Dating Services

I found a news piece that contains some predictions that the number of singles who will pay to use online dating sites may have reach its limit. They mention several statistics to support this including one from ComScore which saw unique visitors to all dating sites fall in the month of March, even though Internet traffic grew by 6%. The author also pointed out that Match.com subscriber growth slowed and only increased by 1% in 2007 where as it increased by 25% in 2006. There was also several other points mention to support his theory.

My view on things is that the glory days of online dating in North America where the main online dating sites posted double digit subscriber growth numbers is probably over. There are so many options available now in the United States for singles to join. They have the choice now to join numerous social networks and free or paid dating sites to find a match. The thing is, It is very difficult for anyone to figure out what the best choice is for them when even a high school kid can buy a cheap but fully functional dating script, install it on a web server and make it appear that the dating web site offers everything a single needs (except other members).

I don't think it is all bad news though. Of the roughly 90 million singles in the United States, only 3 million are actively using an online dating service. 87 million customers is still a huge target market. Dating Companies now, are also expanding into Europe and Asia where online dating is just starting to catch on.

The unofficial eHarmony Blog noted a small announcement on eHarmony Canada that RelyID will be available soon. RelyID on the US eHarmony site allows members to validate their full name, age and address (see eHarmony now has an Online ID Verification Service for more info). eHarmony Blog does wonder if a company that isn’t covered by Canadian privacy laws well have success in getting Canadians to hand over their private identification information to be verified on a dating site.

Being a Canadian myself, eHarmony Blog has a good point. The thing is, I would of never of thought of the problems dealing with an American company who may not be governed under our own privacy laws. I doubt this point would have been made apparent to those who will sign up for the RelyID Canadian service. eHarmony or RelyID should make sure we are covered by our own privacy laws (maybe open an office in Canada?) or at least inform us if we are not.

Wow this is 2 weekends in a row now that eHarmony is offering a free communication weekend. Usually they only have one every couple of months.

So it is pretty simple, starting today May 23rd, 2008 to the end of Monday May 26th, 2008 all new members who join eHarmony can use the site for free for the same time period. There are no special promotional codes or coupons needed. Visit our review for more general details about eHarmony (including actual user reviews).

The Communications Decency Act (CDA) regulates indecency and obscenity on the Internet in the United States. It also declares that operators of Internet services were not to be considered as publishers unless they actually created the material. This makes them not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their web sites. This includes everything from forum posts and comments too submitted articles.

The Friendfinder Network recently got into legal trouble when someone complained that someone else had created a fake profile on the dating site that “reasonably identified” her. Friendfinder did remove the profile from the dating site but the profile information and photo was still being used in advertising. The reason the Communications Decency Act was not applied in this case is:

... the right to control the commercial use of one’s identity is it considered a general intellectual property right. The judge reasoned that Friendfinder wasn’t entitled to the CDA’s usual brand of immunity due to the intellectual property provision that states the CDA does not preempt intellectual property laws.

In section 5 of Friendfinders Terms of Use Agreement it states:

By posting content to any public area of FriendFinder, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to FriendFinder Network, Inc. and its members, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information, rights of publicity, and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works and other media, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.] This basically gives Friendfinder ownership over almost anything posted on their site. This may raise alarm bells when you read it but, it is common practice among dating services, social networks and other web services in which you post information.

While I am far from being a lawyer it appears to me that FriendFinder got into trouble because the information posted in the profile by the other person did not belong to them to post in the first place. Since the information posted in the profile was about some other actual person they had no right to post it, therefore they did not have the right to give up the general intellectual property right of the material to Friendfinder.

It is a sticky situation. Overall the person who actually posted the material is responsible, but Friendfinder did continue to use the information in advertising even after they were made aware of the problem with the information from that particular profile. I'm not sure how old this case actually is but, when you see profile information in FriendFinder Ads now (at least from the ads I see) they have a note at the bottom explaining "Photos and other data are for illustrative purpose only". I guess for the most part they have stopped the practice of using actual profiles in their advertising.

For the full story plus another example legal case, read the post at Public Knowledge and for more information on the CDA visit Wikipedia.

The Los Angeles Business Journal has a piece called "Translating the Book of Love" which looks at the dating service eHarmony and if its current matching and communication system will work well in other countries with different cultures. Currently eHarmony has separate dating services for the United States, Canada and Australia. These services do differ slightly but the questions for the dating profiles and the matching system, for the most part, are either the same or very similar. This is in part because all 3 countries major language is english and the culture surrounding marriage and dating are not all that different.

In June eHarmony plans to launch a UK version with other European countries to follow. The big news is, they do plan to launch a dating site in China. This means a new language for them and new cultural differences to work out. eHarmony did do some research to see if it was possible to convert their dating site and matching system. Through focus groups in China, a panel of psychologists validated the translations of questionnaires and found that cultural differences matter little when it comes to measuring personality types and values. A Beijing University study also confirmed that eHarmony's matching system will work well in matching China's singles together. eHarmony's lead PH.D. psychology researcher, Galen Bucjwalter is quoted:

“We found the models to be highly effective in that we can predict successful marriages in China,”

With 4 times the population of the United States, and with China's average income levels for the middle class increasing every year, there is a huge potential for revenue if a dating service is well received by the public.

Another interesting point in the article was the fact that eHarmony spends about $3 million a year in research to find out what makes couples compatible and stay in a long term relationship. This dollar amount includes the salaries of 6 full time PH.D. researchers.

For more information about eHarmony, take a look at our review.

According to Reuters, Match.com has partnered with two more companies to exclusively offer their internet visitors an online dating service. The first partnership is with the Latin America web portal called Terra. This web portal serves 7 countries and is considered the largest in the region.

The second multimillion dollar partnership is with NineMSN in Australia. This web portal owned by Microsoft and PBL Media receives almost 8 million visitors a month. Match.com also powers the dating service for MSN here in the United States.

This is a smart move by Match.com as internet dating becomes more crowded here at home. It's difficult to start a new business in a foreign country and attract visitors quickly. It is a lot easier and smarter to find a web site with a large amount of traffic in your demographic and partner with them to offer your service. Match.com has the software and knowledge of what works with online dating while the other companies offer their traffic and website. Match.com has been quite successful in the international arena. In the first quarter of this year their international subscribers grew by 8%.

Read our Match Review (match.com) or our Match.com UK Review to find out more information about this service.