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November 30, 2004

eHarmony, Friendster Launch Online Matching System

eHarmony, Friendster Launch Online Matching System
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Pasadena-based eHarmony and social networking site Friendster announced this morning that the two companies have launched an online personals
matching system for Friendster. The two companies are launching a co-branded matching service that uses eHarmony's computerized matching
service with Friendster's social networking service. Social networking sites like Friendster have been searching for a way to monetize their services, as the initial rush of enthusiasm for social networking has waned. eHarmony's services match up singles through a computerized online dating service.

From SoCalTec.com

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November 26, 2004

Lemontonic(TM) Announces Accelerated Growth and Q3 Fiscal 2004 Results

TORONTO, Nov. 25 /CNW/ - LEMONTONIC INC. ("Corporation") (TSX-VEN: LEM)
is pleased to announce that its growth continues to accelerate, with daily
membership acquisition over the past 30 days averaging over 600 members daily.
As of November 25th, the company had 91,500 members.
Lemontonic also announced today financial results for its third quarter
2004. The results have been posted on SEDAR and on the company's website at
www.lemontonic.com .
For the quarter ended September 30, 2004 revenue of $7,063 comprised
primarily of the sale of one Category 2 specialty license application compared
to $2,980 in 2003 which included nominal amounts of revenue generated by the
online dating royalties paid to PassionVillage.com by a third party online
dating site. The PassionVillage.com site was suspended in the fourth quarter
of 2003. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2004 revenue decreased
to $7,431 compared to $12,211 in the same period in 2003.
Operating costs for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 increased to
$2,066,385 from $82,052 in the same period in 2003 due to the costs related to
developing the application and web service, brand development and customer
acquisition costs, and website costs including hosting and ad serving. In
addition there were increased staffing requirements including the growth of
the customer care team, and the recognition of stock-based compensation
expenses. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2004, operating costs
increased to $4,676,810 compared to $290,430 in the same period in 2003.
The net loss for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 was $2,059,322 or
$0.05 per share compared to a loss of $79,072, or $0.01 per share in the prior
year quarter. For the nine month period ended September 30, 2004, the net loss
was $4,669,379, or $0.14 per share compared to $278,219 or $0.01 per share in
the same period in 2003.
As at the end of September 30, 2004, the number of charter members
totaled 63,138. Canada represents 95% of the charter member base.
Cash and short term investments of $71,995 at the end of
September 30, 2004 have decreased from $440,803 as at December 31, 2003. The
Company utilized its cash raised through the financing activities to support
its development of the Lemontonic Dating Messenger application and launch of
its web services. Including the financing that was announced in November 2004,
the Company forecasts that it will have sufficient cash on hand to continue
its current operation until the company is cashflow positive.
Pursuant to the agreement announced on November 2, 2004 with Canaccord
Capital (Europe) Limited (the "Agent") to act as the exclusive agent on a
reasonable endeavors basis in connection with a private placement of Class A
shares of the Corporation (the "Class A Shares"), the Agent may exercise an
over allotment option of up to 4,500,000 Class A shares to be exercised in
whole or in part at the sole discretion of the Agent.
"The investment in v1.0 of our online dating messenger and website is now
completed. In the quarter we launched the dating messenger to complement the
website which was launched in the second quarter. Our acquisition marketing
activities have also been further refined with our key partners Toronto.com
and sympatico.msn.ca," stated Mark Pavan, CEO of Lemontonic. "Our product is
now fully deployed and our non charter members are now being converted to
paying subscribers so that they may utilize the full features of Lemontonic
v1.0."

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November 23, 2004

Cupid Acquires PreDating

NEW YORK, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cupid.com, Inc. (http://www.cupid.com/), a leading online dating service, today announced its acquisition of PreDating (http://www.predating.com/), America's largest speed dating company. PreDating is the leading provider of speed dating events for single professionals in the U.S. They run local events in more than 70 cities around the country.

"This is a landmark acquisition in the world of online personals,"said Cupid.com President Eric P. Straus about the acquisition. "We're building a bridge between the online world and the physical world to unite local singles more successfully than any other dating service."

