Online Dating Insider » speeddating

When will Video Dating Go Mainstream?

David Evans — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:31:51 +0000

There is no more effective way to get a sense of someones tastes, preferences and personality than a five minute video chat. Only companies really doing anything with video are SpeedDate, which is getting north of 1.5 million visitors a month and the young kids are using Woome. I haven’t used SpeedDate in a while, it’s $30/month and crashed on me in the middle of a date and froze my browser. It happens, especially on my Mac with Flash, but $30 is still too expensive, especially if I want to try it out for an hour or so.

Today I checked out Chateoulette (Often NSFW). It’s a dumbed-down version of WooMe, just go to the website, turn on cam, and a random stranger is immediately looking right at you, doing just about anything, and I mean anything.

OPW has a post about Match launching an Andriod mobile application. There is another post about Skyecandy, which is videodating via Skype. This has been done 10 times over in the past and hasn’t gone anywhere. Maybe Skycandy has something new in store for us.

I wonder if/when mobile apps will support streaming video? As I’ve always said, an online speed-date with audio and video is the best way to figure out if you want to go on a first date with someone. Mobile apps should be able to implement video chats easily. At home, cams need to be built into a higher percentage of laptops for this to make a significant impact on the dating market. And then there is the issue with people’s behavior. Video tends to bring out the nasty in people.

OmniDate does an end run around this problem by using Flash-based avatars. It’s been around a few years now and I’m waiting to hear some positive results from companies using the service. There has been some research, but where’s the business-case ROI? Are people sticking around on dating sites longer, is there advertising baked into the experience (where the real money is for a startup), are better, more long-lasting relationships resulting from companies using the service?

My SpeedDate time just dinged, gotta go.

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Ning Launches Speed Dating

David Evans — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:25:14 +0000

Last week I talked with Art Harrison at Randodate. Randodate offers a speed dating application which can be embedded in a dating site or social network, similar to IM/Chat applications like Topicfox and Toksta.

Enter Ning, the social network for social networks, which recently hit the 1 million networks milestone. Ning Apps was launched last week in order to provide social network administrators a directory of third-party services which can be easily embedded into Ning networks, often with only a few clicks. Mashable said:

Today, Ning is about to deliver some of that functionality to their 700,000 social network creators with Ning Apps, giving them more than 90 new toys â€” think apps like Qik, Twitter (Twitter reviews), Ustream (ustream reviews), Box.net, Tokbox, WordPress (WordPress reviews), Mailchimp, and PollDaddy â€” that they can use to enhance their individual networks.

Ning Developer’s have access to a handful of applications in the Dating category. One of those apps is Art’s Randodate, which has been rebranded as Speed Dating 2.0.

What sort of adoption rate can we expect for speed dating on Ning? It certainly can be used for meeting people on your networks, not only for dating.

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SpeedDate Launches Android Application

David Evans — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:09:18 +0000

SpeedDate has launched an Android application that offers portable, immediate and 24-hour access to the millions of singles engaged in online dating. By downloading the free application to your Android phone, users can leave their computer screens and be able to message dates throughout the day no matter their location. SpeedDate has an iPhone application as well.

Me no have Android phone, so no review. I’ll try to check out when I’m in NYC, someone I know must have an Android phone.

Cool to see that SpeedDate uses Facebook Connect.

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Speeddate.com Valentine’s Day Extravaganza

David Evans — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:32:02 +0000

Speeddate.com had two women going on speed dates for 24 hours on Valentine’s Day.

Sarah, one of the participants, had this to say about the experience.

It all began when I entered a contest on SpeedDate.com that a friend of mine saw that I might be interested in doing. It said they were looking for people to compete in a 24 hour speeddate marathon. I am a single girl which makes Valentines Day a not so fun holiday and thought why not? It seems like a great way to meet a ton of people, and it was! Also, living in NYC its so hard to meet people that are worthy of your time. As I am always working so hard, I am a freelance graphic designer so most of my day I spend at the computer. I knew it was going to be fun. So, I did it. You talk to people for 3 minutes and if you like them then you can chat with them for longer and if not, they go away and that’s it! It’s the perfect amount of time to talk to someone and figure out if you want to continue communicating with them. In a 24 hour period I went on 390 dates. It was worth it! I met so many new people. Its a great experience I recommend to those with short attentions spans and the freedom to choose your match!

390 dates. Can you imaging date number 350? Reminds me of the first time I tried face-to-face speed dating. After a few people you quickly learn to compress your introduction into 30 seconds and hope they do the same. By the 15th conversation you have it down to the bare minimum, name, age, location, interests, your turn. I go so bored during a few of the conversations I wanted to start making stuff up about myself. Hmm, perhaps an architect (Seinfeld fans will get this).

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Speeddate.com Email Lacks Personality

David Evans — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:39:18 +0000

I received this email from Speeddate today. I am not exactly enthusiastic about meeting 52369, I prefer even numbers.

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Speeddate Wins Bloggers Choice Award

David Evans — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:22:44 +0000

Dan Abelon wrote in to say that Speeddate has won the Bloggerâ€™s Choice in the Open Web Awards for the Dating/Romance category. Okcupid was the runner-up.

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SpeedDate Hijacks Facebook Users With A Bait And Switch

David Evans — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:04:15 +0000

TechCrunch say that SpeeDate has hijacked over 500,000 Facebook users from other Facebook applications.

