Online Dating Insider » Mobile

Speed Dating Goes Mobile

David Evans — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:25:29 +0000

SpeedDate released a new version of it’s iPhone app that allows users to quickly meet and connect with singles using their smartphones.

Speeddate claims that the application is a giant leap forward in the online dating industry as it’s the first to deliver instant notifications once email messages have been read and allows unlimited browsing of millions of photos and profiles anywhere, anytime.

I get the same features on several dating apps. Not sure about the validity of this claim.

SpeedDate Mobile is fully integrated with SpeedDate.com, giving singles the ability to manage contacts and update their profile from a smartphone.

Download SpeedDate Mobile at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=303604914&mt=8&s=143441.

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Flirtnet Update

David Evans — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:38:23 +0000

Received an update about Flirtnet from Wayne Silbermann.

Flirtnet (our sms and wap-based mobile dating service) is growing nicely. We are the leading player in the SA market – we white-label for most of the large players here like Vodafine Live, and our direct to market brand is also doing well. We are mostly staying away from gimmicky features and getting back to basics, creating better value for the consumer and looking at features we can monetize (even simple things like paid for SMS notifications). There is a lot of room for innovation with micro-billing models when it comes to mobile as well so we are running various trials to see what works.

We expanded into Italy with a large mobile player called Zero9 and are currenty launching in the US market with them as well.

Apart from Flirtnet, you may have seen some of the material at iDate (banners etc) but we recently launched a new Social Dating site called PimpYourPals.com. It goes up against the likes of Thread and friend.ly but it has more of a fun and interesting spin. The social dating space is both interesting and challenging and we have some great ideas on how to tackle it.

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A Nightclub, A Phone And a Hookup

David Evans — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:17:38 +0000

As companies continue to figure out ways to leverage location-based services, the dating industry has taken a few baby steps in promising directions. Yet the feedback I’m hearing is that the majority of singles are going to remain wary of dating services that let you find singes within your geographic area, at least for the near future.

Mobile seems to be good for browsing profiles and communicating with other members, but thats about it. I sure wish Match would release some stats on their mobile users. What are they doing, what aren’t they doing? Which features are the most popular, the least? When during the day does mobile usage peak? This is the stuff I’d love to hear about.

Last night I went to a nightclub for the first time in ages. Several people in the crowd were using Foursqure, Skout, Grindr and a few other location-based applications so I fired up a few on my phone to check out the action. Let me tell you, it was enlightening to locate people at the club and try to connect with them. Each service has its own clearly-defined demographic, in this case it was iPhone users and early adopters, young club kids and gays.

It’s one thing to talk about privacy, it’s another to be in a room full of drunk and high strangers dancing at 2am and watching my male friend get cruised by dudes using Grindr. That’s why a lot of younger gay people I talk to love location-based apps. Turn on phone, find partner and hook up. Free, simple and thrilling, location-based connection/hookups are clearly for the young and adventurous.

It’s only a matter of time before someone creates a Missed Connections site based on mobile phone checkins on apps like Foursquare.

My other friend just got her iPhone last week. She liked hearing about Foursquare and Bump, which lets you exchange photos, contact information and other files simply by holding your phone in your hand and bumping the other person’s phone. She’s definitely not the type that wants, or needs (she’s gorgeous) to use a phone to meet a guy. Who’s going to create the dating app that changes her mind?

At one point, I had Bump turned on and was dancing in a tight crowd. When I woke up I had someone else’s photo and business card on my phone. Not sure how that happened.

Just today Bump released an update today which enables you to friend people on Facebook. Custom profiles too, so you can have your more anonymous out-at-the-bar profile and a complete and authentic work profile, and anything in between.

Keep an eye on the companies I’ve mentioned, they are leaders in the location-based services sector (along with many others) and I think there are a lot of ways the online dating industry can leverage and learn from them.

