This year, iDate, the primary US event for the online dating industry, is holding a new event, the Internet Dating Industry Awards. The online dating industry deserves some recognition, and it’s great to see iDate expand a bit. It’s felt a bit long in the tooth in recent years and this injection of freshness is a step in the right direction.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the concept of a three hour event on the primary evening of the conference.
That’s the night everyone goes to dinner, does deals and then goes out to the Miami Beach hotspots. There are dating site operators located in Canada who haven’t seen the sun in three months, let them go have their fun.
A $750 delicious 2-hour dinner at a Miami hotspot with great friends and clients or sitting at a table at an awards ceremony for three hours. What would you prefer? Leave a comment.
Curious what people think about the idea of having the ceremony at lunch. Everyone is already in the same room already and it doesn’t eat into nighttime activities.
Quick run down of the questions:
Best Dating Site: According to whom? Total overall traffic, effectiveness?
Best Dating Site Design: If Match or OKCupid doesn’t win I would be shocked. Actually, if PlentyoFfish wins I’ll be really shocked. I would have worked in the phrase usability, thats whats important to people.
Best Dating Software Provider: Boonex, SkaDate or a few other small shops. Take it from me, nobody in the industry really knows these companies, not sure how they can judge them in any meaningful way.
Best Mobile Dating Site: This is a good category. Interested to see who wins. Match, Zoosk, Are you Interested or maybe Skout? I try to get excited about mobile dating but I always end up going home to my big monitor to browse people.
Best Matchmaker: This will be a big deal for the matchmaker contingent. Not sure if it includes offline chains? Either you love your matchmaker because they found you a mate, you took them to court or you have no opinion on the matter.
Most Innovative Company: Great category. Where is the innovation happening that’s changing the face of online dating? EHarmony, OKCupid or Match? There are a ton of smaller companies who are innovating. What about vindicia or iovation? They are incredibly innovative, far more than dating sites.
Best Payment System: Pick one of the zillion payment solutions.
Best Affiliate Program: I don’t understand this. Dating sites are judging their competition’s affiliate programs?
Best Marketing Campaign: Online Booty Call or eHarmony or maybe Chemistry.com? Assuming that marketing campaigns are social media, radio, tv, blogs and print. It would have been great if iDate had reviewed the Webbies or some other big award show, they should have listed a few campaigns to choose from.
Best Up and Coming Dating Site: I love this category, but what does it mean? a startup site up less than a year or a mid-tier site which has jumped the traffic ranking by leaps and bounds?
How about a few new categories: Least spammy dating site, dating site with the best profiles, dating sites with people who are real, respond to email and you would actually introduce to your friends, best free dating site, best paid dating site, etc. Add some more in the comments.