"There's no turn downs and no pressure at these events. We searched for the perfect singles event and PreDating is it!,"commented Mark Brooks, Cupid.com's VP Marketing & Business Development. "We're very impressed with PreDating's event format, organization and the caliber of their personnel."

"The core promise of online dating sites is to put single people in front of each other, in the real world,"stated Mr. Brooks. "Many online dating sites fall short on fulfilling that promise. Cupid.com keeps this promise,"stated VP, Mark Brooks.
About Cupid.com, Inc.

Cupid.com is a leading online dating service promoted exclusively through radio advertising in over 200 markets in the US and Canada. Cupid.com helps compatible local singles meet. Cupid.com, Inc is a subsidiary of RegionalHelpWanted.com, Inc.

About PreDating Speed Dating
The speed dating concept was originated 5 years ago. PreDating gives singles a chance to briefly meet and speak with each other before going on an actual date hence the catchphrase, "Before you date, PreDate."
PreDating events work as follows: Attendees register for a predating event in their city at http://www.cupid.com/. As they arrive at the upscale venue they are greeted by a host, and then mix with early attendees before the speed dating begins. During the speed dating attendees meet other local singles within their age range in a series of face-to-face six minute 'predates.' Each individual notes the people they would like to meet again on a match sheet. Hosts collect the confidential sheets and notify attendees of their 'mutual matches' within 24 hours.

About Mark Brooks
Mark Brooks maintains http://www.onlinepersonalswatch.com/ as a service to industry professionals, analysts and the press.

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November 22, 2004

Guinness Says Match.com leads the world in online dating!

Guinness World Records officially recognises Match.com as the largest online dating site in the world. More than 42 million singles globally have registered with Match.com since its launch in 1995 and worldwide there are now over 15 million members using the service.

* In the UK alone over 1.2 million singles are using Match.com to help them find love, with nearly 50,000 singles registering with Match.com each month.

* The average female user is a late 20?s/30 something girl, established in her chosen career; she oozes stylish urban chic and has a busy, fulfilling lifestyle. She knows her own mind and knows what she wants from life, she won?t settle for second best in any area of her life ? especially where relationships are concerned.

* The good news for women is 60 per cent of UK Match members are men ? so there?s plenty of choice! 55 per cent of members are over the age of 30. More than 80 per cent of members have a university education and 75 per cent of Match.com singles are in professional or managerial employment.

Read More...

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November 17, 2004

Yahoo Releases New Premier Personals Service

"Yahoo! Personals Premier helps people like you looking for a long-term relationship find compatible people in a way that makes the most of their personal time. Offering more personal choice and smarter tools to help you find great matches, Yahoo! Personals Premier is the best way to meet other people with long-term relationship potential."

http://personals.yahoo.com/us/homepage/ypp_service_learn_more

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New Release at Orkut

Dear XXX,

Today all of us here at orkut are pleased to announce the launch of orkut media, a weekly collection of writings and
photos by our very own orkut members.

When you land at http://media.orkut.com, you'll venture into the realm of love and politics and beyond. Here's a quick
lay of this new land: the "Porch" offers a variety of columns ranging from the hot and humorous to the thoughtful
and thought-provoking, along with galleries of riveting photos from around the world. The "Lounge" and "Studio" will
contain archives of all the collected orkut media material (on the off-chance that you miss a week), along with tidbits
about contributing writers and photographers.

orkut media can be viewed by anyone surfing the Web. And it's open for you, the orkut member, to submit your own
work. Got something to say? A perspective that you think needs to be heard? Go ahead and send us a column, write us
a letter, or forward a photo.

As always, you can make your thoughts known in a community forum and start a discussion. So tell us what you think, in
whatever way suits you. We just hope you enjoy your experience at http://media.orkut.com.

