Dating Services

The concept of purchasing virtual goods may not have been around for long, but it has now become one of the fast-growing types of business online. According to the Inside Virtual Goods report, the overall market for virtual goods in the US is on its way to hitting $2.9 billion in 2012 - that's up from $2.2 billion this year and $1.6 billion in 2010.

The virtual goods industry first exploded on Facebook with the popularity of games like FarmVille and CityVille, in which users purchase currency that can be used within the game. Facebook also added a virtual gifts feature that allowed users to buy and send gifts to one another.

Dating sites quickly picked up on the success of the virtual goods game. Plenty of Fish offers "Goldfish Credits" for purchase in packages of 100, 215, or 500. With Goldfish Credits, users can send gifts to other members or find out if someone has opened their messages. Gifts are publically posted on the recipient's profile for 3 three weeks before disappearing. Each Plenty of Fish member also receives 2 virtual roses when they join the site. Roses are sent when composing a message, but each rose may only be used once during a 30 day period. Because they are a rare commodity on the site, roses are considered an especially strong indicator of a user's interest.

HOT or NOT was also an early adopter of virtual goods. The site offered virtual roses ranging from $2 to $10 that could be sent to prospective dates. Though more expensive, the $10 roses became the most popular option because they sent the strongest signals to the recipient. HOT or NOT also found that the recipients of virtual gifts were four times more likely to respond to the sender than users who did not receive a gift.

To date, Zoosk is one of the biggest virtual goods success stories. Zoosk Coins are a virtual currency used to purchase a range of features on the site. According to the site's FAQ, Coins can be used to "purchase Gifts, arrange for a Special Delivery, receive a Delivery Confirmation for your email messages, and Boost your profile." Gifts are cute graphics, like flowers and pets, that can be sent to other members. Special Delivery alerts a message recipient with a pop-up when they have received a message from a user who has purchased the feature. Delivery Confirmation notifies the buyer when their messages have been read, and Boost is a feature that puts the purchaser at the top of someone's search results or in a special place on the homepage of other interested users.

Virtual goods seem poised to become more popular than ever on dating and social networking sites. It looks like your holiday shopping list just got a little bit longer.

For more on this story you can read TechCrunch. For information on the dating sites mentioned in this article you can read our POF.com review and our Zoosk.com review.

As of November 2011, Badoo had:

• 130,000,000+ current users
• Members in 180 countries
• 127,503 new users per day
• 1,411,665 photos and videos uploaded daily

Add all that together and what do you get? The biggest online dating success story of 2011.

Badoo is taking the world by storm according to TechCrunch. It's a truly global, multi-lingual phenomenon, with location-based social networking functionality that is bringing people together to chat and flirt all around the world. In fact, if Badoo was just a site for social networking, it would be the 4th largest in the world. But Badoo is so much more.

Knowing that each user's needs are different, Badoo takes on different roles in different countries. In the UK, it's primarily used for casual dating. In the Czech Republic, it's a marriage site. In Indonesia, it's a safe space for burqa-clad women to explore self-expression. The site has been used for everything from making friends to throwing parties. Thanks to that ability to be so many different things to so many different people, Badoo now brings in $100 million per year in revenue.

Their success story began in 2006 when, rather than seeing Facebook as competition, Badoo set out to fill a gap that Facebook had left in the market: helping strangers connect. Badoo then offered all of it's core functionality for free, giving users a full experience without the big price tag that comes along with many traditional dating sites. For those who want even more out of the site, paid subscriptions are available that unlock special features like the ability to see who has viewed your profile. A system of micropayments is also in place to help users improve their search rankings and become more visible.

Jessica Powell, Chief Marketing Officer of Badoo, believes that the site's success stems from its flexibility. Unlike sites that are specifically designed for dating, Badoo creates a space in which users can connect in any way they want. It's more like real life, she says, when "meeting new people" can be anything from being introduced to a friend of a friend, to saying "hi" to a stranger at a bar, to flirting, to going on a date. Badoo reflects the offline world because people want to meet real people, not pages of meaningless data.

The site's strategy of "real world meets cyberspace" seems to be working - Powell says that 50% of the conversations on Badoo now lead to an offline meetup, and at the rate Badoo is going, that number is only going to increase.

For even more information about this dating service you can read our Badoo.com review.

If the lightening-fast speeds of email and text messaging aren't fast enough for you, there's a new way to meet your match: mobile dating. According to AreYouInterested.com and SNAP Interactive, 61% of Are You Interested members are now more likely to hook up on a mobile dating app than on an online dating site. Is it possible that online dating, once hailed as the way of the future, is already becoming a thing of the past?

4 out of 5 of the 50,000 singles surveyed said they now prefer mobile dating to online alternatives. While I don't think that online dating will be going anywhere anytime soon, it's impossible to ignore the meteoric rise of mobile dating. These days it seems like everyone is glued to their smartphones, so it's hard to beat the accessibility of dating apps and the promise of instant dates they offer.

AreYouInterested.com found that the top 10 cities for mobile dating in America are:

Earlier this month Zoosk released a iPad version of their dating application which quickly ranked in the top 20 list for Social Networking Apps in the United States. Like their dating apps for other platforms, this app is available in 25 languages and offers the user the ability to search, browse and communicate with other Zoosk members. It is also optimized for the iPad and takes into the account the larger screen real-estate available.

Zoosk also noted that their mobile apps have been downloaded over 2.5 million to date. Search algorithm changes over the last year have also increased communication on the dating service by increasing message replies 133 percent.

For further details about the service please check out our review of Zoosk.com.

Spark Networks reported their 3rd quarter financial results this month. On a year over year basis revenue grew 28 percent to $12.7 million this quarter. A net loss was recorded however at $238 thousand and was contributed to an increase in marketing expenses. Subscribers overall increased 30 percent to 206,099 when compared to the same quarter last year and increased 8 percent when compared to the prior quarter.

When looking at the different dating segments Spark Networks has, the Jewish Networks revenue was flat when compared to the last quarter at $6.7 million. Subscribers decreased by 1 percent to 88,976 when compared both to last quarter and the same quarter last year.

The Other Affinity Networks saw a huge increase of subscribers this quarter of 84 percent to 113,972. With the increase of subscribers it also increased revenue by 108 percent to $5.7 million when compared to quarter 3 of 2010.

General Market Networks continue to slide. Revenue was $264 thousand which is a decrease of 52 percent when compared to 2010. Subscribers fell about the same percentage (54) with only 2,702 recorded.

For the full 2011 Q3 release visit the Spark Networks News Room.

Related Story: Spark Networks Second Quarter 2011 Financials

Shaadi.com is one of the older dating services having launched in 1996. Shaadi is an Indian Matrimonial service and last month they celebrated their 15 year anniversary. They estimate that their service has helped match over 2 million people, whom have then married.

Over the 15 years Shaadi.com has expanded beyond the internet. They now offer extended services through mobile apps, TV and through live person on person meetings at over 100 Shaadi Centres found in 87 Indian cities.

For more on this story you can read the press release and for more information on the dating service please read our review of Shaadi.