Your State, and encourages users to answer the question “How are you feeling” and their answers are posted onto their walls or sent to friends.
eHarmony is being hit with a lawsuit in Los Angeles, claiming that the site is luring in members by promising to match them using a scientifically proven matchmaking system, while in reality that technology does not exist. Two female plaintiffs claim they were duped by eHarmony because the company did not actually use any meaningful measures to provide them with matches, and one of them was hooked up with a scam artist. A spokeswoman for eHarmony said the accusations were bogus and they would vigorously defend the case, but would not elaborate. Several readers commented on OPW, including Dr. Helen Fisher from Chemistry.com who stated that “eHarmony does not disclose their matchmaking process” and “ANY scientist who wishes to be taken seriously shares their methods and results.” We will keep a close eye on this case and bring you updates as they become available.
Perhaps our most controversial item of the week was the debate over Compatible Partners being in violation of Scripture. In a letter to Neil Clark Warren, Peter LaBarbera wrote, “You have now officially joined the list of Companies Promoting Immorality”. Peter is president of Americans for Truth, a conservative Christian advocacy group that feels that Compatible Partners is violating Scripture, which labels homosexuality as a sin. We received quite a few comments on this post, and it turned into quite the intellectual debate with no clear winner or outcome. Arguments came in from all sides and viewpoints. Sam Moorcroft from Christian Café stated that “just because something is “in” or “modern” doesn’t make it moral” while Bill Smith argued back that “just because something is condoned or condemned by human history doesn’t make it right.” The Chairman of Manhunt provided additional commentary. Proponents for both sides weighed in and fantastic arguments were made both ways. We’ll keep you up to date on further developments from Compatible Partners and how well they fare in the coming months.
CNN recently reported that matchmakers are thriving during this economic slump. Founder and CEO of LifeWorks Matchmaking, Ann Robbins, stated that “people shift their focus in times of uncertainty to the things that are sustainable and the things that get them through, and that always comes down to relationships.” Her clientele doubled in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to the previous quarter. The report also noted that online dating sites are doing well for the very same reason.
Next we bring you a story of geek love online. Lillie and Hawkins met four years ago on Second Life, a 3D online virtual world that lets users interact with each other through avatars. Before they had ever seen or heard each other’s real voices, they got married – in Second Life. Lillie lives in California, and Hawkins in Wales. They did finally meet in 2007 when Lillie was asked to come to the UK as part of a web documentary about people living lives on the Internet. This is just one love story in what researchers estimate will become an even more popular trend among Internet users. Gartner Research estimates that by 2011, 1.6 billion of 2 billion Internet users will have experimented with a virtual medium like Second Life. If all of these people use virtual currency, who knows what kind of profits these sites will see!
And finally, we at Courtland Brooks are excited to announce our new blog that was launched a few days ago. For those of you who don’t know, Courtland Brooks is a team of 15 Internet dating industry professionals and experienced advisory executives who focus entirely on serving the internet dating industry. The new blog will feature handy analyses and our views on the business of internet dating. We hope you will stop by to check it out!
That’s all for this week’s edition of OPW’s Weekly News Roundup. 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 served up daily. I’m Mark Brooks. Arrivederci, Buon giorno from Venice.