Online Personals Watch

Disharmony, The New Tolerance

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- June 7 -- Last week, a lesbian filed suit against eHarmony.com for not serving individuals "based solely on their sexual orientation." When I asked why Carlson didn't simply go to another dating service, her lawyer evoked the image of Rosa Parks, noting that "nearly every step in civil rights law, you could have said the same thing...There is a big difference between the sites that allow the customers to self-select who they are looking for" and a site that makes the decision "to exclude a minority group." But the answer isn't to make eHarmony be what it is not, but to let others create something like eHarmony for gays and lesbians. Mark Brooks, spokesman for the gay online matchmaking service myPartnerPerfect.com, said of eHarmony: "I think they're having a bit of an unfair time of it. I think it's their right to have a niche focus, but they've not quite said the right thing, and their underlying tone has riled people up."  FULL ARTICLE @ TOWNHALL

Engage.com Connects Daters with Matchmakers

MERCURY NEWS -- Apr 9 -- Engage.com (free, 200k members) is founded on the premise that online dating needs to be more like offline dating. Members are encouraged to seek out matchmakers who have volunteered to act as yentas…and invite friends to join and to vouch for them. The site's old-fashioned approach to courtship is one answer to the disappointment reported by online daters. A 2005 JupiterResearch survey found one in three online daters as "somewhat satisfied." Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com and an Internet dating consultant, said Engage addresses one weakness of the most popular dating sites, the ability to involve one's friends in a budding romance. Brooks said the chance of hooking up with a friend of a friend is one of the keys to the success of social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook. People can avoid the awkwardness of actually declaring they are single, but don't want to be. "I love what they are doing, but it's going to take them awhile to be successful," Brooks said. Some of Engage's features are specifically designed to turn off would-be "players" who populate other sites. For example, Engage encourages its members to rate one another on "responsiveness," "politeness" and whether a person is "true" to his or her profile. Mike Murrow has been chronicling his online dating misadventures and said Engage's matchmaker process sounded good but required friends who were extremely committed. "My friends have their own lives; they are not going to scan through the profiles." FULL ARTICLE @ MERCURY NEWS

Mark Brooks: I think the industry is doing a better job of setting expectations these days. Online dating takes time. The matchmaking industry is doing well because many people don't want to spend time. They just want dates, and they'll pay for them. There's an opportunity in there somewhere. ;) The clever people at Match are working to meld the yenta and online dating worlds together, but I think it will be a little tougher than they think. I think Match will need to offer a money back guarantee to safeguard their brand, and encourage word-of-mouth, and compete with $3000+ services like Great Expectations, Together Dating/The Right One, and Table For Six.

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.com (SNW1.com for short)

In the Computer Dating Game, Room for a Coach

NY TIMES -- Mar 12 -- Dating-Profile.com, ProfileHelper.com and E-Cyrano.com turn stale profiles into eloquent and ads for $39 to $2,000. LookBetterOnline.com and SingleShots.com, sell professional photo shoots. Dating makeovers are hardly new. High-end offline dating services have long provided help, said Mark Brooks, of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com, "The promise of Internet dating is you plug in your profile and you send a few e-mails and you have got a date. It's not as easy as that."  Jim West, 43, a divorced engineer, struggled to get beyond the first "hello" e-mail when he started online dating.  He paid $49 for a critique from Eric Resnick, of ProfileHelper.com. The advice: when sending e-mail messages to women, ask them questions about their profiles so they are more inclined to reply. Match.com CEO Jim Safka says, online dating is like being on stage and being viewed by thousands of people. "Wouldn't you spend some time backstage getting ready?" Match is testing 'Match Platinum' in which professional matchmakers interview clients, coach them on appearance and style and then sift through Match's database of 15 million members to find a compatible date for $500 to $2,000, depending on the level of service. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Digital Matchmakers Get Down to Business

MIAMI HERALD -- Jan 16 -- The online dating industry needs to start stealing tricks from younger and nimbler websites. That seemed to be the message floating through the hallways at iDate, the annual conference of the Internet dating industry. 350 participants were at the iDate (and Social Networking Conference). Dating sites (think Yahoo Personals and Match.com) are seeing users poached by social networking sites. While those sites are not specifically designed to find a date, that is how they are being used, said Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane. ''Traditional online dating sites are feeling the pinch,'' he said. Of the Top 10 dating sites in the United States, seven saw a declining number of unique visitors throughout 2006, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. At the same time MySpace overtook Yahoo as the world's busiest website. But the poison is the antidote, said Jones. By stealing pickup lines from social networking competitors -- such as allowing users to link to their MySpace profile or upload slide-shows from sites such as Flicker and Rockyou -- the industry can woo back admirers. Just a few years ago, anyone with a server, a black book and the verve could launch an online dating site, said Mark Brooks, the publisher of Online Personals Watch. Now the market is crowded and competitive, and the only hope for newcomers is to generate heaps of buzz and tap unexplored niches. Or, as Brooks sums it up: "Word of mouth marketing and differentiate -- or die.'' Date.com CEO Meir Strahlberg said he didn't see any need for a radical reinvention to keep up with the MySpaces of the world. FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD

Mark Brooks: iDate2007 was hands down the best internet dating conference yet. I felt there was more energy at this conference than last year. The halls were full of top level business schmoozing. The Royal Palm Hotel was more expensive but far more comfortable than last year. Worth the extra, and the location was perfect. It was walking distance to the convention center, and right on the beach. The convention center was a higher standard venue in many ways but we need to change the room orientation next year. Wide rooms work better than long rooms. The keynote presentations were packed out and the multi track system worked well. However, next year it would be great to have a distinct social networking track and a distinct internet dating track. That would encourage greater SNS participation and 500+ attendees. I think 75% of the attendees were dating focused this year. We'll see more social networking interest at the July conference in California. Your comments please...

