Online Dating

We wrote recently about Match.com selling their European operations to Meetic (see Story). For the sale we knew that Match.com will receive 27 percent share of Meetic plus a 5 million euro note. What we didn't know is, according to Ross Williams, CEO of WhiteLabelDating:

There was a clause in the announcement that didn't make many of the headlines, but I think will tell you the direction IAC is going in: Match has the option to buy Meetic in its entirety in about three years.

This makes things interesting. Before I knew about this piece of information, I had thought Match.com had decided to maybe concentrate on the North American market like everyone else. If Match.com has the option to buy Meetic then this makes more sense in the long run for the two companies. I could never see why Match had decided to get out of Europe since revenue wise they were doing well and, they have numerous other partnerships in places like South America and Asia (therefore they are not just concentrating on North America). If the sale does go through then, Meetic's CEO and founder, Marc Simoncini, will still be the main shareholder with over 20% and 36% of the voting rights.

Visit Mad.co.uk for the full article called Love is in the air.

Digital City asked the question: Are Free Online Dating Sites worth it? It is a short article but it does raise some valid points. There are thousands of free dating sites out there and while this dilutes the pool of potential partners, there are a few dating sites which do stand out. The author made a mistake though, they list Date.com as a free dating site. Date.com is a good dating service and does offer a free trial but their full membership costs money. Read our Date.com review for more information on this service.

For both the pro and con column the author mentions the $0 cost of free dating sites. On one hand, a site may have more members joining because of being free but the problem with this is, the lack of commitment to finding a partner some of these members may have. They could of joined just for the "fun" of it. The other downside is, no cost dating makes if simpler for people to join who potentially may want to scam you.

His final suggestion, which I agree with is, to cast your net wide and join both free and paid dating sites (using a free or guest trial which all have). On the sites you join, do a search and see how many potential matches live in your area. This point, for most people is the most important quality of a dating site. A dating site can have all the bells and whistles but, if there are no members in your specified search area, then what's the point.

For the full article, read Digital City. For a list of free sites, check out our Free Dating Sites category.

We were sent word of the most recent changes and feature updates that have happened to WealthyMen.com over the last few months. These changes in part are a result of a user survey conducted by WealthyMen.com over the past year to find what type of new features members wanted to see implemented on the dating site.

The new changes concentrate on member profiles, searching and fraud detection:

Profile

• Updated and simplified user registration pages.
• More options to profile for ethnicity and religion.
• Added more photo slots to profile gallery.
• Ability to block other members communication.

Search

• New advanced search feature.
• Reorganized search results.
• Expanded number of profiles visible on search results.

Fraud Detection

• Added steps to encourage verifications.
• Created proprietary fraud detection software.
• Added more staff to fraud detection team.
• Improved customer service operations and training.

The result of these updates so far has seen an increased number of verified members and more male members signing up. It is good to see WealthyMen.com concentrating on fraud detection. While I haven't heard of any problems on this dating service, all popular and successful dating sites suffer from scammers to one degree or another. Sugar Daddie and Wealthy dating sites have been among the first dating services to implement member verification. This verification usually is for photos and income level though sites like WealthyMen.com have started profession and education verification as well. Usually to receive verification, members need to email or fax in a number of documents. While not 100% fool proof (I doubt we will ever see anything that is), it is a good step, and users which see a profile has been verify, have less to worry about.

Other sites like eHarmony offer to verify information and/or do criminal background checks which is an excellent idea but little is known how in-depth these checks are. The other thing that sites like eHarmony need to do is offer this service for free (or part of the membership package). Currently eHarmony charges for their RelyID service. Once it is free, I am sure many more members will take the time to verify their information.

For more information on this Millionaire dating site, read our WealthyMen.com review.

According to a Times article, matchmakers in China have seen an increase in clients ever since the economy started its downturn last year. With the job market frozen in China many young college graduates are not finding any work and are experiencing financial difficulties because of the huge debt of going to school. It is estimated that only 35 percent of the 6.1 million students who graduate this year will find a job. Many young woman are using marriage as a means to ease the financial burden.

Unlike online dating, the matchmaking industry mediates dating through a broker. People who want to find a spouse register at a given agency, and the broker will pick and arrange their dates based on their requirements. The first date usually takes place at the office of the matchmaking business.

Marriage is very important to the Chinese and it is seen almost as a compulsory step for woman. As woman grow older the pressure increases not only though family but friends and the media as well. Many parents agree with their college grad daughters in getting married when work is not found. Some parents will even go out and hand pick the man for them to marry.

New Chinese dating sites like Xiaoyuanlove.com (which means Love on Campus) have seen their member numbers swell. While online dating is not as popular as a personal matchmaking services in China, things are changing fast.

Visit Time for the complete story about Matchmakers in China.

So, how has the recession affected different markets in the love and relationship industry? According to Yahoo News it is all up and down.

Dating Sites - UP - We have had numerous articles on this site which talks about how online dating sites for the most part are having a period of booming business (see Search Results). Singles are looking to relationships for comfort instead of material goods.

Divorces - DOWN - From a previous story we noted that 37 percent of Matrimonial Lawyers are seeing a decline of couples getting a divorced in these financially trying times. Couples realize it is more economical to stay together and try to work things out since attorney fees and court costs can sometimes run up to $100 thousand.

Romance Books - UP - Sales for romance fiction is up according to the world's leading publisher, Harlequin Enterprises. Quarter 4 in 2008 saw a 7 percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2007. The 4 years before this, sales in this category have been flat.

Weddings - DOWN - Online dating may be up but, 75 percent of couples getting married are spending less. On average couples are spending 24 percent less per wedding than they did a year ago. This is a huge blow to the $60 billion a year wedding industry.

Since the start of the global recession, online dating services in the United Kingdom have grown 13 percent (September 2008 - February 2009). A total of 5 million singles from the UK are now using dating sites. This is 13 percent of the total UK online population. Genders are split evenly and heavy use members were online an average of 4 hours per month viewing and average of 23 pages a day. 65% of UK online daters are 35 or older. The most popular dating site in the month of February was DatingDirect (owned by Meetic, 1.6 million visitors), followed by POF (with 1.4 million) and then Match.com (1 million visitors).

Read NewMediaAge for more information on the story. Visit our DatingDirect review , our POF review and our Match.com review for more information on these dating sites.