iDate Brazil 2013 conference photos

The "South American Dating Conference" in Brazil was one of the most important events for the LATAM dating industry.

Please read South American Market / 2 tips

Top 86 tips from iDate 2013 Cologne (Köln)

Mark Brooks had published a list of Top 86 tips from iDate 2013 Cologne (Köln).

Not sure if they had talked about the future of the Online Dating Industry.
Worldwide there are less than 7 million paid members (adding up all the ones at eHarmony, Match, Chemistry, Meetic, MeeticAffinity, OkCupid, PeopleMedia's Communities, PlentyOfFish, Parship/eCift, and others). The market remains enormous for new players.

The Online Dating Industry needs to kill the Matchmaking Industry, like computers killed typewriters.

- Legislation for example. Perhaps the SPIN  (Seriöse Partnersuche im Internet) Kodex can evolve as a prospective NEW Legislation for Online Dating Sites to force them disclose how many active members they have (Premium members: paid or with gift subscriptions) ?
And also force them to conduct ID verification ?
Actually, the Online Dating Industry has no/weak Legislation, no ID verification, low reliable background checks, no Quality Norms.
No one compatibility matching method is Scientifically Proven.
A variety of new laws, or new interpretations of existing laws, could subject dating sites to claims or otherwise harm their business. (extracted from IAC SEC filing)


 

- Innovations for the Online Dating Industry.
NO INNOVATIONS SINCE YEARS IN THE ONLINE DATING INDUSTRY.
C level executives are cooking barbecues under the water (selling smoke) and not paying attention to latest research from Academics which could be beneficial for the Online Dating Industry. Wasting precious time with Matchmakers which should be obsolete.  
eHarmony , True, PerfectMatch, MeeticAffinity, Parship, Be2, PlentyOfFish, Chemistry and others have a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms.
The Online Dating Industry does not need a 10% improvement, a 50% improvement or a 100% improvement. It does need "a 100 times better improvement" , a BIG innovation.
Actual matching algorithms used by eHarmony, Chemistry, PlentyOfFish and others, even behavioural recommender systems, can not be improved, they need to be discarded NOW. Because they are in the range of 3 to 4 prospective mates as selected / recommended / compatible for dating purposes per 1,000 members screened in the database. They all 3 are performing the same for serious daters, with a high percentage of false positives, like gun machines firing flowers.
They can not break the online dating sound barrier!
You do not need to improve a piston engine when you need a jet engine to break sound barrier.

Also Personality Based Recommender Systems are the next generation of recommender systems because they perform far better than Behavioural ones (past actions and pattern of personal preferences)
That is the only way to improve recommender systems, to include the personality traits of their users. They need to calculate personality similarity between users but there are different formulas to calculate similarity.
Recommender systems are morphing to ......... compatibility matching engines, as the same used in the Online Dating Industry since years, with low success rates, because they mostly use the Big5 to assess personality and the Pearson correlation coefficient to calculate similarity.
(Personality traits are highly stable in persons over 25 years old to 45 years old)

Please read also:
The power of word of mouth killed Be2!
EliteMedianet GmbH. won lawsuit against Consumer Protection Center of Hamburg (VZHH).  

Photos from iDate Beverly Hills Conference last June 5-7, 2013

Some photos from iDate Beverly Hills Conference last June 5-7, 201,the "Mobile Dating Conference" in Los Angeles.

- Mobile phones and tablets continue to account for a growing amount of digital traffic.
The  mobile concept evolving, meaning tablets with Wi-Fi Network access

The Online Dating Industry needs to kill the Matchmaking Industry, like computers killed typewriters. 
 Even Mark Brooks had posted about " iDating Industry Misses The Boat".
 NO INNOVATIONS SINCE YEARS IN THE ONLINE DATING INDUSTRY.

iDate Beverly Hills 2013

iDate Beverly Hills 2013: very few people went there, less than 50 attendees?

Check this 360º photo
and the few mentions they had on Twitter:
#iDate
#iDate2013

Fresh Conferences for the Online Dating Industry.

Recently, 2 conferences were held for the Online Dating Industry.


iDate2013 Las Vegas and OnlineDatingSummit Miami, USA, nearly at the same time.

 Both conferences were fruitless for end users, for daters.

NO INNOVATIONS SINCE YEARS IN THE ONLINE DATING INDUSTRY.