Stay beautiful,
the orkut team

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November 15, 2004

eHarmony Links Up With USA TODAY

eHarmony Links Up With USA TODAY
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Pasadena-based eHarmony and Gannett Co., owner of USA TODAY, announced this
morning that the tewo have launched a partnership to provide online
personals for USA TODAY and other Gannett daily newspapers. eHarmony's
online personals service will be featured on all of Gannett's properties,
where readers will have access to eHarmony's personals matching system.
Terms were not disclosed.
eHarmony is known for its ever-present advertising for its computer-driven
dating site, where users answer detailed questionnaires to match up users
by personality and interests.

** From SoCalTech: http://www.socaltech.com/News

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November 10, 2004

Intermix Q3 Report & MySpace

We came across this in the Intermix Q3 Press Release:

"The MySpace.com social networking web property experienced a significant increase in the number of new members and average user logins in the most recent quarter. MySpace.com now has over 4.7 million members. Intermix is making significant capital investments in network infrastructure and recruiting technical, sales and infrastructure personnel to support the anticipated continued growth of MySpace.com."

The full release is available here.

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November 09, 2004

Linked In - Business Model?

Received this today:

Thank you for your interest in LinkedIn. I wanted to quickly follow up with regard to your recent inquiry about business with LinkedIn. It seemed to us that one of your major objectives is to introduce your products/services to our professional user-base. We'd like to invite you to take advantage of our new ?Sponsored Link? service and advertise on our website. Through LinkedIn, your message can potentially reach over a million unique registered professional users.

To learn more or to sign-up please click on this link.
https://www.linkedin.com/static;?key=promo_marketbanker

Be one of the first to sign-up and enjoy a low introductory flat-fee price!

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Social networking sites seek ways to make money

Knight Ridder Newspapers

By Matt Marshall

A year after Silicon Valley entrepreneurs launched a slew of faddish social-networking companies _ Web sites like Friendster, Tribe Networks and LinkedIn _ reality is beginning to bite.

Most of these sites are still seeing large numbers of active users sign up for what they offer, which is essentially an online network of contacts with friends or business partners, and their friends. But with all the buzz came a lot of me-too companies hoping to crash the party, making it difficult for any of them _ even the leaders _ to make users pay.

That's why social networking sites are now looking for ways to make money. And it's all leading to some serious jostling, as they are courted, or nurtured internally, by big incumbent players like Monster, Yahoo and CareerBuilder eager to cash in on their online traffic.

There are two strategies now in play. The first: Some start-ups have decided social networking will never make any money, but they'll try to make money off other services instead, such as job or apartment listings. Mountain View, Calif.'s LinkedIn is one. And the second _ used by dozens of companies, including Friendster, MySpace and Multiply _ is to draw so many users that advertisers will pay good money to post ads on the Web site.

The problem, though, is that an ad-dependent life is precarious. Industry leaders Friendster and Orkut may be off to a good start. But younger, quicker companies can come along and steal their users easily, according to industry observers.

Mike Sigal is chief executive of the Guidewire Group, which helps companies introduce their products to the market, and has tried out many of the social networking sites. He lists a number of upstarts, including Multiply, MySpace and Dodgeball, which are all gaining momentum.

Multiply, for example, gives users the same options as Friendster does, and more _ they can also blog, share music files, post movie reviews or pictures. Multiply has even found a way to use members' log-ins and passwords to invite in their entire network of friends from other sites, says Sigal.

"Here comes a social networking company out of nowhere," observed Sigal, "that takes advantage of all the work that the two leaders have already done."

And while advertisers are starting to pay more money to well-frequented Web sites, it may not be enough.

"The update is, it (social networking) continues to be a loss-leader," said James Currier, founder and CEO of Tickle, a San Francisco online dating company. "Social networking may end up being a utility."

Tickle makes money by charging people for online matching services, including personality tests and questionnaires, and it launched a social networking service to drive people to its services for pay. In May, Monster, the online jobs site, bought Tickle.

Tickle's Currier says one intent is for job search and social networking to go together. He is cagey on the details, which are still being worked out. But the possibilities are numerous. For example, a company could pay Monster to list a job. A user could see the listing, and then search a network of contacts to find someone who works at that company.

