Well, this article is certainly good news! Sitting down for a coffee break at work and was surprised to see this article in my local newspaper. A little write up about virtuallydating.com
We all talk about how much time we have spent on the site. Well, time sure flies when you are having fun!!!! :-)
C-YA
Matt
Last Updated: Thursday 10 February 2000
NETWORKS
Charleen Tupper:
Use the Net to snare a few virtual love
affairs
Even Cupid, that red-faced cherub, has gone to the Internet to
work his matchmaking magic.
Charleen Tupper Vancouver Sun
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and thoughts turn to romance,
special gifts, and virtual love.
Virtual love? That doesn't sound very romantic. Well, "the Internet changes
everything" according to Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO, including how we
meet people, establish relationships and experience love.
Yes, even Cupid, that red-faced, bow and arrow wielding, cherub, has
gone high-tech. He's working hard these days with his matchmaking magic
at Internet personals and romance sites. He's busy because there are
hundreds of new romance and personals sites being added to the Internet
every month. With so many such sites on the Internet how do you know
which are worth joining? I've put together some tips on the types features
to look for when joining a personals or a romance site. To get you started,
I've reviewed a few local sites, and a sampling of some of the
better-known international sites.
I've rated each site on a scale of one to four hearts. One heart means it's
just okay and four tells you its top notch. The review is based on design,
matchmaking/search capabilities, information/advice, and other interactive
elements like chat rooms.
I haven't included costs. Most sites run about $15 to $25 a month or you
can purchase yearly memberships for under $100. You'll also notice I
didn't give out top marks to anyone, because there is still plenty of room
for development at all the sites, even the top ones.
LOCAL SITES:
VirtuallyDating.com (www.virtuallydating.com) is doing something
different, And it's from Vancouver. Darrin Wong, of Online Innovation,
encourages people to drop by and provide feedback on the site while it's
in its beta version.
He's even giving away a trip for two to the Caribbean during the testing
phase, and free membership for a month for those who participate during
the beta stage.
Virtually Dating will include unique core components such as: individual
member profiles, internal message centre, profile search, the Dressing
Room (a virtual character builder), animated greeting cards, virtual gifts,
2D graphical chat rooms, and daily horoscopes. all delivered in a full
Macromedia Flash and Shockwave environment.
Multi-player games and a "Dear Bridgette" adviser will be added soon.
Check this one out.***
FriendsFirst.com (www.friendsfirst.com) is based in Delta, B.C. , and
owned by Mark Elson and Mohinder Jagpal. This site has existed for well
more than a year and has slowly grown to about 1,350 members. It is
small but friendly and easy to use, and there is a chatroom. FriendsFirst
was created by its owners because of their interest in the psychology of
Internet dating. **
B.C. SinglesNet (www.bcsingles.com). This site has a free one-week trial
and uses videoconferencing in its chatroom. So you'll need a webcam to
be a part of this community. The site focuses on British Columbia
residents. More features and improvements in the design of the site would
be helpful for members. ¦¦
Matchmaker's Canadian Spots: These are One and Only
(www.oneandonly.com) sites designed for the larger Canadian centres,
including Vancouver Singles On-Line
(www.match-maker.-org/vancouver); Calgary Singes On-Line
(www.match-maker.org/calgary) and Toronto Singles On-Line
(www.matchmaker.org/toronto).
These sites are good for meeting people in your geographic area, but are
very low on the list in providing content and interactivity. **
Canada Cyber Singles (www.cybersingles.com). Again , another One and
Only affiliate, drawing from the same database. No content and
interactivity.
INTERNATIONAL SITES:
LovingYou.com (www.lovingyou.com) This site is jammed packed full of
information, has a large membership, is well designed, and has many
interesting forums. It's an excellent reference site for romance, and
community.
Recently it has partnered with Match.com. So, when you click onto their
personals section it takes you the Matchdatabase. This may be the best
site on the web at this time. ***
ThirdAge.com (www.thirdage.com). If you're between 45 and 55 this is a
great site. People are friendly, it is very well designed and there are articles
about relationships. I really liked this one. ***
Match.com (www.match.com) has just gone through a redesign. A lot of
the regulars left because of the changes and the fact that they weren'tƒt
consulted. Lesson one in community development is consult your
members.
This is the largest site on the Net. More than three million singles have used
it. However there are not a lot of people from B.C. in the database.
It has a well-populated chatroom, and have an on-site adviser named
Trish, who also moderates live discussions at the site. Because of the focus
on partnering some of the community feel has gone.
Now that theƒ regularsƒ have left the community has lost a vital part of its
history. Lesson number two in community development is retain community
history. **
Soloparent.com (www.soloparent.com)
This is considered the best site on the Net for single parents, with 229,000
active profiles online (mostly U.S.). An award winner, Soloparent.com
offers singe moms and dads a chat site, forum, love shop, e-zine,
relationship and dating advice and links to parenting-related sources.
Dating services for single parents are a high need on the Net these days.
The content is great and the graphic design is pretty good. **
OTHER SITES:
Many of the new sites are targeted at specific markets. There are religious,
alternative, foreign brides, international, regional, travel, specialty sites and
more. For a more complete listing of sites on the Internet go to
SingleSites.com (www.singlesites.com).
Charleen Tupper (www.vicinities.com/relationships) is a cyberlife
consultant, freelance writer and on-air adviser for CTV's Digital Desk.
You can reach her at CharleenTupper@hotmail.com. |