C level executives do not  pay attention to latest research from Academics which could be beneficial for the Online Dating Industry. 
Paid online dating sites have high acquisition costs, they can not abandon the attracting, converting and retaining marketing stages; the automatic renewal of their members's subscriptions with dirty credit-card billing trickery.

They can not innovate any more and waste precious time with Matchmakers which are obsolete, like typewriters.  The masterminds behind IAC personals (Match, Chemistry, OKCupid, SinglesNet, Meetic, MeeticAffinity, ParPerfeito, People's Media Communities and others) can not innovate any more and plan to acquire 2 companies soon ???


Moreover they did not pay the attention the Latin American Market deserves.


The Simpsons, Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, WordPress, Google, Hotmail, Yahoo, YouTube, Blogger, Wikipedia, Bing, Twitter, Skype are BIG successes in Argentina!!!
I have the theory that if something is successful in Argentina, it could be a success in the World.
If it can NOT be a success here in Argentina, it will definitely NOT be a success in the World.
NO online dating company (for serious daters) has success here in Argentina nor Brazil or other Latin American country.

Some pics from iDate2013, with my thoughts

Some pics from iDate2013, with my thoughts.

NO INNOVATIONS SINCE YEARS IN THE ONLINE DATING INDUSTRY.
C level executives are cooking barbecues under the water (selling smoke) and not paying attention to latest research from Academics which could be beneficial for the Online Dating Industry. Wasting precious time with Matchmakers which should be obsolete.

From iDate2004 to iDate2013 / FINAL CONCLUSIONS

10 iDate Superconferences

iDate2004
iDate2005
iDate2006
iDate2007
iDate2008
iDate2009
iDate2010
iDate2011
iDate2012
iDate2013 
FINAL CONCLUSIONS FROM 10 useless SUPERCONFERENCES:


1)  Matchmaking Industry.
The Online Dating Industry should had killed the Matchmaking Industry and other Offline Dating Proposals since some years ago, but they are still alive, rosy and with good health. The Matchmaking Industry is a USD 1,000 million in USA and Canada and another USD 1,000 million in Europe. WorldWide, the Matchmaking Industry is over USD 2,000 million industry.
The Online Dating Industry needs to kill the Matchmaking Industry, like computers killed typewriters. There is no room for both.

2) WorldWide paying members.
Worldwide there are less than 7 million paid members (adding up all the ones at eHarmony, Match, Chemistry, Meetic, MeeticAffinity, OkCupid, PeopleMedia's Communities, PlentyOfFish, Parship/eCift, etc). The market remains enormous for new players.

3)  Traffic from the majority of paid dating sites declined sharply since 2009 and continues (True, PerfectMatch, Chemistry, eHarmony, Parship, MeeticAffinity, Be2). Free/ freemium Online Dating Sites like OKCupid and PlentyOfFish increased their traffic but reached operating ceiling. If paid sites are offering the same as free sites, where is the need to pay? Mobile migration is a big challenge for free/ freemium Online Dating Sites like OKCupid and PlentyOfFish because they can not monetize as much as from desktops.

4) The biggest scammers are not from Ghana or Nigeria.
Some dating sites, what all they did since 1995 until now, were scamming paying members with marketing and credit card billing trickery. The Online Dating Industry needs a major earthquake or a major cataclysm to extinguish those large dinosaurs.

5) C-Level executives are more worried about their golf scores than their company's long term strategy and innovations. They attend iDate conferences to discuss stupidities, like if Annie is pregnant or not, but not talking about Innovations, Legislation, ID verification, background checks, Quality Norms for the Online Dating Industry (the Big Agenda).

6) No innovations since years for the Online Dating Industry.
The entire Online Dating Industry for serious daters in 1st World Countries is a HOAX, performing as a Big Online Casino, with a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms (less than 10%), in the same range as searching by your own.
Innovations are not adding more bells and whistles to actual online dating sites.
The Online Dating Industry is waiting for the innovative compatibility matching method which can kill the Matchmaking Industry and other Offline Dating Proposals.
The Online Dating Industry needs innovations. But innovations will definitively come from new discoveries on Theories of Romantic Relationships Development.
I) Several studies showing contraceptive pills users make different mate choices, on average, compared to non-users.
II) People often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life. (Behavioural recommender systems or other system that learns your preferences are useless)
III) The STRICT personality similarity axis: compatibility is all about a high level on personality* similarity* between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
*personality measured with a normative test.
*similarity: there are different ways to calculate similarity, it depends on how mathematically is defined.
Also Personality Based Recommender Systems are the next generation of recommender systems because they perform FAR better than Behavioural ones (past actions and pattern of personal preferences)
That is the only way to improve recommender systems, to include the personality traits of their users and they need to calculate personality similarity between them.

