Features

Match.com has done a number of smart moves lately to keep members using their dating site. On Tuesday, Match.com launched a free application on the Apple App Store for the iPhone and the iTouch. Members now can use most of the features available on the website, on their iPhone. This includes, viewing and editing of your profile (including taking a picture), viewing other members profiles and, sending and receiving messages. New to Match.com as well is the built-in location-based technology available through the iPhone and iTouch. This is an opt-in feature that gives members the ability to see other members near their current location on a graphic map. This feature uses the iPhone's built in GPS and the iTouch's wireless internet connection IP address location.

Match.com has another service which is similar to the iPhone App called MatchMobile. It was launched in 2007 and is designed to allow members to access Match.com with most cell phones. This product uses a mobile web interface and has similar features as the Match iPhone Application, except without the location based technology. Match.com also charges $4.99 for 6 months use of MatchMobile. Since the iPhone App is free, I wonder if MatchMobile will soon be offered for free as well?

Over the last year a few dating sites have created location based dating and they must be cringing now with the news that Match.com has stepped up to the plate relatively early to offer this type of service.

Check out the press release for more information and read our Match.com review for an overview of this dating site.

Once again PlentyOfFish is planning to offer a paid service. Their previous attempt with Virtual Gifts wasn't too successful. In my opinion it was due in part to the high cost of the gifts, which ranged from $9 to $30. This time around POF will offer an upgrade to the existing free membership which will last 3, 6 or 12 months. Markus, the CEO of PlentyOfFish is calling the new feature the Serious Member Profile Upgrade. It is designed for members to signal to the community that you are serious about meeting your match.

So what do you get when you sign up for the feature? Advertising will be removed from your profile and a Serious Member Star will appear on your profile beside your main profile photo. A star icon will also appear on any image thumbnail of you. Your search result as well, will be highlighted in gold to make it stand out in the standard search results and the gallery search results. We currently do not know the cost of the new features so we will just have to wait for a few days until the new feature goes live on the site.

I think this is a good move for PlentyOfFish as long as they keep the price down, at least in the beginning so the existing members can get use to it. I don't really see members signing up based on showing that they are a serious dater. They will sign up because their profile will be highlighted and stand out more from the crowd.

Will this new feature steal members away from paid dating sites? I don't really think so, most singles who move on from a dating site (Free or Paid) do so because they have run out of other members to contact. Becoming a serious member will not give you any more people to contact.

On Wednesday Avalanche (the owners of Date.com, Matchmaker.com, and Amor) announced that they will be offering virtual gifts for sale on their dating sites. Just in time for Valentine's Day, members of these dating communities can send a $1 virtual gift to help make an impression with a potential date. To send a virtual gift:

Members purchase tokens that can be converted immediately, or at a later date, into Virtual Gifts. Online gifts, which range in price and start at $1, run the gamut from romantic to flirty. Everything from roses, hearts, Cupids and boxes of chocolates to martini glasses, food, stuffed animals, and even a shiny red sports car are available for purchase. Specialty items and limited edition items will be introduced in future updates of the feature.

Branded Virtual Gifts will also be available to advertisers that are looking for innovative ways to market products to online daters. Singles do not have to be paying subscribers of the sites to purchase, send or to receive Virtual Gifts. Virtual Gifts can be purchased using all major credit cards as well as via PayPal.

Virtual Gifts are currently very popular on social networking sites. The industry is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion in 2008.

In late January, True.con announced that they have added video chatting to their dating service with 26 different chat rooms.

At a given time, a member may find over 1,000 people chatting, flirting and having fun. The feature not only allows chatters to view up to 10 webcam broadcasts simultaneously, but also allows any two people into a private chat together.

True.com's new group video chat room allows members to enjoy a party like atmosphere since you can view and talk with up to 10 people at once, while the private one on one chat allows for subscribers to go on virtual dates. Online dates allows singles to see how they interact with each other in real time before they commit to taking their relationship off line.

For the full story read True.com's press release.

I found more information about the new Match.com Platinum membership package that will soon be available to all members (from this Story). Match.com already has information available under the Help section when you log into the dating site. It is under the Searching and Dating section and the topic is called Platinum. The first thing I saw was this new membership package is available in some test markets. This means most members will not see the new package in the upgrade area but some of you will. Please comment on this story if you have any pricing information or where the test markets are. The help section also confirms that with this subscription 100 percent of Match.com members will be able to respond for free to your emails and Instant Messages. I'm glad they included IM in the package. Platinum members are identified by an icon on their profile (visible to only non paid members). The Help section also mentions that free members can contact you for free. This is a huge bonus for members. Most paid dating sites who allow free members to contact other members only allow this once the paid member has initiated communication. Match.com definitely has taken a bold step here and turned their dating service partially free.

The Platinum membership may also be purchased as an add-on to any existing membership. No cost information is available at this time. I believe also the Platinum subscription package is available to only online daters in North America.

While I was on Match, I noticed the new Smart Search feature has received an additional upgrade. The results page has been updated to include a Refine Your Search section. This allows you to easily refine your search scope for the following attributes, photos available, age ranges and location ranges. For each attribute range it also gives the total number of profiles which fit within the range.

For more information on this award winning online dating site, read our Match.com review.

PlentyOfFish.com has had some features updated last weekend and has dropped the paid virtual gifts. The virtual gifts lasted a little more than a month and a half. The only reason given according to Markus on his blog for dropping them was, "not really core to what we are doing". Markus has been looking for more ways to make money on his site and this was his first foray into offering a paid feature on PlentyOfFish.com. Obviously people didn't use the paid virtual gifts to often. I'm thinking the prices where to high. It cost between $12 to $30 to send a virtual flower to a member. Maybe lowering the prices by at least half would have made a difference?

I'm thinking Markus still has some ideas up his sleeve for other paid features on his dating site. Maybe charging for better placement in search results or a profile highlighted option?