Online Dating Insider

Lavalife and ICQ issued the following press release:

LAVALIFE AND ICQ® ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE PARTNERSHIP

-Lavalife personals to reach millions of registered worldwide ICQ users-

New York, NY and Dulles, VA, December 17, 2003 - Lavalife Inc., a global force in online dating, today announced an exclusive worldwide partnership with ICQ® ("I Seek You"), a world-leading online communications community and international service from America Online, Inc.,

Under the agreement, Lavalife (www.lavalife.com) will become the exclusive provider of personals content and advertising across the ICQ (www.icq.com) worldwide network, which has more than 160 million registered users. Lavalife's ability to help singles embrace online dating will be showcased across ICQ's broad range of communities including Family & Friends, Romance, White Pages, Search, Students, and Lifestyles, enabling users to reach other online daters in real-time through ICQ's core messaging technology. In addition, Lavalife will be integrated within ICQ's messaging technology to enable ICQ members to instant message with likeminded singles.

"This partnership is a natural step for both companies not only because the ICQ and Lavalife user-bases are similar in age, interests, and needs, but because our companies both have similar missions to connect people in an instant," said Paul Gallucci, Chief Operating Officer of Lavalife. "We are confident that members of ICQ will embrace Lavalife's fun, flirty online dating services, and that the experience of singles connecting will be enhanced through instant messaging technology."

ICQ and Lavalife will also launch custom localized personals sites available through the ICQ worldwide network. Such sites will rollout globally beginning in January. The sites will be tailored to the specific needs of each individual culture, while maintaining the urban look and feel of Lavalife.

"It is good for ICQ and its user community to partner with a category leader like Lavalife to bring dating services to market internationally," said Ed Fish, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Desktop Messaging, America Online, Inc. "We look forward to expanding our dating communities to include Lavalife's premier personals content and services, along with the attributes of real time messaging and presence."

"We are excited to partner with a global force such as ICQ," said Bruce Croxon, Chairman and CEO of Lavalife. "Further, entrance to ICQ, which receives 85 million downloads yearly, shifts Lavalife's international expansion strategy into high gear."

About ICQ

ICQ is wholly owned by America Online, Inc. ICQ was created in 1996 by the Israel-based company, Mirabilis, and acquired by AOL in 1998. ICQ is a world leading communications community with over 160 million registered users worldwide. On days when connected to ICQ, users spend an average of over 4.5 hours on the service. ICQ offers the most robust instant messaging and enhanced communications features in the market today. The product is available for free at www.icq.com.

About Lavalife Inc.

Lavalife Inc. is the largest independent provider of technology-based dating services for singles. Founded in 1987, Lavalife markets its web and telephone services in over 66 markets across the United States, Canada and Australia. Lavalife's open-minded approach to dating allows singles to choose how they want to "click" with other singles by offering three unique categories for members: dating, relationships and intimate encounters. Lavalife has attracted over 6 million unique members who exchange 1.3 million messages every day. For more information on Lavalife, visit www.lavalife.com/corp and www.lavalife.com/mediaroom.

This Reuter's article about AOL's Love.com launch comments ""Flirting in a real-time anonymous conversation mode is well established. But usually you can do it for free." (See AOL launches online dating service.)

Good point.

In an attempt to find a new twist in online dating, startup YouSpeak offers talking online personals, where members can phone in and leave a recorded message that other users of the site can listen to online.

link to press release

MatchNet plc, the owner of JDate, announces that it will be purchasing JCupid from PointMatch Ltd. "This deal cements MatchNet's leadership position in the Jewish online personals market and is an important step to expand the JDate brand outside the English speaking world."

link to press release

An article in the New York Times, Just Saying No to the Dating Industry, says that there is.

"I realized I could be starting my own business in the time I was spending looking at these ads and crafting these responses," she said. So instead of going back online, she began taking a Small Business Administration class and designing funky planters.

Will there be a mass movement to make more constructive use of time than mindless dating? Probably not. I'm not sure the world needs more "funky planters" anyway.