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Tracking Worldwide LoveMaking With I Just Made Love

David Evans — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:16:58 +0000

Last week my neighbor was playing Vivaldi with the volume at 11 on a Sunday morning. This of course means that he was getting busy. If the music didn’t give him away, I could have figured out what was going on by visiting I Just Made Love, an interactive map that displays the location of people having sex all over the world. With optional descriptions of what they did, photos, search, it’s a tantalizing distraction, at least for a few minutes. And yes, there’s an app for that. This is now my favorite app besides the iBrator and the Sex Offender Database in terms of the best apps to show people. More at the Daily Beast.

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Mocospace Second Annual Mobile Etiquette Survey

David Evans — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:54:52 +0000

Mocospace, the 4th largest mobile website in the U.S., has released their 2nd annual data on mobile etiquette. Big survey, 20,000 respondents.

Over 1/3 of the respondents said they used their phone to flirt with someone while on a date with someone else. Ouch!

Nearly 60% have used their mobile phone to break up with someone.

In an effort to help Cupid mend broken hearts this Valentine’s Day, MocoSpace has put together a list of texting tips:

- Do text to say “thank you”: Texting to say “thank you” for a date (even a day later) supersedes any archaic 3-day wait rule. You can never go wrong with being gracious.

- Do text to confirm plans: It’s difficult to convey subtle nuances of communication through text, so use texting primarily for confirming date plans and timing.

-Do not drink and text: A recent study conducted by Stir.com showed almost 2/3 of drunken texters regretted sending that text the night before. ‘Nuff said.

- Do not initiate a date via text: First time communication and date invitations should be saved for old school phone calls. Give your thumbs a rest.

- Do not break bad news via text: Tell “Bad News Bears” to go back into hibernation until you’re ready to talk face to face.
Pretty generic stuff, but kids these days, they need all the help they can get with manners and Etiquette.

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FourSquare, Meet Facebook

David Evans — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:37:48 +0000

If competition from Yelp, Gowalla and other location-based checking services wasn’t enough, Facebook Is Working On A Foursquare-Killer. I am an avid Foursquare user (Superuser status) and so are several dating industry executives, judging by the number of Miami Convention Center and Royal Palms Hotel checkins I witnessed while in Miami Beach.

It was only a matter of time before Facebook got into the LBS game. Facebook is continuously morphing from a destination to to platform, just look at the apps ecosystem, Facebook Connect and email connectivity changes coming soon.

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Skout to Launch first Apple iPad Dating Application

David Evans — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:17:03 +0000

Christian Wiklund at Skout said they are launching a version of Skout (500,000 members) for the Apple iPad.

The new SKOUT.COM iPad app will not only show you singles nearby who are active and ready to chat, it will also boast a new concept: The HotMap. The Map will display a live overview of where most singles are currently active in your area. If members are searching for men between 25-30, the map will show the highest concentration of the results on the map.

I love heatmaps. It would be great to see density data for dating sites so singles could see which dating sites are the most popular in their area. No big dating site except maybe OKCupid will do this but one can dream.

I’ve received a number of news releases about location-based dating services this week. I have interviews with several companies this week, more to come. Press Release.

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OKCupid iPhone App Review

David Evans — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:28:44 +0000

Talk about starting the week off on a good note. Cyber Monday deals, preparing some exciting new reports for readers and to top it off OKCupid has released an iPhone application.

Team OKCupid did a great job at integrating just about every piece of website functionality on the iPhone. The home screen features recently updates profile. Chat window displays your bookmarked profiles, both online and off. Clicking on a profile brings up their profile page. Member chat features two tabs, essays and details. Profile display includes Message, Wink, Quiver, photos, ratings, send traditional message and the usual functionality available from the website. The messages tab displays, you guessed it, your messages, in chronological order. Search and matching based on criteria worked flawlessly.

