Social Networks Are The New Porn

Since the rise of the internet in the 1990s, pornography has ruled the internet. While difficult to measure accurately, the online pornography industry is estimated to be worth about $1 billion, and counts for about 13% of website visits in America (compared to search engines, which account for 7%). But it appears that new uses are about to overtake pornography in terms of online popularity.
The Economist is reporting that according to Hitwise data, pornography-related web activity is decreasing in America (as a proportion of total visits), as more and more people are opting to participate in social networking sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook. Since the data presented is limited to February, a definitive conclusion is hard to make, but traffic to these social networking sites may have already overtaken traffic to sex-related sites, and if not, will probably do so any day now.

Pronet advertising

MySpace Research Study

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) released a series of research findings from a study examining the growth and marketing power of online social networks.Key findings:'

• Social networks have caused a fundamental shift in the way people interact with each other and with media. 70%+ of Americans 15-34 are actively using social networks
• U.S. social networkers chose interacting on sites such as MySpace.com as their favorite activity online or offline, ahead of television viewing and on par with cell phone usage.
• The vast majority of time was spent connecting with family and friends as opposed to meeting new people.

Middio: Music Video Search Engine For YouTube

Middio is a new site, still in private beta, that’s indexing music videos from YouTube and tagging them properly with the artist and song name. The search interface is good; finding a music video for a given artist takes just a moment and there’s none of the non-relevant content you see with YouTube searches. Videos are also embedded in the Middio site.

Middio launches on May 5. Sign up on the home page for email notification.

First dates: Australian singles keep it simple

A recent poll conducted by Australia's largest online dating site, RSVP, ruled dinner and a movie as the most popular first date idea. Coffee and cake at the local cafe and a picnic in the park also proved popular first date choices.
The complete list of top dates is:
1. Dinner and a movie
2. Coffee and cake at a local cafe
3. Picnic in the park
4,5. Candlelit dinner al fresco or meet up and see what you fancy doing (equal fourth place)
6. Twilight cinema
7. Dinner cruise
8. Watching a band at the local pub
9. An ice-cream and walk in the park
10. Pub lunch and a game of pool or going to a theatre/art exhibition (equal 10th place)

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British women seek younger men

LONDON April 16 (UPI) -- A British survey suggests that an increasing number of women over the age of 45 are seeking relationships with younger men.
The survey of 1,200 adults conducted by London-based Parship dating service found that the number of older women seeking younger men rose by 20 percent over the course of one year to nearly one in 10, The Daily Mail reported Monday. Of that number, 3 percent said they are seeking men more than 10 years their junior.

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Avoid Online Dating Scams

A new Article published about the growing number of scam artists preying on members of online dating sites.
The problem has grown to be so widespread...that for 2007, the dating sites are fighting back.... trying to protect their members from the heartbreak of a lifetime.
Others have not been so lucky, according to the group Romance Scams.org.
"We have had people who lost their houses, their cars, their jobs. Because they are so into this person they would do anything."

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The perfect honeymoon - Cuba

Do Compatibility Tests Work When They Can't Measure Attraction?

There’s been much buzz lately about Dr. Helen Fisher and her work at Chemistry.com – an offshoot of Match.com. This is Match.com's attempt to enter the niche market of online daters seeking “long-term compatibility.” In the US market, eHarmony and PerfectMatch dominate this niche.
Dr. Fisher is getting good publicity, because she purports to have a “test” that predicts if two people have what it takes to sustain romantic love and passion – what people call chemistry – over the long haul.
This promise resonates with people, because research by independent research firm Synovate reveals that one of the top reasons people worldwide do not use online dating sites is that they would “just rather meet someone in person first”
The impression is that people don’t want to go through a “box” to meet and get to know someone – or in other words a computer and quizzes can’t really assess if you have chemistry with someone.
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Official Google Blog: The next step in Google advertising

Google announced that they have agreed to acquired DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in cash (nearly double the size of their YouTube Acquisition). Microsoft was reportedly in a bidding war with Google for the company. Google gets access to DoubleClick’s advertising software and, perhaps more importantly, their customers and network.
DoubleClick was founded in 1996. DoubleClick was taken private in 2005 by Hellman & Friedman and JMI Equity for $1.1 billion. The New York Times is reporting that DoubleClicks revenues are about $300 million/year.
10x revenue for a mature company is a…healthy…valuation. At least part of the acquisition price appears to be due to a desire by Google to keep this asset out of Microsoft’s hands.
Official Google Blog: The next step in Google advertising

Romantic Revulsion in the New Century: Flaw-O-Matic 2.0

I found an intresting article about new research of Flaw-O-Matic, a mechanism in the brain that instantly finds fault with any potential mate, can be reoriented positively in certain conditions through a newly identified process, the Sally Field Effect.




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Mozilla To Build Social Networking Into Firefox

Mozilla has released details on The Coop, a new product that will incorporate social networking features directly into the Firefox browser.

The Coop product will allow Firefox users to “subscribe” to friends in the browser, bringing those friends into a sidebar. Those friends can share content and web pages with you (receive content from you, and send content to you).
Adding a friend will mean getting access to a broad array of their published web content. Content will be pulled from that person’s Flickr photo feed, del.icio.us tag feed, MySpace status , YouTube favorites, etc. When you want to share content with that user, you simply drag it into their avatar (see mockups below).





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Why are Dating Site Prices Going Up?

One reason surely is that the big sites have been spending a lot more on advertising. See this article from BrandWeek.com
The advertising intelligence service said that while total media spend for such efforts was $149 million in the U.S. in 2004, it rose to $310 million the following year, and hit $430 million from January to November of 2006.
NMP said the most recent figures for media chosen showed cable TV led the pack with $130.6 million in reported ad spending last year. The Internet was a close second at $127.3 million, and spot TV ads were third with $75.1 million spent.

The big question is whether these dating sites offere added value services over free dating sites and social networks.

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MySpace holds the first elections for the Presidential Primaries

MySpace will announce plans today to hold the first elections for the Presidential Primaries on January 1st and 2nd, 2008. The vote will occur prior to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, and will be open to all members of the MySpace community within the US. This is a virtual vote designed to gauge public opinion.
A month after the launching of the MySpace Impact Channel, MySpace is trying to extend the reach of its political network - twelve of the Presidential hopefuls have profiles on MySpace’s Impact Channel. But targeting the MySpace demographic in an effort to encourage political activity is among the best ways to garner this kind of support.
Beginning next month, MySpace will start holding monthly polls to see where the Presidential hopefuls stand up in relation to each other. This will offer a good gauge for who will win the virtual vote in January ‘08. The MySpace Impact Channel will also do its part to get as many users as possible to register to vote. They’ll be offering an online tool to spur voter registration, which will be huge for those that are often too lazy or simply unaware of how to go about registering in their home states. This tool is in conjunction with Declare Yourself, and quickly takes you through all the steps necessary to register for voting.

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