Online Dating Safety Tips

CHICAGO TRIBUNE's RED EYE -- Oct 24 -- Here's how to stay safe when making your cyber love match:
- For first meetings, always meet in a public, populated place and don't end up at your or your date's home. Don't have your date pick you up at your home, either.
- Tell a friend or family member whom you're meeting, where you're going and when you expect to return. Bring your cell phone with you.
- Don't share your real identity or private contact information until you're comfortable with the person. Set up a third-party e-mail address you use exclusively for dating, and don't reveal your home address until you've been on a couple of dates.
- Until you've known the person for a while, don't get too drunk or leave your drink or personal belongings unattended.
SOURCE: Match.com Safety tips and Online personals industry analyst Mark Brooks

Soon, you will be able to get an anonymous phone number—a Vumber—so that you can talk to new dates without them knowing your real phone number. Calls to your Vumber will ring to whatever cell or landline you choose, but the caller will only know your Vumber. You also can make outgoing calls from the Vumber so your real phone number won't appear on someone else's Caller ID. The Web site www.vumber.com will be live in November, and the service is slated for release at the Internet Dating Convention in January.

Mark Brooks: Vumber is my client. I'm guiding their strategy, business development efforts and PR. The service will be simple, inexpensive, and designed for singles (and online personals sites).

Online Dating Industry Deleting Scammers

CHICAGO TRIBUNE's RED EYE -- Oct 24 -- The online dating industry has learned to cut off scammers at the pass.  Nelson Rodridguez, CEO LoveAccess, employs a full-time staff to look for suspicious behavior, like a member sending out hundreds of e-mails a day or posting the same photo on multiple profiles. The effort results in the removal of 20 to 30 profiles a day. Match (15 million users) has staffers personally review each profile and photo before posting them to the site. ~15% of profiles are rejected each month.  A security team seeks and weeds out people who compromise the user experience for others. Some dating sites simply block all IP addresses from Nigeria, said Mark Brooks, an online dating industry analyst. But with scammers changing tactics, it's a constant game of cat-and-mouse. 419eater.com encourages people to bait scammers. Romancescam.com, posts the photos, e-mail addresses and usernames that scammers have used. The FBI hopes to tackle the problem by educating people about scams, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. The agency helps fund a Web site called www.looks toogoodtobetrue.com and encourages people to report scams to the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, at ic3.gov. 

Millionaire Web Site Sex Scandal

CNN, Nancy Grace -- Oct 24 -- The women, 22 to 40 years of age, met Garcia, a prominent realtor on Millionairematch.com .  A seven-count felony complaint out of Orange County, California, alleges that Joseph Raymond Garcia committed [sexual offences] against three female victims.  Mark Brooks is with us with Onlinepersonalswatch.com. The phenomena of on-line dating really doesn`t come with any warnings, does it, Mark. "Not really, no." How does the [MillionaireMatch] Web site itself work?  "...It`s a niche dating site that is targeted at men who are edging towards being millionaires and women who are interested in meeting them."  And is there any way under the sun, Mark Brooks, to verify what men are putting in as their personal information?  "In terms of them being millionaires, no, it`s more the honor system. In terms of them being convicted felons, there are sites and services that would allow dating services to do a background check. National background data is available now to check against. But the market generally isn`t willing to bear the cost.  A good background check runs upwards of $100. A very basic background check is on the order of $20."  Is there any way that this Web site bears any liability, Mark Brooks? "In a word, no. You`ll find in the terms and conditions, you know, the sites bring people together but they rely on [people using] their own good judgment if they decide to meet in real life." I understand that that`s what`s in the fine print, I understand that. But just because someone writes that down doesn`t make it so. That`s like you signing away all liability before you do a bungee jump. That doesn`t necessarily make it so, just because they write it in a contract and you pay a $15-a-month fee.

My Recommended Safety Tips were displayed on the 40 minute segment 5 times as follows:

• Don't share personal information
• Don't let them pick you up at home
• Coffe shop or public place for first date
• Let someone know where you are & have them call you an hour into the date

Mark Brooks: I knew I was in for a grilling. My first live TV interview.  Do you agree with the safety tips?  What's missing?

Web of Lies

CHICAGO TRIBUNE's RED EYE -- Oct 24 -- Valerie signed up for Yahoo! Personals and found Prince Charming. But the promising online suitor who showered her with tender e-mails and bouquets of flowers turned out to be a scammer trying to bilk Benning out of tens of thousands of dollars.  Barb Sluppick, co-founder of the 5,000-member Yahoo! Romance Scams group, conducted a survey that revealed a total of $2.6 million lost in romance scams among the 331 people who responded—about $7,800 per person.  Most online dating scams originate from Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe, though Nigeria is the biggest offender, according to Mark Brooks who runs onlinepersonalswatch.com. Increasingly, Web administrators are trapping scammers before they strike, but the tricksters are unrelenting, Brooks said. "It's a bad situation because these guys have gotten increasingly sophisticated," said Nelson Rodriguez, head of loveaccess.com, where employees remove 20 to 30 suspicious profiles a day. "It's horrible for business because it's a loss of credibility." FULL ARTICLE @ CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Online Dating Profile Help

BRADENTON HERALD -- Aug 12 -- ProfileHelper helps online daters enhance their profiles, whether it's the written portion or the photo. "The best way to think of a profile is it's a movie trailer, it's not the movie. The trailer is supposed to give you just enough information that you want to buy a ticket," lead advisor Eric Resnick says. 11% of adults who use the Internet - 16 million of them - have gone to an online personals site, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project published in March of this year. LookBetterOnline charges $129 for 12 pictures. The move toward hiring professionals to improve profiles started a couple of years ago, says Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com.  It's worthwhile for internet daters to make a compelling profile and a photograph that brings out the best in them. If they take the time and money to seek out professional services, Brooks says their responses should double.  FULL ARTICLE @ HERALD TODAY

Mark Brooks: Internet daters need profile improvement services. Unfortunately internet daters still don't realise this. It behooves internet dating companies to offer, or at least guide them, to reputable profile improvement services. The better daters profiles look, the better the internet dating services looks as a whole.

