Media coverage of the dating industry

by David Evans on November 20, 2005 in Uncategorized

I get a lot of interview requests because the GoogleJuice for the blog is pretty good. Recently I was interviewed last week by TheStreet and I was surprised they went with the title “Web Dating Game Heats Up.” For interviews like that, I constantly attempt to shift the conversation to relevant topics that may be under the radar for most reporters.

I had to smile when after speaking to the reporter on numerous occasions and getting him up to speed on trends in the industry that my big quote was “It’s so damn easy to start a dating site, you can put one up in an afternoon.”

That was a throw-away statement to say the least. Just goes to show you never know what a reporter will consider relevant to the conversation.

Stories these days loosely follow the following structure:

Assertion/Premise: “Turn off the computer and get back into the bars,” or “MySpace is the new Friendster.”

Quote from a disenfranchised/happy dater:”I don’t fit the happy 10% of daters that meet online, too many married men/”I’m so happy, I met my wife after being online for 6 days.”

Industry quote: Mark Brooks, “Everything is great, no problems here”, or Nate Elliot, “Online dating isn’t new anymore”, or David Evans, “Where is the innovation?/Pick on date warehouses for being too big and slow and unresponsive/Online dating will be subsumed by social networking.”

Throw in a few finance quotes, the flattening of the hockey stick growth curve.

Mention of Eharmony.

Rinse, repeat.

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    { 1 comment… read it below or add one }

    Markus November 21, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    I think the focus is going to be on fraud and scams from now on.

    When you signup with true.com you agree that random bait emails will be sent to other members in the form of winks on your behalf… The suit against match.com says this is fraud. I believe this is an issue that is going to get very big very fast.

    ***********************
    Let us help you get started. Based on some of the information you’ve just given us, we’ll introduce you to up to 20 of your closest matches.

    Yes, select my best matches and tell them I’m interested in hearing from them.

    Yes, select my best matches and tell them I’m interested in hearing from them.

    Yes, show me who’s seen my profile and tell them I’m interested in hearing from them.

    Reply

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