Author Topic: Other Sites  (Read 5808 times)

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Paul Todd

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #15 on: November 12, 2009, 12:27:21 am »
Chinese Flock to Virtual Apartments for Dating

With over 1.3 billion people, China and its urban centers are becoming increasingly crowded, complicating the already thorny search for love and stability. A new site for Chinese singles,  purports to make the search for domestic bliss a bit easier.

iPartment, the latest online craze in China, is a social networking, and online dating site where users create their own virtual apartment (with pets, gardens, and games) and then spend their time looking for someone else to share it with. The idea is pretty simple: use the appeal of online accessorizing and homemaking to attract a bunch single girls to the site, convince the guys that if they want to have a chance with the ladies, they'd better join, too... and voilà.

The site has exploded recently, especially among Chinese singles who are looking for a simulation of what it means to share a life with somebody. A 23-year-old female student at Shanghai University told China daily that if her relationship with her iPartment boyfriend gets serious, she just "might go out and see him someday."

Started in Taiwan, iPartment (or "Love Apartment" in Chinese) now has over 20 million users, and continues to grow. With surging revenue coming from advertising like Starbucks, Dior, and Estée Lauder and micropayments and VIP memberships, the site appears to be successfully converting social networking into serious profit.

Offline wilsbrough

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #16 on: November 12, 2009, 02:44:14 am »
Sounds a bit like the one over here called Second Life. There was a report in the paper were there was this married couple (who met online) The lady caught her husbands avatar with another lady on the program, she said her husband was 'cheating' on her, so she divorced him in real life....!! Personally, i agree with online dating but i feel some of these programs are going too far, if you want to experience something, go out and do it. we do not need programs creating characters to do things for us because we are too lazy to get out of our homes and do it ourselves... Sorry, i'm Going a little off topic here.....:icon_cheesygrin:

Andy.
Every now and then i get a little bit nervous at the death of all the years have gone by....!

Offline wilsbrough

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #17 on: November 28, 2009, 05:59:25 pm »
Well Guy's, i have just got back from my 1st date with a gal from Chineselove links, i have to say tho the site is a bit of a shotgun approach to getting anywhere, all the girls i was in some sort of contact with, well did not really get anywhere past a few emails and sms's, tho it can be a little annoying as in my profile i had stated the age of lady i was looking for and within the UK, i will say that ALL but one of my interested notes from girls were from China....! Several had no English skill, and did not want to move out of China..... I mean, why bother sending me notes then? I also had one 51yr old contacting me (i'm 36!) hey i will go a bit older, but i do want kids too, so 51?? But if any of you guy's are nearing getting your free public transport age, let me know and i'll pass her your details....:icon_cheesygrin:

So, anyway, i think i mentioned elsewhere this girl had no profile pic on the site....:huh: said she was attractive, 5'4, 41kg and want a man 6'+ But with no picture i was thinking what is she hiding??? We had several messenger chats and voice calls too, but at every request she said no to sending me pictures, to be honest, if this was with a girl on Chnlove, i would have thought i was being played and bailed long ago, but as i did not seem to be getting anywhere with anyone else on the site (there are a couple of promising emails still) but as she lives only 6 miles from me i asked her out and she said yes. 'But how will i recognise you?' i kept asking her. 'But i will recognise you' she kept saying as i had sent her pics of me in the hope she would respond with the same. I though 1 of 2 things, either she is lying on her profile and is really a swamp donkey, or she want to hide herself from me, and so if she does not like what she sees at where we were meeting, she could just jog on and i would be none the wiser....

