Online Dating Statistics

According to Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI) , some 2.5 million US adults participated in online dating in the last 30 days.

Some of MRI's findings:

• Of the 2.462 million adults who reported participating in online dating in the last 30 days, 52.2 percent are men and 47.8 percent are women.


• Younger people - ages 18-34 - comprise almost half of all online daters, making them 59 percent more likely than the population as a whole to be in this group.


• Middle-aged people are significantly represented: Nearly one-quarter (24.2 percent) of online daters are between the ages of 35-44.

Read more at MarketingVox

Zingku,mobile social networking service,acquired by Google

Google acquired mobile social networking service,Zingku, for an undisclosed amount.

Currently, the Zingku site is closed for new registrations as the company moves to Google.

Zingku allows users to upload an image of themselves and add it to a magazine cover, a Most Wanted ad, a movie poster, a celebrity photo and lots more. And thanks to the “Post to MySpace button”, they can quickly post thier remixed photo to MySpace, Friendster, Windows Live Spaces and Xanga.

Photos from Anatalya,Turkey

Here are some photos from my last vacation to Anatalya,Turkey.

We staid at the luxurious brand new Gloria serenity.

True.com wins a low suit

A user of dating website True.com is suing the owners of the site alleging that its offer of free membership to women but not men amounts to gender discrimination. As part of the case the man, Michael Cohn, argues that he had not agreed to terms and conditions when he clicked 'Continue' on the website's registration form when signing up for a free trial.
True.com's registration form asks for a user's date of birth, screen name, password and email address. A statement follows the last field in the form: "I am at least 18 years old, and I have read and agree to the TRUE Terms of Use and Code of Ethics." Beneath that statement was a single button marked 'Continue'.
The website owner, TrueBeginnings LLC, claimed that clicking on the 'Continue' button represented Cohn's acceptance of the site's terms and conditions.
Cohn said that he had not been forced to read terms and conditions and had not explicitly agreed to abide by them.
The issue was important in the case because Cohn wanted it heard in California. The Terms of Use stipulated that any dispute be heard in Texas. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County had sided with True.com and dismissed the case in California. Cohn appealed.
The Californian Court of Appeal said that there was no reason why Cohn should not have been considered to have entered into an agreement with True.com. That was also the decision to which the first court had come.
"Under these circumstances, where appellant obviously had access to the internet and was entering into a contract on the internet, there was nothing inherently unfair in requiring him to access contractual terms via hyperlink, which is a common practice in internet businesses," it said. "The trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that appellant agreed to the forum selection clause contained in the Terms of Use."

Read full article

Friendship in the Social networks era

According to a research recently published by Dr Will Reader from Sheffield Hallam University online users say they have about the same number of close friends as the real-life average person. Another research published by by Professor Robin Dunbar at the Evolutionary Psychology and Behavioural Ecology Research Group at Liverpool University has shown that the average person has a social network of around 150 friends, ranging from very close friends to casual acquaintances.
The conclusion from these two researches is that the average person has around 150 friends in real life , I really doubt these fact and I think that the average person has mach more online friends then real-life friends.
Making friends can be costly, according to behavioural ecologists. While it might not be a very romantic view of friendship, making new friends involves an investment by committing time and energy to another person in the hope that they will provide reciprocal benefits in the future.
Dr Reader and his colleagues wondered whether online networks are somehow reducing the investment necessary to make new friends by lowering the perceived risk.
Some 90 per cent of the online friends rated as ‘close’ have been met face-to-face, with the remaining 10 per cent likely to be friends of close friends, perceived as having many of the mutual friend’s attributes and therefore “low risk”.
According to Dr Reader, the importance placed on face-to-face encounters is a result of the necessity to base an investment on honest information.

Read more at: Science Daily

50 Cent's latest album “Curtis” exclusively on his MySpace

50 Cent premiered his latest album “Curtis” exclusively on his MySpace profile yesterday, letting all of his 900,000 “friends” get a first listen to the album before it’s released in stores. You have from now until Tuesday, when the album hits stores, to check out the album in its entirety here.
In conjunction, MySpace TV will also debut a series of five exclusive interviews with 50 Cent, each video at 10 minutes in length. What should be fun for fans is the feud going on between 50 Cent and Kanye West, who’s album is also being released on Tuesday, September 11th. MySpace looks to be happily fueling the rappers’ battling fire, as it’s offering this exclusive premier deal with 50 Cent while also featuring Kanye West as a guest curator on the MySpace Music Channel to promote his album as well.

Source : Mashable

DigFoot: A Directory Just For Social Networks

DigFoot is an upcoming site that is a directory for other social networks. The site is currently in private beta, and I got a chance to check it out.
Acting as a searchable directory, DigFoot has about 1,000 social networks indexed so far, and will be adding more. Users can help out to this end as well, by suggesting more sites to be added to the directory. From the homepage, you can start your search by choosing one or all of the four parameters by which you can search. Enter a site name if you know what you’re looking for and you’d just like more information, or select from three drop down menus that let you choose a category, a site type, and a primary language. Your search results will be displayed accordingly.
Each social network listed on DigFoot has its own profile page, which shows the name and a link to the network, as well as a basic description of the site that DigFoot has pulled from the About Us page. As a registered member you have the capability to add more site information, and leave a review. Each network can be added to your DigFoot bookmarks, which are displayed from your toolbar for easy access while navigating the site. Each bookmark has an edit link that takes you directly to the page where you can add more information about that network. Having a browser bookmarking tool for its own service would prove helpful as well.

Read full post

Singlesnet Low-Brow Dating Adverting

More proof that most high-volume dating sites are more interested in low-quality traffic than anything resembling a quality dating experience. Singlesnet has resorted to the ass-tastic ad campaigns that True and Mate1 originated on social networks over a year ago. What are the chances that the ad traffic is gender-targeted and women see a naked hunky guy?

Read full post: Online Dating Insider

Bebo premieres new online drama

A new interactive drama series, ‘Sofia’s Diary’ from Sony Pictures Television International is to air on Bebo.com this Autumn.It’s a development that will help to keep it ahead of the competition as social networking sites battle for users.
Sofia will post daily video and text updates on her own Bebo profile and will engage directly with the Bebo community to offer users an interactive storytelling experience unlike any other.‘Sofia’s Diary’, is the second interactive drama series to be introduced by Bebo. It follows the success of the recently launched KateModern (bebo.com/katemodern), which attracted over 3 million views in its first eight weeks.

Read full article

Recent IDC Report: Social Network Sites are Popular But Not Profitable

Despite generating a hefty media buzz, social networking sites like MySpace.com and YouTube Inc. have not yet figured out how to use that publicity to generate significant advertising revenue, according to a report released last week by IDC.
The Framingham, Mass.-based research firm predicts that while the barriers keeping companies from advertising brands on sites featuring unfiltered user-generated content may eventually be solved by some social networks, others may never be able to attract significant advertising, the report noted.
YouTube, the report suggests, could earn substantial advertising revenue if it could figure out a way to acquire premium content from distribution deals with companies like Viacom Inc., NBC and Walt Disney Co. However, the report noted that Google so far declines to pay the sums required to purchase the content.
The report did note that MySpace generated US$125 million in advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2006, but also added that the total amounts to only a fifth of what Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Online Services Business brought in during the same period.
Read full article: Pc world