CNET NEWS — June 14 — Start-ups peddling virtual goods raised $69m in funding in the first quarter of 2009. First quarter 2009 financings: * IMVU - $10,000,000 * ngmoco - $10,000,000 * Nurien - $10,000,000 * Offerpal Media - $15,000,000 * Ohai - $6,000,000 * OMGPOP - $5,000,000 * OneSeason.com - $3,500,000 * Scrapblog - $4,000,000 * Viximo - $5,000,000 * Three Melons - $600,000 FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS Mark Brooks: Viximo is helping iDating and social networking companies capitalize on virtual goods, and are a sponsor of Online Personals Watch and Social Networking Watch. See all posts on Viximo This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.
OPW — June 15 — I asked Match.com for a statement regarding the McGinn suit where Match is accused of ‘defrauding customers who paid for the dating service by failing to disclose that it lumps together current subscribers and canceled members and displays them as the same.’ The CEO of Match, Greg Blatt, states… “Match.com’s continued success depends upon the success of our members in making online connections and turning them into meaningful relationships offline. The allegation that we would deceive our subscribers by encouraging them to connect with inactive members therefore makes no sense and is contradicted by our 14-year record and the hundreds of thousands of members who find someone special on Match.com every year. We understand that finding romance, offline or online, can at times be emotional and personal, and we wish Mr. McGinn well in his search. But his lawsuit is without merit, and we will defend it vigorously.” Your comments please. See all posts on Match.com
THE PARADIGM SHIFT — June 14 — Plentyoffish.com has made several major changes to the site. 1. Introduction of themes - members can use 5,000 activity points to ad themes to their profile. 2. New feature called date night - every week starting at friday 2pm PST members can signal to the community they are free for a date on the following friday night 3. New flash uploader where members can rotate, resize and crop their thumbnails. FULL ARTICLE @ THE PARADIGM SHIFT See all posts on Plentyoffish
REUTERS — June 12 — Online dating network Zoosk has raised $6m in a third round. The company raised $4m in a second round last June. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS See all posts on Zoosk
Not sure how to tell someone you’re interested in them? The Bureau of Communication - Fill-in-the-blank Correspondence should do the trick.
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Ben Fox wrote in to say that eMeeting dating software version 9.18 has just been released with minor fixes and additional features, you can download the full version or upgrade patches via the customer area of our website at http://datingscripts.co.uk. Additional software templates are available for download. There is also a new eMeeting community forum […]
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This was another busy week spent reconnecting with people like Joe Tracy of Online Dating Magazine and introducing myself to a number of dating-related startups. Tim Johnson, one of the best Silicon Valley PR I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with, reached out on Facebook. Shortly afterwards I saw Eric Eldon at VentureBeat write […]
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Today’s guest post is by Scott Valdez, founder of Virtual Dating Assistants.
It is really a privilege to have the opportunity to write a guest post for Online Dating Insider so early into the development of our company. For understandable reasons, we didn’t receive a considerably warm welcome to the market during the week leading up […]
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THE NATIONAL — June 11 — Internet users in the UAE reported the fifth highest rate of website censorship out of nearly 200 countries, according to a new project mapping global online restrictions at home and in the workplace. The statistics showed that 382 different web pages were flagged as “inaccessible” by UAE users. The websites that were found by UAE users to have been filtered ranged from pornography and dating websites to religious pages. As of yesterday, users in China recorded the most blocked websites with 802, followed by the US with 546, Saudi Arabia with 465 and Germany with 423 reports. FULL ARTICLE @ THE NATIONAL Mark Brooks: I was interested in spending some time in Dubai, but two things made it a showstopper for me. No VOIP, and many dating sites are blocked. So I can’t use my telephone, and I can see my clients sites. Ah well.
CNET NEWS — June 11 — IAC’s CEO, Barry Diller, doesn’t believe that the poor economy will make it more difficult to get people to pay for things online. While much of the “new IAC” relies on advertising revenue, Diller declared that strictly relying on advertising as a business model is not sustainable. “I absolutely believe that the Internet is passing from its free phase into a paid system. “Look at the iPhone, Diller said, “and the wild success of its App Store.” “The iPhone is a great example of what’s going to happen,” he pointed out. “One of the greatest barriers to buying things is the steps that it takes.” FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS Mark Brooks: The iPhone is a game changer. Users of iPhones monetize FAR better, and access information on the internet and (dating) apps more than on any other phone. Overall the idating market is doing well despite the down economy, but the highest growth numbers, in terms of uniques, are being found at the free end of the idating spectrum. Case in point see the Compete graphs for, Plentyoffish, OKCupid, DateHookup. Interestingly, a number of the free sites that I reported on, in this…