Anyway all today, i was getting the same nerves as when i went to China, 'will she be there?' 'what the hell is she gonna look like?' But in all honesty a drive to a restaurant in Crystal Palace, (20mins) Not as bad as a 11 hour flight to China if it did go all pear shaped right? :) So anyhow, i get to the restaurant a little early (5 mins) and i was the only customer there so she had not turned up yet, 20 mins later, still no show. (nearly finished my first beer already...:icon_cheesygrin:) So, i send her a text asking how far away she was, not really expecting a reply then the phone rang, she was just parking and was asking me directions to the restaurant...Soon, the door opened and what i thought was a late 20 something girl walked in looking around. 'That's not her' i thought as she is 37, and to be honest, without being sent a picture i really was expecting the worse, we made eye contact to which she smiled and started to walk over. Damn... that IS her, everything she said in her profile was true, very attractive, and slim. I cant think why she does not put her picture up, actually i'm glad she hasn't now, as if she had there would be a lot more competition for me....:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin: We had a good meal, seem to get on well, i seemed to make her laugh, obviously there was the first date nerves on both sides, but we appeared to enjoyed each others company, she has been here 10 years now so has pretty much perfect English, i thought she looked sweet when eating her food as she kept looking down and covering her mouth when she chewed, for some reason i found that quite endearing. Sadly it was a cold wet night, and she is not into the noisy busy pubs, pretty much every pub in Crystal palace on a wet saturday night was busy and noisy, she likes to play pool so we were looking for somewhere with a table, this did not happen, so we ended up sitting in my car chatting for a while, after which as it was raining pretty heavily, i drove her back to where her car was parked and we said goodnight. There was no physical contact at all, but apart from the weather i thought it had gone well, but you never know what the other person thought right? So on the way home i sent her a sms thanking her for joining me, saying i had enjoyed her company an hoped to see her again, I got a reply from her thanking me for a lovely dinner, yes she would like to see me again, and maybe we could go to my holiday home in Brighton next time.....! (i have already told her there is only 1 double bed there in a previous msn chat...!:icon_cheesygrin:) Fingers crossed but it looks like trying a new site has possibly worked for me, i guess time will tell eh? All i can say is watch this space....

Andy....
Every now and then i get a little bit nervous at the death of all the years have gone by....!

ttwjr32

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #18 on: November 28, 2009, 06:16:00 pm »
that is were i met my wife but i still had to go to china hahaha
   now i am living here and we have a wonderful life together
 keep us posted on the turn of events

Offline mustfocus

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #19 on: November 28, 2009, 06:22:48 pm »
Good for you Andy,

I really hope this works out for you.
梦醒时分 - Meng Xing Shi Fen

Vince G

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #20 on: November 28, 2009, 06:37:48 pm »
Andy, ya never know?

Offline Neil

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #21 on: November 28, 2009, 08:52:56 pm »
Ha.  That's awesome Andy.  Just goes to show, you can't win if you don't play the game.  Good luck to you.
...as irresistible as chocolate

Offline JimB

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #22 on: November 28, 2009, 10:13:43 pm »
And she is in the same time zone.  That is also very cool.
Maxx's 24 hour rule, learn it, live it.

Offline wilsbrough

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #23 on: November 29, 2009, 12:18:04 pm »
Thanks for your replies guy's....:icon_cheesygrin: And your right Jim, it's pretty good we can chat every day without either getting up very early, or having to stay up till the early hours just so we can say hello.....:)
Every now and then i get a little bit nervous at the death of all the years have gone by....!

Vince G

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #24 on: November 30, 2009, 03:16:36 pm »
I know about it but I haven't tried to make any contact. But I suppose like here in the states, they're scammers. On Craigslist personal section I would say 85% of any connection post is  a scammer. For the US it's mostly the same people posted in any city. Jobs as well? Most are scammers. that's why they started charging for posting (jobs).

For the personals they aren't really scammers but named that. They are the ones you reply to and get a response back as "want to see more? go to this web page, or chat room. BS
« Last Edit: November 30, 2009, 03:19:20 pm by Vince G »

shaun

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #25 on: November 30, 2009, 06:50:49 pm »
I never thought about Craigslist. Just looked at it and am not impressed but it is thinking differently so I think it is an option. it is kind of taking a shot in the dark so to speak.  For those who might try it, Good luck.

Shaun

Offline maxx

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #26 on: December 01, 2009, 12:31:28 am »
Has anybody tried the Wilson site? if so I would like to hear about your experience so far.

Paul Todd

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #27 on: December 01, 2009, 02:09:52 am »
I came across this, Sorry it's so long but I've dropped in some links so you can get an idea of the Chinese dating scene and the numbers involved. You will, have to translate them and I don't know if you can register but it might be interesting to try!
 
Internet matchmaking blooms in China
 
When May Yao talks about love, she could be discussing a business plan, not a matter of the heart. She is 25, attractive, successful -- a graduate from the prestigious Peking University. She works for a real estate company, owns two apartments valued at $260,000 each and drives a BMW. Now, she is looking for success in her romantic life, too: She hired Internet "love counselors" to help her find a husband. "After age 25, you are not as beautiful," she said. "It is like the stock market: You want to sell at the peak." It's girl-wants-to-meet-boy, modern Chinese-style. There is a certain drive to couple up -- something akin to the way Chinese young people seek educational and professional perfection. "That's something people in Silicon Valley don't appreciate -- how intense people are here," observed venture capitalist Gary Rieschel, who relocated from California's Silicon Valley to Shanghai and is looking to invest in a dating Web site.

