Types (Niche)

On FriendFinder Networks corporate site they are claiming to be the largest social networking company in the world. The numbers they give to support this are:

• 250,000,000+ total profiles in their database since inception (for all websites).
• On average, over 150,000 new members per day.
• Over 10,000 private label social networking and live video sites in their network.

While FriendFinder Networks may be the largest social networking company in terms of number of profiles created, but how relevant are all those profiles. FriendFinder got its start way back in 1996, 12 years ago. I am sure many of these profiles are unused now or duplicates within the same site and across multiple sites. Adult FriendFinder, the largest site in the Network, says on their home page they have over 29 million active members. An active member to FriendFinder is someone with a valid email account who has logged in within at least 2 years. Now 2 years is a long time to be considered an active member but at least FriendFinder publishes how these numbers are calculate. Most dating sites do not. I would consider the largest social networking sites to be the ones with the most number of active profiles. In my opinion an active profile is one in which someone has used it in at least 2 months (and this is stretching it). I'm sure this honour would go to either Myspace or Facebook.

While we are on the subject, why are more and more dating sites calling themselves social networking sites? Sure they have social networking features but the main goal of the site is dating and to match you with a compatible person. If you are not single, there is no point in joining any dating site or the ones that call themselves Social Networks. These sites really should be called Social Networks for Singles.

Here is FriendFinder Networks corporate home page. For more information on the FriendFinder dating site, read our review.

A press release from PlentyOfFish.com takes a look at some of their membership numbers and how more women now seem to be looking for intimate encounters. Currently members on Plenty of Fish looking for long term relationships have a male to female ratio of 55:46. Women looking for a casual dating experience when compared to men is 5 to 1. While men still out number woman, the situation is much better than in 2004 were the male to female ratio was 10 to 1. The release also predicts within a decade the ratio of men to women looking for intimate encounters online will reach 1 to 1.

For more reviews on dating sites that offer casual dating, check our our Sexy Singles Dating Category.

It seems that Shaadi is branching out into a lot of different types of media tools this year. First it was Satellite TV (see Story) and now it is mobile phones. Shaadi Matrimonial has teamed up with Vodafone Essar to launch Shaadi.com on Vodafone. This new service will allow Vodafone cell phone customers to search and view Shaadi profiles without needing the internet. Mobile phone users may also express interest and send and receive messages from their matches.

View the full story at Business Standard.

Lavalife Prime was launched in June 2007 and had an advertising budget of less than $1 million. It started as a free service where singles of the age 45 and older could come to meet other singles online. Agneta Owen, a marketing consultant for Lavalife Corp. expected it to attract 25,000 members by June 2008. They almost doubled their goal. This means Lavalife had planned to spend $40 per member ($1,000,000 / 25,000 expected members) and ended up spending only $20 per member in advertising dollars. Recently Lavalife Prime started to charge it's members (see Story) so it will be interesting to see where membership levels drop too. On average paid dating sites can expect 10 to 20 percent of its free members convert to the paid service.

The over 50 crowd is a valuable market. This age group are usually at the height of their income level and make up roughly a third of the population in North America. Does Lavalife Prime offer what older singles are looking for? We will have to wait and see. This segment of the market already has a number of successful dedicated sites. Lavalife Prime would have to compete with these as well as the established dating services like Match.com and eHarmony. Prime hopes with their spin on the dating service experience and their sprinkling of social networking features, that they will come out on top. The relative unique feature of Lavalife Prime seems to be the section "My Life Experiences" in the profile. It contains the members pictures and videos of different memories or experiences they may of had through out their life. This is then presented in a picture time line.

We expect to do a full review soon of Lavalife Prime.

Update: Check out the new Lavalife Prime Review.

It appears woman over the age of 50 want a younger man on two of the most popular dating services, as reported in the Washington Post. On average a 50 year old woman on Match.com wants a man who is 48. At the same time on eHarmony, a woman who is 50, is looking for a man 10 to 15 years younger. Thanks to in part of the women's movement and the fact that woman now are more independent equal opportunity has come to matching. Older woman matched with younger men also makes sense from a biology stand point.

Women, according to calculations based on mortality risk, are five years "younger" than men the same age. The 65-year-old woman is the biological equivalent of a 60-year-old man. So it's sensible, not just fanciful, for a woman to look for a younger guy.

By looking at the averages on eHarmony and Match.com though, most men are still looking for a younger woman. eHarmony has found men 50 years or older are seeking women 6 to 26 years younger and Match.com has a similar ratio. On average men who are 56 are seeking someone who is 54 but, when you look at men who are 70, they are looking for a 58 year old woman.

Of course this is what people want and the problem with it is, it creates an age gap. If both men and woman over the age of 50 are looking for a younger partner, matching them up becomes difficult. Of course what a person wants and what happens in real life is a different story. On eHarmony were reporting of successful matches is requested, it has found woman 40 years or older found a match with someone who is plus or minus 4 years their age. For men at age 40 it is the same age difference as woman but, by the time men reach 60, successful matches for them has reached the age range of plus or minus 6 years.

For the full story see the Washington Post. Read our Match.com Review or eHarmony Review for more information on these popular dating services.

I was reading the article "Niche dating websites help picky singles find love" at Canada.com and it got me wondering if some of these niche dating services have gone too far?

Don't get me wrong, a lot of dating niches work with most of them being based on religion or your ethnicity, or even popular interests like pets. I just have to wonder about dating sites who service niches like people who are interested in pirates (see press release). Where is this going to end? I'm sure there are people who are passionate about pirates and pirate history but I have a hard time believing there are enough singles out there so passionate about pirates that they need a dating service dedicated to them. This would be like someone creating a dating service for astronauts. Sure there are single astronauts out there but not that many. From 1978 to 2003 NASA had only trained 237, how many of these people are single? Who cares, let's start an online dating site!