Online Dating Magazine > Interviews > David Evans

Note: This interview was originally conducted in late 2005. Since that time, Evans Profile Doctor service has closed down, thus we've removed all links to it.

Online Dating Magazine Interview with David Evans About the Online Dating Industry

Two years ago, Online Dating Magazine interviewed David Evans when he was running Profile Doctor. Since then, Evans has expanded his presence to include a well-maintained blog covering the online dating industry. The Corante Online Dating Insider blog is updated several times a week with industry information provided by Evans, who has more than 10 year of experience with market research and analysis consulting. His consulting has expanded into the online dating industry where he also finds himself doing seminars and news appearances.

Online Dating Magazine publisher Joe Tracy recently caught up with the busy Evans to get his thoughts on happenings within the online dating industry.

ODM: We interviewed you awhile ago when you were running Profile Doctor. Do you still do that? What inspired you to start doing a blog about the industry?

David Evans: I started blogging in 2002 because I enjoy writing and technology and keeping up with emerging Internet trends. I wrote some blog-like software in 1996 and have always been fascinated with the idea that everything old is new again. I was blogging about dating because of my involvement with Profile Doctor and understood the power of exposure and influence that blogs can deliver.

As of today, Profile Doctor has over 50 online dating site affiliates and partners. After attempting to integrate with tier one dating sites, we have adopted a successful search engine advertising and affiliate marketing program.

ODM: What new trends are you seeing develop within the online dating industry?

David Evans: Niche sites continue to grow and show that a small community that is focused on specific needs and interests can flourish.

Sites big and small continue to add features such as blogs, tagging, matchmaking and personality tests.

Open profiles will let you manage your dating site communications from your desktop and not have to log into multiple sites to deal with all your profiles.

ODM: Tell us more about "open profiles".

David Evans: Open profiles enable users to maintain a single, context-sensitive profile. Last time I counted, I had about 35 different profiles on various dating, business networking, banking, photo sharing and other types of services. Your open profile would contain everything from you public email address, to your banking information, Paypal login, photos, likes and dislikes, and any other information that would be used across the sites you frequent.

Depending on how it's accessed, your dating profile would show data like About Me, My Interests, Who I'm Looking For as well as favorite books and movies. Your banking or medical profile would have more personal, sensitive data like social security numbers, blood type, diseases, etc.

This could lead to empowering consumers to take back their data from corporations. For example, a central location for your stored advertising preferences would be useful. Why let ad-ware vendors track your every move when you could simply let Doubleclick access your advertising and marketing profile?

ODM: What are your thoughts about the lawsuits against Match.com and Yahoo! Personals?

David Evans: Baseless claims. I believe the fraud originates from members, i.e. Russian dating agencies, Nigerian scammers, etc.

Match and Yahoo have 20+ million profiles. There is no need for them to "game the system" with fake profiles at this point. Smaller sites have, however, purchased CDs full of fake profiles and uploaded them to their sites.

The claim that Match employees are going out on dates with members is ludicrous.

ODM: As you know, it's hard for a new online dating service to become a "big player" within the industry. What new service do you think has the best chance of making it and why?

David Evans: Myspace is taking hundreds of thousands of young casual daters away from traditional dating sites. eHarmony.com was the last emerging site to achieve top-5 ranking. PerfectMatch continues to grow yet their success is not assured.

ODM: What is your take on True.com's attempt, through legislation, to get states to force online dating services to do background checks or prominently announce that they don't do background checks?

David Evans: The initiative seems to be losing steam. True.com founders need to focus on their core business as opposed to legal initiatives.

If True wants to be known as a dating site that requires everyone to have a background check, that’s perfectly fine. What’s troubling is that they are relying on a business model based on strong-arming the industry and litigation.

I’ve noticed that True used to say their members were 65% female. Obviously this was not a constant, as they have revised their marketing to rely on cleavage and bikini’s.

This mid-stream change in messaging and demographic may not bode well for their long-term viability.

ODM: What are some new technologies evolving that will benefit online dating services or change the way they are run?

David Evans: Innovation – I was disappointed at how badly FriendFinder botched the Springstreet Networks integration. However the new service, called Fastcupid, has done a good job integrating blogs and other functionality.

Engage.com let's anyone be a matchmaker.

Chemistry.com is Match's new site, which focuses entirely on personality testing, as its primary feature.

RSS feeds are next, enabling you to subscribe to multiple sites and, in conjunction with open profiles, will make the entire online dating experience easier to manage, more fun to experience and create new ways to participate. Yahoo is leading the charge here although some some smaller sites have had subscribable profiles for a while.

Consumating.com was the first dating site to utilize tagging, which I find to be an invaluable tool. Being able to tag yourself and others with words and phrases makes searching and identifying people much easier and even fun.

ODM: Thanks for allowing us into your busy schedule to share an update with our readers. I'd like to close by asking, what is the best advice you have for online daters?

David Evans: Figure out which [sites] are more focused on casual or serious daters depending on your situation. Then join a large site like Yahoo and a few smaller niche sites.

Keep a positive attitude and don’t forget your corner bar, cooking classes and other local events. Online dating is not a replacement for these valuable group activities. Don’t rely 100% on personality tests and remember to have fun.

> Perfectmatch.com - The best approach to find the one. <

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