As far as we can tell, all three modified applications were developed by HappyAppy, so itâ€™s likely that SpeedDate either acquired the company with the $6 million it raised last month or the two companies share the same development team. Users are being sent brief messages notifying them that their applications have been renamed and â€œimprovedâ€, but only after the switch has been made without their consent.

The three affected applications are:

* Have You Ever??? (353,217 monthly active users)
* Would You Rather (158,291)
* Romantic Gifts (28,164)

SpeedDate is growing but seems to have leveled off, we’ll see if the acquisitions continue to increase visitors. One this is for sure, acquiring existing Facebook apps is often cheaper than trying to get them through advertising.

This commenter sums up the situation:

Everyone wants users but bait and switch speaks to who you are and if you will do that what will you do with private conversations and user profiles. You are building a community of Trust with your members and when you pull a stunt like that then your members then have to worry about your ultimate intentions.

I’m sure SpeedDate has an explanation, hopefully Dan will chime in and help us understand their actions.

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Honesty Online Offers FastLife Speed Dating Identity Verification

David Evans — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:28:30 +0000

Online Dating Insider sponsor HonestyOnline is now providing identify verification to speed dating services.

FastLife.com, the worldâ€™s largest speed dating service, has partnered with Honestly Online Inc. to launch Prestige Speed Dating, designed exclusively for established singles concerned about the personal history of the people they date. Set to launch Thursday, September 25th in New York City, the innovative new format, which includes a state-of-the-art identity verification check, has already exceeded expectations in registration and enrollment.

The launch, to be held at Touch in Manhattanâ€™s trendy Clinton/Hellâ€™s Kitchen district, will cater to 20 qualified, singles â€” the countryâ€™s very first Prestige daters. To qualify as â€œPrestigeâ€, candidates must consent to â€” and pass â€” Honesty Onlineâ€™s detailed verification check. Once a candidateâ€™s background has been qualified they may attend the upmarket Prestige Speed Dating events.

I take minor umbrage at FastLife’s claim to be the world’s largest speed dating service. Nonetheless, it’s great to see face-to-face speed dating service implementing verification checks. Can WooMe and SpeedDate be far behind?

Here’s how it works:

Using its proprietary system, Honesty Online only requires singles to provide their name, address and date of birth to verify the validity of their identity, after which singles are asked to answer a series of questions to confirm that the identity is truly theirs. The entire process â€” which is considered one of the webâ€™s most accurate authentication programs â€” takes users only a matter of minutes to complete. For the launch event, Honesty Online will also preview a future offering â€” a credit check of all participants in Prestigeâ€™s launch event. In addition, FastLife will require each applicant to fax a copy of their business card reflecting their place of employment and their position within the company as well as submit to a telephone interview with a FastLife representative. Honesty Online will be providing a thorough employment and reference check in the next quarter.

So much for my fake business cards. Good to see Honesty Online continue to add to their core services.

Fastlife offers Prestige-level members their own personal consultants. A great example of that high-touch feeling missing from the online dating experience.

Press release.

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SpeedDate Raises $6M, Phony Photos and Desktop Dating Applications

David Evans — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:39:05 +0000

Spectacular weather here in Boston this week. Yesterday’s al fresco meeting on Newbury Street briefly touched on SpeedDate, which announced that it has raised an additional $6 million. Competitor Woome got in trouble when they used Chace Crawford’s (Gossip Girls) photo on the homepage and forgot to ask permission, oops!

Spend a dollar at AirbrushDate and they will freshen up your profile photos. I’m sure your date will appreciate that you look nothing like your profile pic.

Bill Tancer at Hitwise, who talks about online dating traffic stats from time to time, is launching his first book: Click – What Millions of People Do Online and Why it Matters.

SocialU is a desktop-based social networking portal. I wish someone would do this for dating sites. Via Mashable.

Online Personals Watch says that WhiteLabelDating continues its growth streak with a $20m run rate and 15% growth each month. According to WLD’s co-founder, Ross Williams, the monthly revenue has quadrupled since September 2007 and is expecting to hit $2m/month by December 2008. I’m perplexed why they would announce their revenues publicly.

I spoke with Ravit at OmniDate yesterday, we have a virtual date scheduled in a few weeks after they have introduced the next round of improvements to the service. Red Herring calls Omnidate a top 50 Canadian Company.

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Online dating Insider Links for 8-25-08

David Evans — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:23:01 +0000

Using Utterz for today’s today’s podcast.

Today’s audio blog topics:

Gender-bending Match.com thinks my women are men.

Match.com powers Penguin books dating site. Via Mynameiskate.

Speed Dating Goes White Label with Randodate.

DatingAdNetwork blog: Dmitry from RussianFlora talks about foreign brides scam fighting, while Julia from Pilot Group shares her thoughts on dating start-ups and more. http://blog.datingadnetwork.com/

I received this from eHarmony:

As a valued member of eHarmony, we’d like to inform you about an important upgrade to eHarmony’s service that will be launching this week.

Improved customer experience with “My Matches”
Your feedback is very important to us. To address the feedback weâ€™ve received, we have removed the ‘On Hold’ feature to help improve the communication process.

As a result, new matches delivered to you starting August 22, 2008 can no longer be placed ‘On Hold’. This will enable and encourage you to let your matches know if you’re interested sooner. This will also make it easier for you to manage your matches.

How this will affect your Matches
Any matches put ‘On Hold’ prior to August 22nd, will remain on hold and can be easily removed from ‘On Hold’ status by clicking the ‘Re-Open’ button. Please be aware that any matches you re-open cannot be placed on hold again.

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