TrueDater; True or False Profiles

STAR LEDGER -- Aug 7 -- People can post reviews of their dates on TrueDater.com and also plug in a prospective date to see if anyone else has posted a comment about the person. More than a half million people have used TrueDater since the site launched last year. TreuDater staffers monitor the remarks.  Mark Brooks, onlinepersonalswatch.com, said "I think it answers a definite need in the online dating market."  Brooks said Friendster allows people to write testimonials about a date, but the person being reviewed has to approve it, "so nothing negative gets in." Brooks said TrueDater is the kind of site that makes people think more about their reputation, which is a new issue in online dating. Marcus Frind, founder of plentyoffish.com said both men and women are equally guilty when it comes to fudging profiles. "With women, it's weight; for men, it's height. A third party (giving an assessment) is the simplest way to go."  "You have to be honest," said Moreno, Ph.D. student in social psychology at Rutgers University. "The picture is the hook, it gets you in. You see a cute picture and you click on it. I met one guy for dinner a couple of weeks ago and his picture resembled him, but you would not have been able to pick him out of a crowd based on his picture."  Moreno suggested singles should not upload their best shot. That way dates can be pleasantly surprised on the first meeting. Eric Straus, president of Cupid.com, said "I don't think it adds all that much to the process," he said. "People tend to exaggerate and I think that's the nature of the beast." FULL ARTICLE @ NJ.COM

videMobile Dating Gaining Popularity

OPW -- July 31 -- Here's a Fox News New York segment on mobile dating that I helped out with. Sprint and Webdate are featured. Users of mobile phone dating services are younger than online dating users, and they're more likely to be of a minority race. There will be a conference in Amsterdam on 25th-26th September which will cover the European online dating industry and mobile dating. See idate2006.com - Mark Brooks

$2m Awarded to Lonely Heart Who Lost $125,000 to Dating Agency

THE GUARDIAN -- June 1 -- Orly the Matchmaker is a "high-end matchmaking service catering to celebrities, royalties, famous people and all wonderful single men and women out there." Anne Majerik, a 60-year-old widowed social worker saw an ad in an in-flight magazine but the search for romance ended in disillusion and finally court. This week a jury in Los Angeles awarded Ms Majerik $2.1m (£1.1m) in damages. Majerik's lawyer said, "She's developed a niche out there to prey on women who are lonely or divorced." The size of the jury's award is unprecedented. "I hear of high-end matchmaking firms charging tens of thousands of dollars a year," said Mark Brooks, the editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. "But to pay $100,000-plus, that's just not wise."  Ms Hadida plans to appeal. FULL ARTICLE @ THE GUARDIAN & LA TIMES

Mark Brooks: Orly is giving reputable matchmakers a bad name. I can understand $10's of thousands for high-end service, but $100k+. Obscene. Buyer beware. Great Expectations, It's Just Lunch, The Right One/Together Dating, and Table for Six are examples of exemplary, well established, real world services. $2500, ok. $25k, hmm?  $125k, crazy! 

European Online Dating: An 'Ideal' Web Business

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE / NY TIMES -- Apr 24 -- Mark Simoncini, Meetic CEO, built a company in four years with 17 million profiles in 13 countries speaking nine languages.  The idea behind Meetic emerged in 2000, after Simoncini sold iFrance, iEspana and iDeutschland to Vivendi for 182 million Euros ($224 million).  Meetic raised 100 million Euros from its October IPO.  Annual results released in March showed a doubling of revenue to 43 million Euros in 2005 (net profit 5.7m Euros).  Both Meetic and Match claim to have the largest online dating community; each has roughly 275,000 users on the Continent.  Simoncini argues that the American approach to relationships gets lost in translation overseas.  Match.com has local sites for 31 countries in 18 languages.  Europe's acceptance of such dating services has been accelerated by the proliferation of social networking, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch.  "The Europe online dating scene is still in the growth phase, which is why I am basing myself out of Prague right now," said Brooks.  "American sites have had some trouble moving into other cultures,  which has opened opportunities for Meetic as well as single-country players in Europe."  Meetic last year started Ulteem.  A high-end service costing 99 Euros for a three- month subscription.  Meetic recently bought Lexa (100,000 users), a dating service in the Netherlands and Yeeyoo (4 million users), a youth-oriented Chinese site.  Competition among youth-oriented sites like Superlol is fierce.  FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

Mark Brooks: Meetic started Ulteem to compete with Parship.de, in similar fashion to Match starting Chemistry.com to compete with eHarmony.

Myspace Online Scene

LA TIMES CALENDAR LIVE -- Apr 9 -- It's become a thriving meat market, just without the jello shots and beer-soaked floors.  "Everyone's hooking up with each other [on MySpace] and they really don't know each other," says Mark Brooks, online dating industry analyst and editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. Brooks cautions newbie daters to be on guard for fakers and to never give out too much personal information online.  FULL ARTICLE @ LA TIMES CALENDAR LIVE

Hooking Up in the Information Age - Mobile dating

WIRELESS WEEK -- Apr 15 -- In 2004 Webdate Mobile launched with U.S. Cellular. Several months later Match.com Mobile got on deck with Cingular Wireless and Sprint. Lavalife signed Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.  Webdate has since launched with Boost Mobile and Sprint Nextel and Webdate CEO Abe Smilowitz says he's pleased with the amount of revenue being generated.  Mark Brooks, editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com, estimates there are currently fewer than 1 million mobile daters, compared with 5 million users of mobile flirt applications. He draws a distinction between mobile dating applications - which typically feature photos, profiles and the ability to send messages back and forth - with simple social networking applications that let users flirt via texting. "Mobile dating applications are focused more on getting people together," Brooks says. "There's far higher adoption of chat, because it doesn't require much of an application. That's a very different animal than mobile dating." Most are available for a flat monthly rate of $4.99. Match.com spokeswoman Kristin Kelly says 42% of MatchMobile customers are 18 to 25 years old, 81% are between 18 and 35.  Webdate Mobile gives customers access to Webdate's database of 6 million profiles. "It's seamless. Mobile and online are virtually the same. That's been our approach and continues to be our approach," abe says. Osmak doesn't see much future for Bluetooth-enabled matchmaking, mainly because no billing systemis in place for such transactions.  And if having Bluetooth-enabled phones is the only thing the individuals have in common, what's the point? "The real value is in finding suitable people, not just people," says Brooks.  FULL ARTICLE @ WIRELESS WEEK

Handsome but Clueless? Online Profile Writers can Help

COLUMBIA NEWS SERVICE -- Mar 14-- Chase found online dating consultant Evan Marc Katz, who urged him to be honest about his athletic obsession, but to package it differently. For $1,000, Katz revamped the profile and counseled his client for several hours on how to market the Chase machismo. His E-Cyrano service offers a basic profile rewrite for $49. Profilehelper.com offers an "extreme profile makeover" for $49.95.  With prices nearing the cost of a monthly dating Web site membership, profile consultants are not for the intermittent dater. "Most people don't want to cough up the extra 100 bucks," said Mark Brooks, an online personals industry analyst and editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. The trick is simple: be honest and be specific. LookBetterOnline.com is the most successful of all profile helper sites and charges $129 per shoot.  FULL ARTICLE @ COLUMBIA NEWS SERVICE

Mark Brooks: Profilehelper.com, E-cyrano.com and Lookbetteronline.com are all great services. 

