by Zima
Usually June is kind of a slow month when it comes to news, but not in 2012. As you will see in the regular SkaDate Dating Software Roundup bellow, the month was surprisingly insightful with regards to all the open and behind-the-curtain developments in our industry.
But of course, all of that doesn’t mater. Perhaps the most significant news all year came from Mila Kunis. She said she’d be all over online dating… if she wasn’t this famous. You see, the whole industry could try for ages convincing regular folks to join in on all the fun, but in reality all it takes is one word of a Jewish Ukrainian beauty. Just like always…
Enjoy the slideshow and check SkaDate June posts bellow.
1. Reporting Big Numbers
Over the first half of 2012 we've seen plenty of incredible reports showing the increased financial pace taken by the online dating industry. We've seen China slowly gaining on the rest of the world, and smaller sites boasting about impressive revenues. Now it's time for the giants. Well, IAC/Interactive, the company behind Match.com, has just reported a year-to-year first quarter sales increase of 56% to $174.3 million, and the growth of subscriptions by 47%. Recession much? Bwa-ha-ha-ha, in your face!
2. Helping Others
Huffington Post went through the trouble of creating a nice chart of online dating public acceptance stages:
- Shadowy way to facilitate sordid hookups;
- Lazy way to facilitate dating for the socially inept;
- Last ditch effort for love by those who had exhausted all other avenues;
- Efficient way for mainstream society to find a suitable mate;
- A natural way for most anyone to find most any kind of relationship;
Yeah, we are at number five now, and this success facilitates other online activities to become mainstream. Next on the way? According to Huffington Post, it's Online Education.
3. Going Deeper
But why does online dating really works? Slate explains that it's all about changing the urban form with the actual impact of the phenomenon. It's the living in big cities with their enormous populations that prevents people from any meaningful social first-step interactions. Internet dating works as an initial screening for potential matches, allowing them to skip a few extra steps on the way to a more relevant dating actions. In other words, this is the way forward at the moment.
4. Staying Mobile
An obligatory iDate story from June comes in two parts. First of all, it's of course the more traditional industry event - the 9th Dating Summit in Beverly Hills on June 20th. But the second one is kind of more exiting - iDate has actually released an actual product that might be quite useful to all the starting and seasoned online dating moguls alike. Check out the iDate Dating Industry App for keeping the tabs on all the latest information about the business.
5. Raising Money
Here's some inspiration for dating startupers. Matchmaker Janis Spindel secured $250,000 in Technology Development from ndArtemis Technologies to create a new dating service. Not impressed by the number? How about $1.5 million raised by Beri Meric and Phillipp Triebel from angel investors to launch their semi-exclusive dating site IvyDate? Yep, it's all about the original idea - the money is obviously there...
6. New Lease
You know it's a fact when Market Watch reports it. And that's exactly what happened last month - Games and Apps are finally recognized as one of the primary driving forces behind online dating sites' successful strategies for the attraction of new members. You've got game, my friend? Because we certainly do!
7. Global Market
Do you know which country isn't mentioned enough in roundups? India. Perhaps that's because we all have been waiting for the official confirmation, and we've got it from none other than The Wall Street Journal itself. Indeed, it seems that India has finally succumbed to the online dating revolution, casting aside traditions, prejudices, and stereotypes, and fully embracing the new reality of acceptable behavior.
8. Keeping Up Appearances
Notice how we managed to get all the way to number 8 without mentioning any celebrities. Well, we had Mila Kunis up there, but that's about it for June. Instead we had not one, but two rare public appearances from actual dating site owners. OKCupid's Sam Yagan posed as Captain Obvious during the IRCE 2012 with revelations like "more cleavage on profile pictures = more interest from men," while Mike Waxman of Grouper claimed he used his own service to find a girlfriend after going on five dates. Remember this strategy while promoting your own site - a personal success story and a little bit of boob trivia will do the trick!
9. Sad But True
A major online dating scandal occurred in the early days of June, when eHarmony confirmed member passwords were exposed in a breach following a similar LinkedIn exposure. Some 1.5 million password hashes made it to a Russian hacking forum InsidePro. Luckily, a full-scale disaster was quickly averted, as all related forum threads disappeared one day later.
10. From Nigeria With Love
And finally we have the surprise of the month. After numerous reports about online dating scams that leave countless women heartbroken and missing thousands of dollars, we've got at least two culprits arrested. But the suspects are not some third-world country mafiosos. Instead they are a mother-daughter team from Colorado, who posed online as American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. Live and learn, people! Live and learn...
SkaDate June Blog Posts
More SkaDate Roundups
Tags: Misc, monthly roundup, online dating
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