General News

I've noticed a few comments lately on our site (see Comment) from visitors about chatting on PlentyofFish (and Dave's blog post as well). This was a bit of a surprise to me since back in April 2009 IM was dropped without notice, much to the dismay of many members (see Story). Well, I had time to confirm it tonight, and it does indeed look like the old instant messenger is back.

The reason given for the removal of the IM functionality initially was that it reduced the page impressions on POF by 10% or more. The reason for this was people were chatting and not surfing the site (and clicking on ads). I guess all POF needs to do now is update their Help FAQ since it still says "Plentyoffish doesn't have an IM.".

For more on this dating site, you can read our review of PlentyofFish.com.

The United Kingdom dating company EasyDate has plans to list on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) by month's end. EasyDate runs 4 of the top 15 dating sites in the United Kingdom. These include Cupid.com, DatetheUK.com and Canoodle. EasyDate has been targeting other English speaking companies since last year and has plans to launch services in the rest of Europe and Brazil later this year.

Shares of 2.5 pence would be admitted but it is unknown how much capital EasyDate plans to raise. Currently William Dobbie (CEO) holds 49% stake in the company while Maxym Polyakov (COO) holds 41%.

For more on the story read the Dow Jones Newswire. and to find out more information on a dating site owned by EasyDate, checkout our new Cupid.com review.

Match.com in Australia (Match.com.au) has been in operation for 15 years now. They launched back in April of 2002 after buying out Soulmates Technology. To celebrate this milestone they have released some Aussie statistics about Match.com:

• More than 80,000 profiles are viewed every day.
• Everyday 16,000 winks and messages are sent. This equals to 6.5 million communications a year.
• 67% of Australian singles have never been married.
• 59% of members are looking for a non-smoker.
• 90% of members are okay with a partner who drinks on occasion.
• Gold Coast members are 45% more likely to have children than those members from Sydney.
• 64% of men are looking for a partner who has some tertiary education. With women it is 71%.

To find out more information about this dating site, read our review of Match.com.

Unusual, Strange, weird and wacky dating sites have been making headlines lately. Here is our top ten (or so) list:

Date Someone from Jail

You got a couple of choices here. There is Women Behind Bars for all of you single law abiding men out there. Not to be out done, there is also Meet-an-Inmate which has personal ads for both men and women who are incarcerated.

Science

If you think your DNA can be your matchmaker, try Scientific Match.

Adult Fetish Anyone?

While I will not link to these sites directly, a Google search should find them for you easily enough. We have three for you. There is Daily Diapers and Diaper Mates which attempts to match up people interested in acting like babies, and Pounced, which is a personals site for people who like to wear furry costumes.

Health

On one end of the spectrum you have EcoDater which is for singles who are vegetarians and all around environmentally friendly. At the other end you have 420 Dating for those people who like to smoke. You then also have Gothic Match which is designed for Goth and Vampires (which is not too healthy as far as their victims are concerned 😉).

Your Job and Hobby

Finally, you have those dating sites for people who share a profession or hobby. Farmers Only is probably the most funny one out there, and then there is Date Craft which is dating for gamers (think Warcraft).

The Wrap Up

While it is fun to look for weird and wacky dating sites, I am not sure how popular any of these services really are. While researching a few of them on the internet I can't imagine any of them having more than a few hundred active members who are currently using the site in any one month.

Entrepreneur Magazine has released their Annual 100 Brilliant Ideas list. For the Seniors category, Florence Hendersons FloH Club received a nod for offering telephone based tech-support service designed for seniors. A dating site called "Dating for Seniors" (DatingForSeniors.com), was one of 9 other ideas put on the watch list for this category. This was the only dating site mentioned on the entire list.

I can understand why a dating site for seniors was put on the list since this online dating niche is a growing market (thought not a new idea). What I am not sure on is why this particular seniors dating site was picked. There are other much more popular senior dating services like SeniorPeopleMeet.com and Lavalife Prime.

For more information on this story, visit Entrepreneur Magazines 100 Brilliant Ideas list. The senior category is on page 4. For other dating sites which are designed for single seniors, check out our list of Dating Sites for Seniors.

The other eHarmony dating sites had their free weekend at the end of May. eHarmony Australia is celebrating theirs this weekend. Starting today, Friday June 11th and until Monday June 14th, 2010 eHarmony Australia (eHarmony.com.au) is having their free communication weekend. During this time all members of eHarmony Australia will be able to communicate with each other at no cost (with no credit card required). This 4 day event is happening during the Queen’s Birthday holiday which makes it ideal for singles to try out the dating site as it will be extra busy this weekend. Fasttracking the guided communication process and profile photo's are not included in this promotion.

The last free weekend at eHarmony Australia was 4 months ago on Valentine's Day. Check out our eHarmony review for more information on this popular Australian dating service.