Fox News LA, DC, LA, Orlando

Mar 24 -- I was in four Fox News interviews in February.  Alas, there was no online videos to link to.
  1. Fox News Orlando - mobile dating overview
  2. Fox News New York - mobile dating overview
  3. Fox News Washington D.C. - online dating safety
  4. Fox News Los Angeles - online dating safety
I have news reels on the way for Orlando and New York. - Mark Brooks

Perils of Online Dating Prompt Safety Efforts

REUTERS -- Mar 21 -- Josie Brown never had a chance against her 6-foot-6-inch killer.  John Gaumer, confessed and led Baltimore County police to Brown's body on February 7, listed his height and other attributes in his quest for dates on MySpace.com.  "There are millions of people we're dealing with here and somehow people think they are all preachers," said Paul Falzone, CEO of Together Dating, a brick-and-mortar company that performs background checks on all members. Falzone says background checks result in 10% of applicants being rejected.  For most of the 40 million people using Internet sites for dating and socializing each month, a disastrous 15 minutes over coffee at Starbucks is the worst they will suffer.  Only a small percentage of "intimate partner violence" -- nearly 700,000 such incidents were reported to the U.S. Dept of Justice in 2001 -- originate from Internet dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch, which monitors the dating industry.  "To think a felon could find a victim, especially for a heinous crime, gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do all I can do to prevent that," said Herb Vest, TRUE.com CEO.  So far, California, Florida, Texas and Michigan have considered (background checks) legislation.  Yahoo! and Match.com, the industry leaders with 6 million and 15 million monthly visitors respectively, continually stress dating safety.  "The Internet has its dark side and they are not doing everything they can to keep sexual predators and gold diggers off these sites. If you don't police yourselves, the government will come in and police you," said Michigan state Sen. Alan Cropsey.  "There are other ways to get to who that person is, rather than have the government ram a business model down your throat," said Abe Smilowitz, CEO of Webdate.  Webdate uses real-time video as a safety measure, allowing prospective dates to chat and get a look at each other via Webcams.  Companies like Safedate and Honestyonline are springing up to run background checks for individuals. According to Dr. John Gray, education is the solution.  "The warning signs often come out right away. Beware of someone who can solve all your problems or who comes on really strong," said Gray.  FULL ARTICLE @ CNN

Must Love Dogs, Buddha, Caves

DENVER POST -- Feb 28 -- "There are certainly more niche sites coming online, because I seem to hear about more wackier new ones every day," says Nate Elliott, an online personals analyst with Jupiter Research. Some offer bells and whistles such as the video chat and mobile dating technology available at webdate.com. Others like adultfriendfinder.com brazenly tackle subjects such as casual sex encounters and fetishes. Everybody has his or her "thing," whether it's a passion for Catholicism, a love of dogs or spelunking. The niche dating concept hinges on the idea that if you find someone with that same thing, you'll be more likely to foster a stronger connection. Cowboydating.com, Geek2Geek, SingleParentsMingle.com, BlackPlanet.com. Datemypet.com receives 50,000 visitors a month. "Niche dating is a solid model right now because [each site] has branding that's appealing," says Mark Brooks, editor of onlinepersonalswatch.com. "But what you give up is more choice available on the larger, general-use sites. You've just gone from a pool of millions with everything under the sun, every age, every demographic to a pool of thousands." Larger general-use sites are updating search engines to allow users to pinpoint must-haves in their profiles. Match, Yahoo Personals and eHarmony together account for more than 50 percent of all online dating traffic.  FULL ARTICLE @ DENVER POST

Techies, not Trekkies, Present the Future of Dating

COURIER POST  ONLINE -- Feb 28 -- When I showed up in Miami Beach for the internet dating convention I found hundreds of modern-day Cupids -- the people who run dating Web sites, speed dating companies, self-help services and matchmaking businesses. "There is a huge societal problem. People aren't finding the right matches. Marriages are failing," said Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. "In some sense, we have a chance to change that."  Dating companies really do believe their duty is to help people find happiness in a partner (or partners). John Gray, author of the biggest selling relationship book in the history of the world, "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus," was at the conference to deliver shocking news: "Men and women still don't understand each other." But the conference wasn't all about boring dating.  There also was a lot of sex talk. More sites, like AdultFriendFinder.com and IWantYou.com, now deal with the sex side of dating. "No one talks about these groups, but they're there," noted Brooks, who knows more about online dating than anyone in the world.  "We're in the business of love, but by default we're in the sex business."  So what will dating look like in 10 years?  According to Brooks, we will be carrying Star Trek devices with speech recognition capabilities that will allow searches for nearby dates anytime, anywhere.  FULL ARTICLE @ COURIER POST ONLINE

The Five-Year Itch

NEWSWEEK -- Feb 27 -- Feb. 27, 2006 issue - Mark Brooks, editor of consumer watchdog Online Personals Watch, says the industry stands at a crossroads. "I keep hearing that the industry is slumping," Brooks says. "No, it isn't, but we have got to get our act together."  Online dating in the U.S. has reached what Jupiter Research analyst Nate Elliott calls "a point of critical mass."Last year the number of users posting online personals fell "marginally," according to Jupiter, and revenue growth is expected to drop to just 6% this year, down from 77% in 2003. The total U.S. market is now worth $521 million. (In comparison, online gambling sites took in an estimated $10 billion in worldwide revenue last year. Porn sites took in $2 billion in the U.S.) The European market is still growing in high double-digit rates.  One reason for the slowdown is that the curiosity factor has worn off. Heather Hopkins, director of research for Hitwise UK says the sites are now focused more on getting current visitors to sign on as paying customers. This love slump is a bit of mystery. Indeed, it may be just a lull. Brooks predicts that the industry will see "a huge upswing" as sites add new services like Web-camera dates, help arranging dream dates and psychological profiling that attempts to find you a soulmate, not just a hunk with the right hobbies and salary profile. Others say the industry needs to move beyond just dating. Bill Tancer, Hitwise GM global research, says e-dating is following the normal trajectory of Internet businesses. "There is an environment of hypercompetition where markets are born, grow, plateau and decline, [but] it's not that the activity itself is going to go away." Instead, he predicts, dating sites will evolve into broader forums for social networking.  There are signs this is already happening. Meetic is offering a mobile-phone network called Superlol, allowing users to form groups around common friends and interests.

