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History of Date.com
by OnlineDatingMagazine.com

Company: Date.com
Startup in Online Dating: February 14, 1997
Private/Public: Private
Parent Company: None

History of Date.com
Date.com is a privately owned company based in New York with offices in Miami Beach, Florida. The site was launched on Valentines Day in 1997 and became a subscription-based service with its re-launch in 2000. Date.com calls itself "a relationship community with the ability to post a free profile, pictures, headline, and facts."

Date.com previously had offices in New York and Toronto, but in mid-2004 the Toronto offices were replaced with the current offices in Miami Beach, Florida. The price for a subscription has been consistent since 1997, when a premium monthly membership cost $24.95. Date.com has put a heavy emphasis on its “relationship expert” Brenda Ross, Relationship Advisor for Date.com, throughout its history as a dating service. Brenda’s previous history in the dating industry included joining About.com in 1996 as their dating guide expert.

In January 2006, Brenda Ross left Date.com, after nearly five years of service to the company. Date.com named Anna David as its new relationship advisor. Unfortunately, David's stint as Date.com's relationship advisor was short lived. As of 2007, Date.com does not have a new relationship advisor and we know of no plans for them to find one.

Date.com History Highlights
In June, 2000, Date.com underwent a site redesign, and did so again in early 2001, introducing their new purple color theme. The purple color theme remained consistent until it was recently replaced with a blue color theme.

In early 2001 Date.com offered an in-house Astrologer that would “guide you via the stars to your soul mate.”

In January of 2002, Date.com ran a campaign specifically targeted toward members of the military away in other countries serving military duties. Operation Love-Link, as named by Date.com, was a project designed to help single members of the United States armed forces correspond via e-mail with singles in the States and elsewhere. From January through the end of February, members of the military were able to join Date.com for free with a special military code.

In July of 2002, Date.com membership surpassed 2 million active members, a four-fold increase since the start of that year. Date.com defined active members as “those who have used Date.com in the past 90 days, include those who post profiles on the site, conduct searches of Date.com's profile database, indicate general interest in someone who posted a Date.com profile and/or become a paid member in order to send more detailed e-mail correspondence to another member.”

In September of 2002 Date.com was boasting 200,000 new members per month, 50,000 new members a week.

In September of 2003 Date.com went through a major site design and changed its slogan from “A New Way to Date” to “A Community with Millions of Beautiful Singles”. Date.com does not currently sport a slogan.

In early 2006, Date.com acquired online dating service Matchmaker.

Fun Fact About Date.com
Date.com has also consistently run a series of pop-culture and relationship focused polls on their site, announcing results in press releases throughout the years. Some of the poll topics have included the most desired Valentine’s Day date, what users would do if their partner was unfaithful, whether women would prefer Batman over Superman (Superman won), and top ten tips for dating on a shoestring budget.

Related Links:
» Bio of Meir Strahlberg
» Date.com Acquires Matchmaker

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