India’s Dishtv, a direct to home television provider with over 200 channels and 3.5 million subscribers has announced a new collaboration with India’s largest matrimonial service, Shaadi.com. Called Shaadi Active, this service will allow TV viewers to actively search for a bride or groom from the millions of profiles available on Shaadi.com. Numerous search criteria will be available to select from including caste, age and profession.
For more information on Shaadi.com, check out our review.
Recently MillionaireMatch.com has added some new verification services. They already verify if a member qualifies as a Millionaire (if the proper documentation is sent in) and your primary photo, they will now also verify your age and occupation. When a dating site is geared towards matching Millionaires with other singles and assets play an important role, these verification services help both types of members out greatly. The millionaire members gets more activity on the site since his profile information is marked as verified and non millionaires don't have to worry about if the verified members have exaggerated some of their profile information.
I also notice, MillionaireMatch.com now allows guest members (free members) to reply to any gold members emails or instant messaging request. This greatly opens up the site to gold members since they know anyone can reply to their messages and they don't have to just send messages to other gold members.
The unofficial eHarmony Blog noted a small announcement on eHarmony Canada that RelyID will be available soon. RelyID on the US eHarmony site allows members to validate their full name, age and address (see eHarmony now has an Online ID Verification Service for more info). eHarmony Blog does wonder if a company that isn’t covered by Canadian privacy laws well have success in getting Canadians to hand over their private identification information to be verified on a dating site.
Being a Canadian myself, eHarmony Blog has a good point. The thing is, I would of never of thought of the problems dealing with an American company who may not be governed under our own privacy laws. I doubt this point would have been made apparent to those who will sign up for the RelyID Canadian service. eHarmony or RelyID should make sure we are covered by our own privacy laws (maybe open an office in Canada?) or at least inform us if we are not.
Date.com, Amor.com and Matchmaker.com (all owned by Avalanche, LLC) will soon be available in multiple languages. Enlaso will be doing the translation services for Avalanche. They offer enterprise language solutions to companies who not only need translation services but business and cultural perspectives as well. In the press release they mention "localizing" the dating sites, I wonder if this means a redefining of the profile depending on the country and the culture? Match.com International does this with great success, they ask dating profile questions that are more relevant to where you live (see The Issues with International Online Dating).
By the end of 2008 all 3 dating services will be translated and localized into Spanish, Portuguese and German and by 2010 there will be another 15 languages added. With online dating growth leveling off in North America, Avalanche is looking to international markets to help grow its subscriber base. Since 1997, Avalanches largest dating site, Date.com, has had more than 20 million members worldwide.
Courant.com takes a look at eHarmony and their online marriage therapy service. It is different than traditional therapy since there is no talking, couples must fill out a detailed questionnaire instead. This paragraph from the article sums up how the 2 year old service works:
Based on that information, the service prescribes a series of self-directed exercises and interactive videos that target their trouble areas — communication, intimacy and conflict resolution, for example. Offered in 20-minute weekly sessions over three months, the site touts among its benefits at-home convenience and a $149 price tag that would otherwise buy them one, maybe two sessions with a traditional therapist.
eHarmony states that they receive between 300 to 500 new registrations to the service every day. They also state that 19% of the couples who are at risk of divorce are no longer after completing the 3 month session.
eHarmony does agree that it does not replace real talk therapy but it is designed more as a practical tool to get couples communicating in their relationship again. There are critics of services that offer online therapy sessions. The biggest complaint is they are not regulated by a governing body.
To find out more about this dating service, read our eHarmony review.
Match.com launched the Insiders' Guide this week. It's a place where you can get free, reliable advice from current Match.com members. Before I checked it out I thought it would just another online dating advice magazine that most dating services have, except it is written by members. Even this is not a new idea, since for a few years now FriendFinder already has an online magazine that allows for member submission. Plus, Match.com already has an advice magazine called happen.
When I logged into Match to check the Insiders Guide (accessible from the top members menu) I was pleasantly surprised. While the information given was nothing new or ground breaking the presentation of the dating tips was very well done. Everything is animated and the 7 dating tips are presented in videos by Match.com members. While the videos are playing tip bubbles pop up reinforcing the members message. I think a lot more people will take the time to view the dating tips in this type of format instead of reading a dating advice article that contains the same information.
I thought there would be more tips, but the ones they have are explained in detail and there probably is one or two tips here that someone who hasn't been into online dating for more than a year could use. Other season daters probably don't need to visit the guide. With only 7 tips available I am sure Match.com has a few more on the way if it becomes a popular destination for their members.
For more information about Match.com, please read our review.
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