Mark Brooks: Reporters are writing about the demise of the online dating industry, which is very unfortunate.  I believe we are, indeed, at a turning point.  To get to 'online personals 2.0' we need to add services and refine our sites to help put people in front of people more quickly, in greater numbers and with better matches.  (i) Personality profiling holds high promise, but needs more research.  Profiling companies should embrace academic resources and share data with them.  Let's lose the 'magic box' approach.  Users are becoming more sophisticated and want to know how personality profiling works.  Let's tell them.  And, if you're going to offer personality profiling, show matches what potential failure modes/conflicts their relationship might be susceptible to, and educate them on how they might communicate and deal with those conflicts.  (ii) Add events.  They're a pain to coordinate, but are a great way for people to meet and have some instant gratification.  They can buy a ticket and meet a roomful of singles immediately.  Then they can go and check the profiles of the people they have chemistry with to see if they are a match on preferences such as 'want kids?'  (iii) Improve safety.  Let's advise users more clearly.  They should: 1. not share contact info, 2. meet in a public place, 3. let someone know where they are going and call in to them after one hour.  Background checks are a long way from being foolproof, but are better than nothing, and worth considering.  (iv) Remove dead and unresponsive profiles, or at least indicate they are unlikely to respond.  Anyone who has not logged in or has not responded to a message for 4 weeks should not be listed as a live profile.  Let's set expectations realistically.  It's good for the industry in the long haul.  (v) Consider adding/partnering with matchmaking services for the users who have money, but are time starved.  People are paying $50 a month for profiling sites (i.e. eHarmony.com, TRUE.com, PerfectMatch.com) because they have money and want some handholding.  Let's up the ante.  (vi) Improve search.  A friend of mine is Indian.  He only wants to meet women who are interested in Indian guys.  He'd like reverse search please.  Niche sites are popping up for every imaginable preference.  Generic sites need to broaden search criteria and functionality or have the niches further incur on their membership revenues.  (vii) Add content.  Do you know your audience?  Really?  Then engage them with targeted, mind blowing content that lights their fires, educates and keeps them hooked on your site.  Match partnered with Dr Phil.  Community Connect, Gay.com and Nerve.com know content.  Guide, engage and captivate your users.  (viii) Find targeted advertising partners.  Find offers with top level brands to improve your brand.  Yahoo + Starbucks.  There's some great branding affinity there.  Brand = Trust.  Advertising on online dating sites doesn't tend to bring in much money, but it CAN improve your brand trust and capital if you find the right partners and negotiate suitable offers.  Extend your brand into the real world. 

Online dating is not taking a downturn.  $516 million U.S. online dating industry revenue for 2005 barely scratches the surface of the market potential.  Industry revenues are growing.  We have a nation of lovelorn singles poised and pleading for guidance and assistance.  The integrity of our sites can be improved, insofar as how we deliver on our core promise of putting people in front of people.  Observe the real world, bottle the best of what you see, improve on it.  The online personals world has improved on the real world in the past by offering better search (i.e. asking the important questions up front), offering multiple modes of convenient communication (i.e. email, IM, chat), and through profiling for compatible matches (i.e. asking more than just a few questions...).  Your comments please...

Google Sparks Privacy Fight

Associated Press -- Jan 21 -- Should the government be allowed to snoop on "aggregated query data (not search results)" from Google?  "The Bush administration apparently never asked for any explicitly personal information....AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to the requests."  Google refused.  " 'My understanding is, we were seeking what keywords are put in and URLs,' said Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller. Nothing personal.''  FULL ARTICLE @ SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. 

Mark Brooks - The government is treading a fine line, but I don't have a problem with them seeing aggregate search results and URL's, as long as they can't snoop on individuals.  I was interviewed on the subject by the Associated Press for this National TV news piece (first person to comment). 

Date and Switch?

7 NEWS BOSTON -- Dec 12 -- New claims say some of the tempting profiles you see may really be cyber fakes. David Lemay put his profile on the web and got a response from an Elle McPherson look alike.  David emailed back, but nothing.  New lawsuits claim Match.com and Yahoo's sites have posted fake profiles on purpose to lure people into paying for membership renewals.  The complaint lists different potential daters using the exact same phrases in their profiles--too unique to be a coincidence. Match.com calls the suit extortion.  Mark Brooks runs "Online Personals Watch." He admits date baiting can happen but can't believe larger sites do it.  "To have a product manager put the hand up in a meeting and say, 'hey, why don't we put up bogus emails so we can improve our conversion rates'...they'd get fired." Brooks says some companies filter out obscene photos and obvious fakes but they don't make sure postings are real people.  Experts think online daters are targeted when their memberships are expiring.  FULL NEWS STORY @ 7 NEWS BOSTON  VIDEO SEGMENT

Mark Brooks: Sites will typically bubble up expiring profiles in searches. Nothing new there.  However, product managers, employees, please make sure to delete test profiles.  The profile used in this video looks to me like a test profile.  Not date bait, but a profile that an employee might put up to test the site.  I can see 3rd tier, one-man-band sites succumbing to the temptation of using date bait to raise their conversion rates out of the ashes.  Match, Yahoo, nah!  I have great respect for these companies and their integrity.  As an industry, I think we need to freeze profiles from search results that are completely unresponsive after 20 contacts/2 weeks. 

Is it Love or a Lie?

