Dating Services

I've been sick lately (and still am) so I have some catching up to do on news posting.

On December 23, 2008 FriendFinder Networks filed for a $460 million IPO. My first thought was it is an interesting time to file with the downturn of the economy. Adult FriendFinder is the major revenue generator of the FriendFinder Networks and with the latest posts about dating sites doing better in these market conditions, maybe the recession is not as much a concern. Still, there are less people out there with money to invest.

The other big issue is the proceeds of this will be used for the most part to pay off debt. Most investors tend not to like this type of scenario. I'm not sure where this debt came from. FriendFinder Networks was bought last December (see Story) by Penthouse for $500 million. I assume at this point, the FriendFinder accounting books where in a positive territory. I can't see Penthouse buying them for so much money if FriendFinder had a huge debt. This new debt must of come from Penthouse.

eHarmony is planning an extra long Free Communication Weekend this New Year. Starting next Thursday, January 1st to January 4th 2009 new members of eHarmony will be able to not only review matches for free but communicate with them as well (just like a paid member).

Since we started counting, this makes it, Free Communication Weekend number 14 for eHarmony. The last two were in November, 2008. This would be a good time to see if eHarmony is the type of dating service for you as the next time this promotion most likely will be available (if history is any indication) is in February, on the Valentine's Day weekend.

Read our eHarmony review for more information on this award winning dating site.

On December 3rd in a story called New Features & Design at Match.com we reported that on Match.com's fact sheet at their parent company website, IAC reported that Match.com receive 60,000 new registered members every day. Well, it appears they have updated this information. IAC now reports "more than 71,000 new people register on Match.com every day". That is roughly a 18 percent increase in new registered members. Recently Match.com also reported that they had their best November in 7 years. Things seem to be on the upswing for Match.com who's membership levels have remained stagnate in recent years.

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

It looks like Match.com UK mascots Cupid and Fate will be around for another year. Starting December 26, 2008 Match.com will begin its new multi million pound marketing campaign in the United Kingdom. This campaign will dedicate 50 percent of the available air time to creative's for the new matchmaking personality test (see Story). The new ads will use humour and are targeted primary at women between the ages of 25 to 34.

Read our UK Match.com review for more details on this dating service.

Earlier this month ChristianCafe.com announced that American and Canadian members now have improved search functionality. Members can now search for other members based on a distance from a postal or zip code. This search parameter can be combined with other search options.

To try out Distance Search simply create a New Search just like before. You will see Distance as the third option down. The zip/postal code you see there by default is the one that we have on file as part of your profile. If you would like to change it, change your address under Edit Profile. You can always change the zip/postal code on-the-fly for every search (just input it right in the box). Every new search you do, however, will default back to the zip/postal code indicated in your profile settings.

Christian Cafe staff also suggest you update any saved searches you are using to specify a maximum distance to find members.

For more information on this award winning dating site, read our ChristianCafe.com Review.

Just a small news tidbit,

JLM Pacific Epoch is reporting that Match.com China (cn.Match.com) has been online since 2006 and has now more than 8 million registered members.