Online Dating and Social Networking Industry Forums

Jonathan Crutchley · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Cambridge, MA

I plan to attend the Shanghai conference with one other employee from our company, Online Buddies, Inc. We operate the websites www.manhunt.net and www.manhunt.jp, which are dating websites for gay men in the U. S. and internationally. Our Japanese website has been very slow to catch on (compared with elsewhere), as Japan is very culturally conservative in dealing with gay men. For instance, the Tokyo gay pride parade might have 5,000 participants while the parade in Sao Paolo, Brazil will have 2 million. From what I hear, China's attitude toward gay men is closer to Japan's than to Brazil's, but we're attending the conference to learn more about China and its opportunities for us, and we're prepared to take a long term view.
_________________
Jonathan Crutchley
Chairman, Online Buddies, Inc.

JuliaD · Joined: 19 Feb 2007 Posts: 1

Asian market is a very fast growing one and especially in the sphere of Dating and Networking. Besides, their interests are starting to vary and people become more tolerant and progressive.

That means that very soon gay Dating Sites may be popular there and probably it's evident that it's time to go out ot Asian market and offer new service to be the first and to win the audience.
_________________
Let's start Online Dating Business together!

ramonthomas · Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 1 Location: Johannesburg

Hey Jonathan

You should consider marketing in South Africa. Cape Town is being promoted worldwide as a gay paradise. There is a very large gay community in South Africa. I have two gay friends.

Anyway I can help open some doors for you if you are interested. Please checkout my LinkedIn profile here:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ramonthomas

You can contact me privately if you want to take the discussion further.

Sincerely
Ramon
_________________
-
Ramon Thomas
Dating Expert, South Africa
http://ramonthomas.com
mobile +27829407137
Skype: ramon.thomas

opwmark · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:40 pm Post subject: Last Year

Last year the conference was very focused with some top level executives speaking and attending. It's quite a different experience than the USA iDate. I think there were around 30 attendees last year. There were very few people from the USA in attendance, which was surprising. They are missing a huge opportunity. There are some significant challenges in working with the Chinese market. You will need to consider partnering, for sure. Especially with respect to billing mechanisms. There are significant barriers to entry, and you would expect profitability to come in years, rather than months, but the long term upside in the China market dwarfs the US market. NOW is the time to set up, and iDate is the best first step to take in getting to understand the market. You have to experience it, and hear from the executives there directly. See you there!
_________________
Mark Brooks
Editor, Online Personals Watch
mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com
USA: 212-444-1636, UK: 020 8133 1835