MIAMI HERALD -- Dec 18 -- Beth, a leggy brunette and successful lawyer who lives in Dallas, says she enjoys clubbing and rollerblading.  But some of these women don't even exist according to a Coral Springs businessman who alleges that Yahoo Personals posts fictitious profiles, date bait.  Lawmakers in Texas, Virginia, Michigan, California and Florida are weighing legislation that could make it a crime to misrepresent oneself on a dating site, or fail to inform consumers that they offer background screening for their customers.  Analysts say matchmaking sites believe that they can patrol themselves. Most of them use 'report this profile' options to report problem subscribers to a team of 'abuse' monitors who look for risqué photographs, insincere profiles, and users looking for a place to advertise their own business.  Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personal Watch, concedes that there is endless potential for abusing the rules. But, he said, that doesn't mean the site owners should be subject to government monitoring. He calls the suits against Match and Yahoo 'ridiculous.'  'If you were sitting in a product development meeting [at Match or Yahoo] and said, 'Hey, let's just have someone do that,' (send bogus emails), that person would be fired,' Brooks said.  FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD

Dating in Cyberspace

DAILY NEWS -- Nov 13 -- Marc Lesnick organizes three or four internet dating business conferences a year in places such as Beijing, Amsterdam and Miami.  "In Europe, the business generates between $200 and $250 million," says Lesnick, "and in Asia, between $40 and $100 million."  Whatever your nationality, religion, occupation or fetish is, it seems there is an online dating service tailor-made for you.  "If you want to meet someone local, you've got the big sites like Match.com and eHarmony," says Mark Brooks, online editor and blogger of Online Personals Watch, a Web site devoted to Internet dating industry news. "If you look in a smaller niche site, keep in mind you'll probably be jumping on a plane," advises Brooks.  Internet safety expert Larry Burris talks to parent and teacher groups all over the world about keeping people safe on the Internet. He calls his presentations "Safety in the Cyber Village," and says dating online is not much different than traditional dating.  Thanks to online dating services such as TRUE.com, ensuring user safety is becoming a top priority for many matchmaking companies. TRUE offers criminal background checks, as well as marital background checks, and the company says it will prosecute anyone who commits fraud on their Web site. "Women need to know that when they go on a date, they're not talking to a criminal or someone who is married," says Brooks.  FULL ARTICLE @ DAILY NEWS

Web Dating Game Heats Up

THE STREET -- Nov 14 -- Troublemakers on the online dating scene may have met their match in a group of increasingly brand-conscious Internet giants.  Yahoo! Personals and Match.com, two of the largest Internet dating sites, are stepping up their efforts to weed their services of abusive, obnoxious or married people. Earlier this year, Yahoo! instituted a code of conduct for online daters in which they must swear that they are single and won't be abusive toward other members. The company also has made it easier for members to report misbehavior. Match.Com has added additional people to its fraud and abuse unit.  The effort comes as the online dating market consolidates and surviving services fight off competition for loyal users from social network sites like Friendster.com and Myspace.com, which also offer free dating, and smaller upstarts such as True.com.  "They have got very significant brands that they have to protect," says Mark Brooks, who runs the blog onlinepersonalswatch.com. "They can't have people who are scamming, spamming, being obscene or being obnoxious. It's very bad for their brand." About 11% of all online users have a profile on an online dating site, according to Jupiter Media. "The market is reaching maturity," Jupiter Research analyst Nate Elliot told the blog onlinepersonalswatch.com in a recent interview. "...there are fewer consumers 'just curious' to have a look. It's no longer the 'new thing.'"  FULL ARTICLE @ THE STREET

Safety? A Nice Photo? Help's Out There, For a Fee

SUNDAY NEWS -- Oct 23 -- Consultation with online dating adviser: $30. Dating profile makeover: $70. Professional profile photos: $130. Criminal background check: $20. Finding the perfect match: Priceless. As the market for online dating continues to grow, so does the array of related businesses helping online daters find their ideal mate. Most online daters are clueless when it comes to attracting, wooing, and catching that elusive fish in the great big sea of online dating. Being more specific in your profile is simple advice that can make a huge difference, said Mark Brooks, editor of major industry blog Online Personals Watch. Posting a flattering - but accurate - picture is also important, but many online dating subscribers have yet to take advantage of the services. "The users still don't quite get it," Brooks said. "They still don't think they need it." Sites such as LookBetterOnline.com and DatingHeadShots.com will set up users with a professional photographer.  Background checks are becoming a more popular way to screen dates, Brooks said. One dating site is taking the initiative and screening members before they are allowed to join the pool. True.com screens for convicted felons and married people, and requires all members to state that they are neither. Approximately 5% of the site's applicants fail to pass the felony screening and another 4% fail the marriage screening, CEO Herb Vest said. "If you go to any other site my guess would be probably 10-11% of the people on the site will have felony convictions, and I've heard estimates as high as 30% of the people on some sites are married," Vest said. Other services likely to grow over the next few years include "Web dating" - WebDate.com now allows daters to use
webcams for "virtual dates" - and anonymous phone services that allow users to chat without handing over phone numbers. "To be honest, it sounds safer than going into a bar and meeting someone," WebDate founder Abe Smilowitz said. "When you walk into a bar and meet someone, you do that at your own risk." Most of the businesses related to online dating sites have only been operating for a couple of years, but Brooks predicts many of them will continue to profit from the boom of online dating. FULL ARTICLE @ UNION LEADER

Online, but Not Looking for Love

UNION LEADER -- Oct 25 -- Social networking may be a close cousin of online dating, but it is much more low-key - attracting a totally different demographic. More online dating sites may be moving toward social networking as a way to keep members on the site. One of the first social networking sites that took off was Friendster, which relied on the "perception of exclusivity" to drive its membership numbers sky high, according to Mark Brooks, editor of industry blog Online Personals Watch. Brooks worked with friend and Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams in 2003, and said much of his friend's success is owed to timing and a few simple observations. "He looked at the real world and he modeled it, and one of the things he noticed is there are certain people that are the connecters," Brooks said. Friendster did not try too hard, Brooks said. But it allowed people to join only when they were invited - thus feeding on the desire for exclusivity - and let people meet others through friends, thus ensuring, for the most part, that these friends of friends were legitimate. Facebook has virtually locked up the college market. MySpace.com started as a network for musicians to advertise and expand their fan base, but is fast becoming the largest social networking site in operation. "They're out-Friendstering Friendster, which is absolutely amazing" Brooks said. But business networking sites, such as Linkedin.com, will likely surpass them all in terms of lifespan, revenue and popularity, according to Marc Lesnick who runs the Internet Dating Conference, the largest industry event for online dating and social networking Web sites. FULL ARTICLE @ UNION LEADER