Dating sites are among the hottest new slices of China's emerging Internet market. In a nation where young people have traditionally relied on parents, friends and even professional matchmakers to help find a mate, the Internet is emerging as a great leap forward in the search for Mr. and Ms. Right. Dating sites are blossoming in what could become the greatest matchmaking market known to humankind: China's 130 million (and growing) online users. "Society is changing very fast," observed Gong Hai Yan, founder and chief executive of  http://love21cn.com/, one of China's early dating Web sites. "Young people are moving to the big cities, but they don't have friends and family living there."

The Internet dating and "friend-making" industry in China is forecast to be an $80 million industry by next year, according to Shanghai-based iResearch.

As the Web love markets in the United States and Europe mature with slow-growth forecasts, China's increasingly upwardly mobile young people -- who still face intense parental and societal pressures to get hitched in their 20s or early 30s -- are causing U.S. Internet giants to look East. Foreign investors and companies can't help but be attracted to China's Internet masses, though so far the love has been one-sided as U.S. Internet powerhouses, from Google to Amazon, have struggled to figure out a way to woo Chinese consumers. "The middle class is emerging in China," observed Diane Wang, co-founder of Joyo.com, which Amazon.com acquired for $75 million. "They have buying power. It's a market no one can ignore, that's the reality." And when it comes to love, the Chinese are ardent consumers.

"The Chinese younger generation are more independent," said Aiguo Fan, general secretary of the China Marriage and Family Institute. "They don't rely on their parents as they did before." Eager May Yao admits she's "very picky." "I want to find a boy who has as good a career as me. But I can't find too many boys like that," she said.

Yao also wants someone with whom she can communicate. She thinks she may have found her match through Baihe.com, which suggests possible dates based on personality tests and, for those willing to pay fees ranging from $480 to nearly $900 a year, offers love counselors to help with the search. Still, her parents may need to be sold on him: His college does not match hers in prestige. And he left Hewlett-Packard to launch a start-up.

Young people grew suspicious of the first wave of dating sites -- services that offered little more than quick ways to post profiles, which led to numerous stories of sex, lies and disappointment. Today's leading sites are focused on providing some sort of filters to help people find long-term partners, observed Yun Ma. He is chief executive of eFriendsNet, which includes casual dating service Yeeyoo.com and  http://meetic.com.cn/ , aimed at marriage-minded searchers.

www.yeeyoo.com/  borrowed a page from Palo Alto, Calif.-based social networking site Facebook.com -- what Ma jokingly calls his "C to C" business model, or "Copy to China." But then he and other founders worked China Internet hours -- 7 a.m. to midnight, and weekends, too -- devising a relationships Web site that is culturally relevant to China's don't-trust-a-stranger culture. It now has 11 million registered users, garnered $4 million in revenue last year and is profitable. Users of his site, which generates money through ads and by billing customers through their monthly mobile bills, can verify the accuracy of people they meet online through their online web of friends and associates. His site offers a feature in which members receive a mobile phone text message when someone is interested in their profile, a key service in a culture that is not as e-mail centric as the United States.

http://www.baihe.com/, which has $11 million in backing from a handful of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, is relying on its love counselors to attract paying customers. Baihe (pronounced "buy-huh") uses an online banking system to process payments, though co-founder Jason Tian admits it's not ideal because many people don't have access to the system. Baihe, which means flower lily, the symbol for 100 years of a good marriage, has about 8 million registered users. The Web site markets itself particularly to women, who are more apt to pay for the additional matchmaking help.

In rural China, for every 100 females, there are 117 males, a skewed ratio caused in part by China's one-child policy and the desire of couples to have a boy over a girl. But those female advantages don't play out in the large cities. One reason is that even as women become more educated and professionally successful, tradition still dictates they marry up -- ideal husbands need to have more prestigious resumes and heftier bank accounts -- making their selection even more selective. And while it is becoming more acceptable for women in cities like Beijing and Shanghai to wait longer to marry (from an average coaches. The advice can be as simple as telling the guy to send roses. "A lot of our users are shy," Tian said. China's one-child policy has resulted in a generation of young people who grew up being the center of attention of six adoring adults -- parents and grandparents. So the counselors also help them grapple with basic relationship skills. "They have to learn they can't get everything they want," Tian said.