WorldWide, there are over 5,000 -five thousand- online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 (or similar) to assess personality of its members!
but no one calculates similarity with a quantized pattern comparison method!
but no one can show Compatibility Distribution Curves to each and every of its members!
but no one is scientifically proven!

I had reviewed over 55 compatibility matching engines intended for serious dating since 2003, when I had discovered "the online dating sound barrier" problem.

Breaking "the online dating sound barrier" is to achieve at least:
3 most compatible persons in a 100,000 persons database.
12 most compatible persons in a 1,000,000 persons database.
48 most compatible persons in a 10,000,000 persons database.
100 times better than Compatibility Matching Algorithms used by actual online dating sites!

The only way to achieve that is:
- using the 16PF5 normative personality test, available in different languages to assess personality of members, or a proprietary test with exactly the same traits of the 16PF5.
The ensemble of the 16PF5 is: 10E16, big number as All World Population is nearly 7.0 * 10E9
- expressing compatibility with eight decimals, like The pattern 6.7.6.8.9.6.7.7.8.7.2.5.8.7.3.4 is 92.55033557% +/- 0.00000001% similar to the pattern 7.7.6.8.8.7.6.5.8.7.4.5.7.7.3.4
Using a quantized pattern comparison method (part of pattern recognition by cross-correlation) to calculate similarity between prospective mates.

That is the only way to INNOVATE and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry.

High precision in matching algorithms is precisely the key to open the door and leave the infancy of compatibility testing.
It is all about achieving the eighth decimal!
With 8 decimals, you have more precision than any person could achieve by searching on one's own, but the only way to achieve the eighth decimal is using analysis and correlation with quantized patterns.


Without offering the NORMATIVE16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry
All other proposals are NOISE and perform as placebo.

NO INNOVATIONS SINCE YEARS!!!

The Online Dating Industry will run 2 conferences soon.

Las Vegas and Miami, nearly at the same time.

The truth is: there is no innovations since years!

The Journalist Dan Slater had written the book "Love in the Time of Algorithms: What Technology Does to Meeting and Mating", but he analyzed actual online dating sites like eHarmony, PerfectMatch, Chemistry, PlentyOfFish, MeeticAffinity, True and others offering compatibillity matching methods which are obsolete since years!

The entire Online Dating Industry for serious daters in 1st World Countries is a HOAX, performing as a Big Online Casino, with a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms (less than 10%). In the same range as searching by your own.
The Online Dating Industry needs a major cataclysm to extinguish the big, old and obsolete dinosaurs (eHarmony, Match/Chemistry, PerfectMatch, Meetic, Parship, even PlentyOfFish, etc).
Soon … or later, that cataclysm will occur.

WorldWide, there are over 5,000 -five thousand- online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 (or similar) to assess personality of its members!
but no one calculates similarity with a quantized pattern comparison method!
but no one can show Compatibility Distribution Curves to each and every of its members!
but no one is scientifically proven!

I had reviewed over 55 compatibility matching engines intended for serious dating since 2003, when I had discovered "the online dating sound barrier" problem.

Breaking "the online dating sound barrier" is to achieve at least:
3 most compatible persons in a 100,000 persons database.
12 most compatible persons in a 1,000,000 persons database.
48 most compatible persons in a 10,000,000 persons database.
100 times better than Compatibility Matching Algorithms used by actual online dating sites!

The only way to achieve that is:
- using the 16PF5 normative personality test, available in different languages to assess personality of members, or a proprietary test with exactly the same traits of the 16PF5.
The ensemble of the 16PF5 is: 10E16, big number as All World Population is nearly 7.0 * 10E9
- expressing compatibility with eight decimals, like The pattern 6.7.6.8.9.6.7.7.8.7.2.5.8.7.3.4 is 92.55033557% +/- 0.00000001% similar to the pattern 7.7.6.8.8.7.6.5.8.7.4.5.7.7.3.4
Using a quantized pattern comparison method (part of pattern recognition by cross-correlation) to calculate similarity between prospective mates.

