General News

David Evans of the Online Dating Insider, had an interview with Mandy Ginsberg who is the Match.com GM for North America. She let David know about a few things that will be coming to Match.com in 2009. The main thing we have to look forward too is the new Platinum membership package. Not much is know yet, but apparently Platinum members will be able to contact all member types, including free users. This means members now have the ability to communicate with anyone on Match.com and they will not have to worry if the user can reply back or not without paying first. Other dating sites have started to allow this and I am glad to see Match.com following suit.

I could of sworn I wrote about Match.com's Platinum package before but I couldn't find anything mentioned on my site. Through a Google search I did find what I was looking for. Match.com currently does have a Platinum package. You can find it here and I believe it was started a couple years ago. It currently is a premium matchmaking service offered by Match.com but is not directly tied to the dating site. The service is only available in Dallas, Texas where the Match.com head office is located. This is a personalized service where you and a matchmaker work one on one to find your ideal match. I wonder if Match.com will be either dropping this service or renaming it to avoid confusion?

Back in June 2007, a lawsuit was filed against True.com (TrueBeginnings) by Thomas Wong at the District Court of Dallas County, Texas. Mr. Wong at that time (and I believe he still is) was represented by the law firms Tycko & Zavareei LLP and Crews, Shepherd & McCarty LLP. The lawsuit is primarily about the billing and renewal practices of True.com and the difficulties members have in canceling their accounts.

The Online Dating Insider has posted new information regarding this lawsuit. True.com’s motion for summary judgment was denied on December 3rd, 2008 and Mr. Wong's class action lawsuit will now be able to move forward.

For information on the original filing in 2007 visit The Earth Times.

As with North American dating sites (see Story), the European online dating sites have seen a boost in memberships during the downturn in the economy. Match.com International UK and European dating sites saw a pre-tax profit of £3.67m ($5.6 million US) in the year to December 31 2007. The year before they saw a loss of £2.19m ($3.4 million US). In the third quarter this year Match International saw a 6 percent increase in paying members. For the next few years Match foresees Europe driving it's growth as the North American online dating market slows. Last year the UK and Scandinavia was where Match.com International saw its best growth.

Other dating services like those run by WhiteLabelDating.com saw members grow over the last year in the United Kingdom by 250 percent to over 1 million members. Nielsen Online is also reporting a 15 percent increase in unique visitors to online dating site November 2008, when compared to 2007. For European dating sites in the last year the total number of visitors have increased by 20 percent. The year before it was 9 percent.

For the full story visit The Telegraph. Read our Match.com UK review for more information on this popular dating service.

On Wednesday January 7th Lavalife announced their search for Canada's 10 most eligible singles. This is the third year in a row for the event.

All singles have to do is sign up for free to become a member of Lavalife.com, have a great photo and a creative and engaging "In My Own Words" profile. The deadline to enter is Tuesday, February 3, 2009.

On February 18, the judges will announce 30 semi-finalists. At this point the public can visit Lavalife and vote for Lavalife's 2009 Top 10 finalists. On March 11th Lavalife will announce the 10 winners.

The winners will receive a 3 day trip to Toronto and tickets to Lavalife's Red Hot Affair. The grand prize is $10,000 and the runner up will receive a all-inclusive trip for two to Negril, Jamaica, courtesy of Bel Air Travel.

For the full press release, read it at Newswire. For more information on this online dating site, read our Lavalife review.

Interracial couples still get stares when they go out in public in 2008/2009 according to an article at AlterNet. A number of their website readers have confirmed this as well. They have posted comments about their experiences as being part of a interracial couple or being part of an interracial family. I didn't think this issue would be as prevalent in today's world as the article suggests, especially with the rise of dating sites like InterracialMatch.com. They specialize in singles who want to meet other people from different cultures and backgrounds. Unfortunately, it is still a problem as the comments suggest. There are reports from many interracial couples who still get surprised stares or comments from both white and black people.

At the end of the article the author (who is a teacher) asks an interesting question

It's nothing compared to the discrimination racial minorities face everyday in America. But when my white students, for example, joyously remark that "racism is a thing of the past," I ask them to consider how their own parents would react if they brought home a black person to marry.

I do hope this is more just an older generation issue. With the world becoming a smaller place today with the Internet and the global economy interracial relationships are a rising trend and are becoming more popular.

Check out the full story at AlterNet and for more details on Interracial Match read our review.

The unofficial eHarmony Blog noticed that a few months ago eHarmony lowered their member age requirements to 18. Back in 2006 the minimum age to join eHarmony was 21. The maximum age has never change and is 110 years old.

For more details visit the unofficial eHarmony Blog and for more information about this dating service, read our eHarmony review.