Test taking is there, as is the ability to view my Stalkers (now called Visitors), viewing my profile and as an expected bonus, members can now upload photos taken on their iPhone. I took a photo of myself and it shows up on the website immediately, with a caption of “Uploaded from my iPhone.” I’d like to see the photo upload work on a timer as well, hunting for the shutter button while holding the lens facing me took a few tries, plenty of apps have a 3-2-1 countdown, with audibles to let you know when to stop moving around.

One thing I didn’t see was the ability to edit my profile on the iPhone. thats really not so much of a big deal to me. When I’m in major profile editing mode I’m at home in front of the big screen typing away on a real keyboard.

OKCupid has been growing steadily over the last few years. Sam and the team have done a terrific job improving the site. I used to say that Match was the gold standard that startups should emulate. People would tell me they took screenshots of Match, showed them to developers, and said, “Make it look and work like this.” These days, I’m not so sure. Match is certainly not sitting back on it’s laurels, it’s trying a few new features, mostly do-overs on features they tried and canned years ago, but OKCupid’s torrent of new features and refinements puts it right at the top of the class.

Given the amount of updates to the OKCupid site, the incredibly insightful blog posts about member racism, first email best practices and the statistics behind photos, it’s clear that this free dating site is effectively distancing itself from the competition. There will be people who argue that features and mobile and member transparency are not the only criteria for a successful online dating site, but I think the entire online dating industry could learn much from OKCupid.

Read the feature list download the OKCupid iPhone app and let us know what you think.

Given the number of dating sites launching mobile applications, the question becomes if and when is PlentyofFish going to follow suite?

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Fling Goes Mobile

David Evans — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:10:27 +0000

Fling.com has gone mobile.

Fling.com’s mobile site is now available. If you have a smart phone, go to fling.com and check it out.

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Online Dating Links for 6-22-09

David Evans — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:37:10 +0000

Layar: First Mobile Augmented Reality Browser Is Your Real Life HUD. Now *this* is a cool mobile application. Imagine being able to hold your camera up to a person and have it display their profile. Scary big-brother implications but this is part of the natural evolution of mate-finding. Location-based mobile dating applications are fast becoming a commodity, it’s features like this that will catapult a few companies to the front of the class.

Should You Pitch a Branded iPhone App? – Advertising Lab: future of advertising and advertising technology. Mobile app usage quickly drops off precipitously.

meetMoi and ClearSky Mobile Media Team Up to Offer Mobile Dating to Regional Wireless Carriers. What’s the better business model, a mobile dating startup or a large established player offering mobile services?

TIME magazine on Online Dating and Genetics.

iPhone users are buzzing with excitement about the iPhone Vibrator App from MyPleasure.com.

Either these people are in a blissful life-long marriage or they’re back in Vegas for round two shortly afterwards. The World’s Most Unusual Weddings

PlentyofFish on getting people to read your emails:

We’ve found that Women READ your profile BEFORE they open your email. If your profile description sucks it doesn’t matter how good your email is. Make sure your description contains “Hopes and aspirations”, “Hobbies/interests in general”, “Musical Tastes”. These are all conversation starters and will show a women you have something in common with her. If your profile description is blank or super short you are 9 times more likely to get “unread deleted”. Edit your description section.

Publishers Hire ComScore To Kill Off The Click-Through.

BlogTalk Radio Dating Shows.

My neighbor works for HubSpot, a Boston marketing company that offers unique marketing tools, services and seminars. They are offering a free webinar titled Marketing Detox: Getting Off Google AdWords PPC Crack.

There are several iPhone applications catering to gays, who appreciate the ability to hook-up while the go. Skout recently launched BoyAhoy destination site and application. How do mobile usage patterns differ between gays and straights?

Dating sites might want to consider embedding SEO terms in Flash files: Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Flash indexing with external resource loading.

I spend a lot of time reviewing dating site copy, which is usually the last thing dating sites think about when launching a site. Focusing on copy can dramatically improve user response.

I have a ton of work to do and then it’s off to LA for iDate on Wednesday. After weeks of rain, I am hoping for a few days of uninterrupted sun.

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