Dating Services

First came the Match.com App for the iPhone (see Story), and then the dating app for the Palm Pre (see Story). Now Match.com has released an application for the Palm Pixi. This phone is available now on the Sprint network.

This new Match application is designed for users in the United States and Canada. It allows Match.com members to search for matches, send winks, and email. You can also find other members by using the built in location based capabilities of the Palm Pixi. With the application you can also edit your profile and headline text.

The App is currently in Beta and can be downloaded from the Pixi's App Catalog. For more information you can visit this Match.com Palm Pixi page or read the press release.

For more information on this popular dating site, read our Match.com review.

I see eHarmony is getting more creative. I noticed this interactive Flash ad which prompts the reader to guess which man was matched with the woman. Dragging the man's profile photo to the blank box will reveal the answer.

While ultimately this is a guess on the participators part, the resulting message by eHarmony drives home the point that they don't use guesswork to determine matches. I thought this was a smart way to show potential members what is eHarmony's major selling feature, their matching algorithm.

eHarmony also has this ad which you need to guess one of their 29 dimensions of compatibility. By clicking on the letters in the correct order you can spell the dimension. This simple exercise engages the user before they even reach the dating site. If someone takes a few seconds for this puzzle, I bet most will continue once the reach eHarmony and fill out the profile.

To find out more about this dating service, you can read our in-depth eHarmony review.

It looks like the featured fans of eHarmony's Facebook page (see Story) may also be a part of eHarmony's new TV marketing campaign. These new ads are a different format than we have seen before from eHarmony. They will contain web cam interviews of actual couples who got married because they met on eHarmony. We have seen eHarmony couples in ads before, but those ads were very polished. These new ads with the low quality web cam footage make the "commercials convey a high degree of authenticity and immediacy". The lower quality of the web cam videos lends to the credibility that these are real couples with real stories about eHarmony. To see one of the commercials you can visit the eHarmony Facebook page here.

Lucas Donat, CEO of Donat Wald, is the guy who has come up with the concepts for this new marketing campaign. He has been responsible for eHarmony’s television commercials since 2002.

If you have an eHarmony success story and want to be considered for one of their new commercials, visit this page to submit your success story and to send the eHarmony team a short video of you and your partner.

For more information about the new ad campaign, read the eHarmony blog here. To find out about this internet dating service, check out our eHarmony review. To date we have 73 reviews of eHarmony from our readers.

Since I first tried online dating over seven years ago, the sites have gotten a lot more sophisticated. There’s so much functionality and service built-in on the more popular sites that you can’t help it but to be impressed by the concierge-type service you receive.

I really enjoy Match.com’s Daily 5 concept. Each day when you log in for the first time, they’ve got 5 brand-new matches ready and waiting for you in your Connections. While they won’t always tickle your fancy, it’s great that they make the searching easier by bringing potential matches to you.

It seems that I get anywhere from five to ten new “you’ve caught his attention” notifications from Match each day. This is where you click “I’m Interested” on a particular profile in your Daily 5. But I’m telling ya: that doesn’t do me any good. It’s great that you’re interested, but it doesn’t tell me anything about YOU. So here are a few tips to make you Daily 5 on Match.com work better for you (and the people you express an interest in!).

In a publicity stunt, the adultery website AshleyMadison.com sent Tiger Woods a contract which offered him $5 million for "advertisement, endorsement, sale and promotion" of their dating site.

At this point in time, Tiger Woods now has a fourth alleged mistress which would make him an ideal front man for the infidelity dating site. I have a feeling, that this $1 billion dollar sports figure wouldn't even consider such an offer. 😉

Seriously though, Ashley Madison didn't let this marketing opportunity that Tiger Woods presented them go to waste. They offered Tiger Woods a contract that they knew, he would refuse. By connected themselves with the hottest news topic of the week, month and maybe even the year, AshleyMadison.com received plenty of free international press.

For more on the story, visit the New York Daily News.

Update: (2009-12-08) - Tiger Woods now has 10 alleged mistresses.

In late October Zoosk was celebrating 40 million members (see Story) and had already received $10.5 million in funding over the last year or so. On December 3rd they announced that they had secured an additional $30 Million in Series D Funding. This round of funding was led by the oldest venture capital firm in the United States, Bessemer Venture Partners. David Cowan, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners will be joining Zoosk's Board of Directors as part of the deal.

Zoosk was launched 2 years ago in December of 2007 by Shayan Zadeh and Alex Mehr (who are now the co-CEOs). They plan to use the additional dollars to continue to build and expand the dating service. Money will also be spent on both online and offline marketing campaigns to increase Zoosk's exposure. Plus, there are rumors of expanding Zoosk to new platforms on the mobile front, including an iPhone App.

For more on the story you can read the press release. To find out more about this social dating community, read our review of Zoosk.