MatcheNet Makes A Run
Matchnet, better known to the public world as AmericanSingles.com or JDate.com, has filed for an initial public offering. MatchNet is looking for a listing on the NASDAQ to gain capital for marketing and general costs.
I think it makes perfect sense. What impresses me, however, are the numbers and scale of the company:
In the first six months, the company said, it averaged about 5.3 million unique monthly online visitors, which according to an online rating study ranked MatchNet as the second-largest online personals provider among Internet users in the United States.
MatchNet, which started operations in September 1998, said that as of June 30, it had about 9.8 million active members who have posted a personal profile or who have logged on at least once in the last year.
One thing I have been very curious about is the solidarity of dating. By this, I mean how secluded is the activity of dating from the rest of our lives. Online dating sites are very focused on the directory of people and matching them to each other. SNS applications are very focused on the connections, but they stray into other arenas. Friendster is one of the few that is a "dating" SNS, but it really falls down by traditional measures.
Can business and personal co-exist? I tend to think yes, but not in the infrastructure we see in place now.