Though divorce rates in the big cities are now about 50 percent, marriage still confers a certain social standing. "If a woman is 30 and not married, people will think there is something wrong with her," said Maggie Xie, Baihe.com's financial controller. "In business, a married man is viewed as more reliable."

Baihe.com, like other dating sites, organizes revenue-generating singles events, which include games and other activities. They reflect cultural preferences among Chinese for group gatherings as social icebreakers. Overseas Chinese men, and even foreign-born guys, are big hits; numerous dating sites are looking at developing ways to link their female customers to males living abroad. When foreigners show up to these events, something akin to a feeding frenzy ensues.

The search for blue-chip mates played out on one recent Saturday afternoon, with about 200 showing up to a Baihe.com love connection at a Beijing hotel. As with most of these events, women outnumbered men about 7-to-3. They sat in circles and participated in various games and singalongs before rotating seats. Love counselors were on hand, just in case.

What these events often lack are "A-level" men, guys who fit the hard-and-fast criteria successful women demand, Xie said, looking on. These prime male candidates, she speculated, are more concerned about their careers and are probably working. The tough scrutiny they'd face may also keep them away.

Tommy Tang, a 34-year-old employee at a security company, described the Beijing dating scene as something akin to emotional bumper cars. "Most of the females leave me after the first date because I don't have a house or a car -- and I'm short," he said. The experience, though, can be equally blunt and bruising for the women. After several hours of socializing, the event came to a close with the Lineup. Women stood against the walls of the large hotel meeting room. Then the men circled, handing out cards to the ones they'd like to get to know.

Zhao Yuping, 28, left carrying a fistful of Mr. Maybes. Still, she wasn't too pleased with the day's catch. So a frowning Zhao decided on Plan B -- sending her mother out to Zhongshan Park in central Beijing, where parents parade with pictures of their children, hoping to strike a deal with another parent. "I plan to ask my mother to go there and help me find someone," Zhao said. Preferably, she quickly added, a man who owns a house.

Offline jeffm

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #28 on: December 03, 2009, 11:04:32 am »
Quote from: 'Paul Todd' pid='22666' dateline='1258003641'

Chinese Flock to Virtual Apartments for Dating

With over 1.3 billion people, China and its urban centers are becoming increasingly crowded, complicating the already thorny search for love and stability. A new site for Chinese singles,  purports to make the search for domestic bliss a bit easier.

iPartment, the latest online craze in China, is a social networking, and online dating site where users create their own virtual apartment (with pets, gardens, and games) and then spend their time looking for someone else to share it with. The idea is pretty simple: use the appeal of online accessorizing and homemaking to attract a bunch single girls to the site, convince the guys that if they want to have a chance with the ladies, they'd better join, too... and voilà.

The site has exploded recently, especially among Chinese singles who are looking for a simulation of what it means to share a life with somebody. A 23-year-old female student at Shanghai University told China daily that if her relationship with her iPartment boyfriend gets serious, she just "might go out and see him someday."

Started in Taiwan, iPartment (or "Love Apartment" in Chinese) now has over 20 million users, and continues to grow. With surging revenue coming from advertising like Starbucks, Dior, and Estée Lauder and micropayments and VIP memberships, the site appears to be successfully converting social networking into serious profit.


problem is that it is only in chinese.
Watch what people do not what they say

Offline Irishman

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RE: Other Sites
« Reply #29 on: December 03, 2009, 11:43:11 am »
Great read as usual Paul.
Sunny told me that every Chinese girl wants to marry a man that has a house, she said its usually the first question the parents usually ask, quite different to here.

I was saving to buy when the housing crash here seems to be near the bottom (probably another 2-5 years, we had the mother of all housing booms here - prices quadrupled in the last ten years, no exaggerating and are almost 50% back, but most people expect another 20% at least before bottom) but the time-scale got moved up.
I'm going to hold out as long as possible and will drive as hard a bargain as possible, i really don't want to be in negative equity as soon as i pull out of the driveway which i would certainly be if i bought today.
Become the change you want today, or all your tomorrows will be like yesterday.