Along the same lines, job site CareerBuilder (part owned by Knight Ridder) has allied with Tribe Networks, believing Tribe can drive traffic to its job listings. And Yahoo, according to industry insiders, is working on a social networking service, Mingle, that it hopes to unveil this year _ reportedly with the goal of driving users to its own job service, HotJobs, and other portal services. Yahoo wouldn't comment directly on Mingle.

George Feil, 40, of Oakland wanted to find a job as a DJ. He had used Friendster last year, but found it focused more on dating. He heard about Tribe Networks as a place where people met more frequently to talk about their interests, and so he joined various "DJ" and "Music" related tribes. He wanted to socialize with like-minded people, and also wanted to find more work in the industry.

In a DJ tribe, he saw someone post a listing about producing events. Feil responded, asked him if he was looking for a DJ. Soon, Feil was flying to Colorado Springs, Colo., for a gig, all expenses paid _ and even hired two friends to help him out. "It was pretty significant," said Feil.

Feil says he's not dependent enough on Tribe to pay for basic use. However, he'd be ready to pay for certain services, like job searching, or to advertise an event.

Jacki Teeter, 34, says similar things. On Tribe, she developed friendships among some people in San Francisco, and soon found herself in phone conversations, and planning a trip from her Portland, Ore., home for a Tribe Christmas party. Soon, she decided to move here, and got help from Tribe members on an apartment. She got her current job, at a bar at San Francisco's Ferry Building, from tips from her Tribe friends.

Teeter says she'd pay for say, a monthly $10 subscription, for Tribe's basic service.

"That's completely reasonable," she said. "I've got so much vested in Tribe. It's had a huge impact on my life."

But Tribe has no such plans, perhaps because charging for basic service would lead to losing a lot of customers _ especially when competitors are free.

LinkedIn has also made inroads by letting people use its service for free _ but with a view to start charging heavy-duty users, mostly recruiters.

The service is for business relationships, and founder Reid Hoffman thought users might also want to use it to open sales channels for their company's products. But more people are using the site for job matches: With a million users already having posted their profiles at LinkedIn, it's turning into a great recruiter database. After he starts charging recruiters and others for premium service, Hoffman hopes to hit profitability next year.

Kathleen Hayes got her job at a local tech company, BlueRoads, using LinkedIn. After the company she worked for, Epicentric, was sold in January 2003, she was determined to take some time off. When a friend suggested she put her profile on LinkedIn, she did so reluctantly, around October, she said.

But within a month or two, she got an e-mail from LinkedIn from the CEO of BlueRoads, Axel Schultze. And within a couple of months more, she was working for him. "I didn't even interview with other companies."

From the beginning, the process went through personal channels. According to Hayes, Schultze browsed LinkedIn and landed on her online profile as someone within his extended range of contacts. He started a request process and e-mailed a friend. She in turn e-mailed another friend, who knew Hayes and vouched for the request. Those personal bonds made Hayes take the request seriously, and she agreed to meet with Schultze.

Hayes says BlueRoads has used LinkedIn to hire three engineers. It's valuable enough, she says, for her to pay a subscription for her own personal use. And in a sign that LinkedIn will indeed be able to charge for a premium service for recruiters: "If I was in hiring mode, I would definitely pay for this."

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November 04, 2004

Matchnet Q3 Results

We found this interesting - these member acquisition costs seem to be rising industry wise - I think only GOOGLE is winning this game:

"The company said that its average revenue per subscriber was $75 in the third quarter and its average subscriber acquisition cost(2) was $41."

Read Entire Story..

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Standard Payments Deploys BIN Blocking for MatchNet

Standard Payments, LLC, the majority-owned merchant services subsidiary of Dallas-based payments services company Transactional Technologies, LLC, has enabled its proprietary JetPay? real time BIN blocking utility for Beverly Hills, CA-based MatchNet plc. Standard Payments currently provides MatchNet with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express card authorization and settlement processing services.

Read More...

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November 01, 2004

Great News for Trufina and Verified Person

Online love may come with safety warning
Michigan lawmakers may require dating sites to reveal they don't check clients' backgrounds.

More Info...

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