Scammers Dupe Online Daters for Millions of Dollars

-- Oct 14 -- Markus Frind, of Plentyoffish, estimates that scammers operating on Internet dating sites steal at least $100 million a year. Those performing a ruse could be women in Russia asking for money to leave their country; or a Nigerian sending "business proposition" emails. Crooks often use stolen credit cards to join a site, send out messages to other members, wait for responses then sometimes chat for four or five months before asking for money. "It's bad for someone like Yahoo because it reduces the value of their service, it tarnishes their service," says Dave Evans, a consultant to the online dating and social networking industry who also writes a blog. Nelson Rodriguez, CEO of LoveAccess.com, explained that two and a half years ago Nigerian scammers used stolen credit cards to join the site causing so many charge backs (about 1% of all transactions) that it threatened his merchant account with his bank. But he's since blocked Russian and Nigerian IP addresses and cut that rate down by three-quarters. LoveAccess.com, with 3.5 million members, also reviews profiles manually, like its bigger competitors. TRUE created a stir in the industry last summer when it announced a nationwide campaign for legislation to require dating sites to conduct criminal checks of their members. Not everyone agrees with Evans, who estimates that on the majority of dating sites, nearly 10% of all profiles are fake. Mark Brooks, a former executive with Cupid.com, FriendFinder and Friendster, disputes that figure and says the actual dating sites, not their members, are even bigger targets. Fraudsters will set up an affiliate Web site to send traffic and fake members, which earn them a commission that can exceed the price of the monthly membership, says Brooks, who also writes a blog, Online Personals Watch. FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNET WEEK

Mark Brooks: Of 120 employees onsite at Friendfinder in Palo Alto, CA, over half are dedicated to customer service and the 'abuse team'...which grooms for scammers amongst other things.  Smaller sites rely on automated methods for spotting scammers.  Larger sites usually apply people resources for checking profiles and dealing with scammers more proactively.   

Singles Hire Coaches to Improve Their Dating Game

ABC NEWS -- Aug 11 -- Liz Kelly, author and dating coach, tells her clients to go out and get professional photographs.  Web sites such as e-cyrano.com and Lookbetteronline.com help singles with their online profiles.  What makes more sense, according to some in the industry, would be for these kinds of services to be bundled into the online dating sites. "I don't think the online dating sites have pushed it very hard and I don't think that users perceive that they need help. But sitting on the other side of the table … I'm here to tell them yes — you jolly well do," said Mark Brooks of Onlinepersonalswatch.com.  "There's a dire need for people to improve their photographs. People, especially guys, are so visual," said Brooks. "It behooves the online dating sites to help the users improve their profiles. The better the profiles look, the better their product looks."  FULL ARTICLE @ ABC

Mark Brooks: All too often daters just don't put enough time into their profiles, or put up old or awful photos.  Surprise!  No results.  Put more time and consideration into your profile.  ..."I like going for walks on the beach."  Why?  What is it that lights your fire and makes you want to dance at the waters edge?  Get up to date photos, from a pro.  At the very least, get your friend to snap 100 photos and pick out the top 5.

Dating Sites Rekindle the Flame

-- July 29 -- Seeking someone who's a "giver," a "rebel" or an "observer"? Yahoo Personals now lets you search for them. Dying to know if Ms. Right is a philanderer or a felon? True will run a  background check. Online-dating sites raked in $473 million from American customers in 2004, according to JupiterResearch, which expects revenue to reach $516 million this year. At the same time, it's becoming more expensive for dating sites to advertise online and woo enough new customers to create a viable site, said Mark Brooks, an industry consultant who blogs about the business. "We're going through the big squeeze," he said, "One in which consolidation looms and innovation is key to survival."  True, for one, allows so-called "bidirectional blocking": Users can block other members forever and decide who can peruse their own ads. "Basically," said True chief psychologist Jim Houran, "you're really empowering clients."  Big deal, sniffs Nate Elliott, an analyst with JupiterResearch. The bells and whistles "don't really matter to customers," he said. "If you give them a large number of photos and profiles, they're happy. Beyond that, it's all incremental."  Niche marketing sites include BlackPeopleMeet.com, Christian Mingle and BBWHarmony (BBW stands for "big beautiful women"), along with "adult" sites for the instant-gratification crowd. The quickie-oriented sites are growing rapidly, but "they've flown under the radar," said Brooks. Mark Thompson, CEO of weAttract.com, thinks short video clips are the future. "Jump ahead 10 years, and it will all be video-based." FULL ARTICLE @ WIRED NEWS

Hey, Baby, Want a Date?

SAN FRAN CHRONICLE -- July 23 -- With advances in cell phone technology and wireless networks, users can browse truncated profiles, view photos of possible dates and exchange cheesy lines via text messaging. SmallPlanet has come up with a way for its compatible users to be alerted when they are within range of each other, in most cases about 30 feet for now.  Said analyst Brent Iadarola of Frost & Sullivan. "The comfort people have with online dating in the wired world is now translating to the mobile world."  Subscription revenue for mobile services are expected to rise from $31.4 million this year to $215 million by 2009. That does not include revenue from text-messaging charges, which could double those figures, according to Iadarola. "Handset technology has moved in leaps and bounds to the point you can have a good user experience while on the bus or sitting in the back of car," said Mark Brooks, editor of Online Personals Watch. "People are gaming and texting now. It all makes sense at last." One promising technology is location-based dating, in which users can be alerted to a potential match just down the street or somewhere in their ZIP code. "I can go to a club, and the phone becomes a transponder," said Joe Brennan Jr., vice president of Webdate, the industry leader with 5 million users. "I can find someone I match up with, and that facilitates a meeting." But there's a hitch. Wireless carriers haven't embraced Webdate technology for now because they are unconvinced of the safety and manageability of the service. Some fear the technology could be manipulated to electronically harass users. FULL ARTICLE @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Internet Dating Goes Mobile

CBS CHANNEL 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS -- July 21 -- In the world of Internet dating, cell phones are the newest way to sell yourself.  Webdate is among the largest of the online dating services that have dialed in to the cell phone market. There are now 182 million cell phones in the U.S. There aren't that many computers. There aren't that many TVs.  Forty million people have tried online dating. But over the cell phone? Only half a million so far in the US. "If you're sitting on a train, or at the doctor's, or in line somewhere. You can spend those few minutes to actually find someone who's compatible with you," said Mark Brooks of OnlinePersonalWatch.  FULL ARTICLE @ CBS 5

