socialmedian: Are Paid Online Dating Sites Dead?

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Are Paid Online Dating Sites Dead?

Source: Mashable!

Jan 05, 2009

Summary

A recent launch suggests that the web’s love affair with paid dating sites may be coming to an end. DowntoEarth is a new, completely free dating site with an interesting pedigree: according to DowntoEarth’s Privacy Policy, this new, free entrant is “part of the IAC/InterActiveCorp family of businesses.” IAC, of course, acquired Match.com in 1999, and is also behind Match.com’s spin-off site Chemistry.com. Despite its success with paid dating, then, IAC is testing the waters with a free model.

Markus Frind, CEO of rival free dating site (and startup anomaly) Plentyoffish.com, somewhat self-servingly claims the move is a victory for free dating sites. He writes: “Downtoearth is headed up by Jacob Solotaroff, the former Director of Product Management and Member Integrity at Match.com…It looks like the project was started back in June 2008,” and “It looks like match.com realizes they are losing marketshare fast and paid sites don’t really have a future.”