That is the only way to INNOVATE and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry.

High precision in matching algorithms is precisely the key to open the door and leave the infancy of compatibility testing.
It is all about achieving the eighth decimal!
With 8 decimals, you have more precision than any person could achieve by searching on one's own, but the only way to achieve the eighth decimal is using analysis and correlation with quantized patterns.


Without offering the NORMATIVE16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry
All other proposals are NOISE and perform as placebo.

the Obsolescence of Dating Sites / part 2

Last year I had written about the Obsolescence of Dating Sites offering Compatibility Matching Methods.
No one of them can prove its matching algorithm can match prospective partners who will have more stable and satisfying relationships than couples matched by chance, astrological destiny, personal preferences, searching on one’s own, or other technique as the control group in a peer_reviewed Scientific Paper.
All of them have a low effectiveness/efficiency level of their matching algorithms (less than 10%). The majority, over 90% of its members are not going to achieve a long term relationship with commitment (or marriage)

All of them are like placebo, because
* Actual online dating sites offering compatibility matching methods, when calculating compatibility between prospective mates, have less or at least the same precision as searching on one’s own. [in the range of 3 or 4 persons compatible per 1,000 persons screened]
* That is because they use:
a) simplified versions of personality traits, instead of the 16PF5 or similar with the complete inventory (16 variables)
b) inadequate quantitative methods to calculate compatibility between prospective mates
The writer and journalist Lori Gottlieb (March 2006) noted about the growing number of Internet dating sites that are using the science of attraction to match singles: “their efforts mark the early days of a social experiment of unprecedented proportions, involving millions of couples and possibly extending over the course of generations”
WorldWide, there are over 5,000 -five thousand- online dating sites
but no one is using the 16PF5 to assess personality of its members!
but no one calculates similarity with a quantized pattern comparison method!
but no one can show Compatibility Distribution Curves to each and every of its members!
but no one is scientifically proven!
Dr. Neil Clark Warren, CEO Of eHarmony, plans to speak at iDate2013 Las Vegas Superconference (I hope it will not be a virtual meeting or showing a pre-recorded video).

“Dr. Warren will participate in a 45 minute Q&A session on the company and the direction of the dating industry. iDate2013.com will be January 16-19, 2013 in Las Vegas and is the largest business event of the year, with the majority of CEOs present”
Or perhaps he plans to attend there in order to close the deal with the CEO of Match (IAC) and sell eHarmony for USD1Billion.


I had challenged eHarmony’s Team, several times, to replace eHarmony, a 12+ years old amp; obsolete site, performing as placebo, with a a new site with a new matching algorithm using the 16PF5 test or similar including the 3 latest discoveries in theories of romantic relationships development with commitment.
I) Several studies showing contraceptive pills users make different mate choices, on average, compared to non-users. “Only short-term but not long-term partner preferences tend to vary with the menstrual cycle”
II) People often report partner preferences that are not compatible with their choices in real life. (Behavioural recommender systems or other system that learns your preferences are useless)
III) What is important in attracting people to one another may not be important in making couples happy. Compatibility is all about a high level on personality similarity between prospective mates for long term mating with commitment.
Also there is a similarity trilogy between genetic, mate choice and personality based recommender systems.
But …. eHarmony’s Team don’t want to innovate in nothing and they will collapse next March 2013.
The only way to revolutionize the Online Dating Industry is using the 16PF5 normative personality test, available in different languages to assess personality of members, or a proprietary test with exactly the same traits of the 16PF5 and expressing compatibility with eight decimals (needs a quantized pattern comparison method, part of pattern recognition by cross-correlation, to calculate similarity between prospective mates.)
High precision in matching algorithms is precisely the key to open the door and leave the infancy of compatibility testing.
It is all about achieving the eighth decimal!
With 8 decimals, you have more precision than any person could achieve by searching on one’s own, but the only way to achieve the eighth decimal is using analysis and correlation with quantized patterns.
Without offering the NORMATIVE16PF5 (or similar test measuring exactly the 16 personality factors) for serious dating, it will be impossible to innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry
All other proposals are NOISE and perform as placebo.