Online Dating is Split Over the Bill

MIAMI HERALD -- Apr 27 -- Love is supposed to steal your heart not your car. The background checks bill passed the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee Tuesday but still must be scheduled for a floor vote in the waning days of the session. Although True.com has pushed similar legislation in six other states, no other bill has made it this far.  ''I've got complete confidence that True is going to run this thing through,'' said Mark Brooks, the editor of Online Personal Watch, who has been monitoring the bill's progress.  "But the industry certainly doesn't like the idea that it's being rammed down their throats."  While True.com says it's simply trying to make online dating safer, critics accuse the newcomer, which has 3 million members, of using the legislation to stake out more turf in a crowded and lucrative industry.  Said Kristin Kelly, senior director of PR at Match.com.  "It's bad for the industry because it continues to promote a stigma that's not accurate.''  True's CEO Herb Vest said, "we don't want criminals and married people preying on our members.  There are close to 70 million singles out there that are not using online dating sites right now. If we can let them know that, as an industry, we care about their safety then we're all going to grow at a prodigious rate.''  The Florida DOC database hasn't been updated since August of last year and Rapsheets only searches 15 of the state's 67 counties.  Two Miami online dating sites -- Webdate.com and Date.com -- said they will be offering their clients background checks, regardless of the bill's outcome.  ''I think background checks are a relatively good idea, if done properly,'' said Webdate COO Abe Smilowitz.  FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD

Mark Brooks: True is leaning on the Florida bill with all it's might, connections and savvy.  The session ends Friday 6th May.  Watch this space!  I'll keep you posted.

Niche Dating Sites Allow Special-interest Singles to Find Each Other

ARIZONA TRIBUNE -- Apr 5 -- The online personals industry is experiencing "The Big Squeeze." Mark Brooks, an online personals industry analyst and editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com, says hundreds of small dating sites have emerged in the past five years. They are now competing for advertising dollars with the big guys like Match.com. But lower profits don’t mean the online dating bubble is about to burst, says Brooks. "It’s actually quite the opposite in some ways. Online (dating) is as solid as ever. It’s no longer cheesy and it’s no longer sneered at."  Brooks estimates there are about 900 Internet dating sites, and he claims that more people than ever are signing up.  Niches are the growing trend among these smaller start-ups. "There’s really something for everybody."  People who enjoy hiphop can find love on Hiphopsinglesconnection.com and (young) women looking for generous men to shower them with gifts may find success at Sugardaddyz.com. There are also companies that cater to "varying levels of singleness."  People looking for a spouse may have the best chance on eHarmony. The site is known to include members who are motivated and serious about ending their singlehood, says Brooks. On the other hand, Friendster.com helps individuals create a social network and don’t necessarily aim to make love connections. "They do a good job of modeling the real world."  FULL ARTICLE @ EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE

Mark Brooks: I recommend some of the niche sites such as ChristianCafe, DateMyPet and SeniorFriendFinder.  Never heard of Hiphopsinglesconnection and Sugardaddyz though.  They look like intriguing, but have no traffic (according to www.alexa.com) and probably just a handful of members.

Love Growing Strong On Web

USA TODAY -- Feb 14 -- The industry has grown so fast that Hitwise foresees a shakeout. Says Mark Brooks, who runs Online Personals Watch, "I think we're moving into the first stages of maturity."  So companies are trying, like the most desperate bachelor in the bar, to stand out. Those who market love on the Internet are increasingly wooing customers by giving personality and compatibility tests.  For the strongest players, the cyberspace dating game remains lucrative. In December, for instance, eHarmony attracted $110 million from two venture-capital firms. "What kind of metrics must eHarmony have shown the VCs to get $110 million?" asks Brooks.  JupiterResearch says online-dating revenue hit $473 million in 2004, up from $396 million in 2003. <On background checks>..."That's a solution looking for a problem," complains Jim Safka, the new CEO of rival Match.com. But some competitors grudgingly admire the marketing strategy. "It was brilliant," says Nelson Rodriguez, CEO of LifeAccess.com. "You try to legislate into law your business model."  True's CEO Herb Vest warns: "If a person is married or a criminal, they best go somewhere else." True says it intends to prosecute married people who masquerade as singles.  "We don't think of ourselves as an online-dating service," says Greg Forgatch, CEO of eHarmony. "We're all about helping people get married and get married well."  Yahoo has launched Personals Premier, a $35-a-month service with advanced searching and matchmaking and a personality test. IMatchup.com has unveiled a handwriting-analysis feature.  Niche sites proliferate.  "I'm not promoting Cupid.com anymore; I'm pitching DesMoines.Cupid.com," says Cupid.com CEO Eric Straus.  FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO

Love Blossoms on the Internet

MIAMI HERALD -- Jan 20 -- Since Miami Beach-based Webdate started offering a free online dating service two years ago, some 2.8 million love-seekers have signed up. The company's traffic surged 800% in 2004, compared to 17% for the online personals industry as a whole. with 8,000 to 10,000 new users signing up daily, Webdate has the fastest-growing black book in the industry.  There are almost 850 online dating services worldwide. Giving away service has put Webdate on the charts with the likes of Match.com and Yahoo Personals.  On Jan. 19 for example, the firm announced it would expand its mobile dating service by March to cover 80% of all data-ready cell phones.  "Webdate MobileT" allows clients to use their handsets to search for potential dates, download profiles and initiate text messages and anonymous phone calls.  "You don't have to be in front of your computer to be online dating anymore," Smilowitz said. Since its launch in December, some 40,000 users have subscribed to the mobile service at $2.99 per month.  At his new South Beach office, Smilowitz spins his monitor around to show off another high-tech feature: live video chat.  On the screen is the small image of a user in Indonesia, busy typing away at her computer.  "We've all heard the horror stories about chatting with someone online and they have a great picture, but then you meet them and you realize it wasn't them at all, or that the picture they were using is 20 years old," said Smilowitz, 30. "With this, people get the chance to hear the other person's voice and see their face from the comfort and safety of their own home."  But the market is getting more crowded and fragmented.  ''There are increasingly more sites aimed at seniors -- it is definitely catching on with the older set -- and just about every other demographic you could think of,'' said Mark Brooks, the publisher of Online Personals Watch. FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD