Match.com, the world's largest relationship network, today launches Match My Friends™ and revolutionizes the way people meet online by transforming online dating from a solitary to a more social experience.
Match My Friends™ allows anyone to quickly and easily create a profile for their friend and search for potential dates on their behalf - all without having to have a Match.com profile themselves. After receiving an invitation directly from their friend, the single friend then has the opportunity to enhance and approve the profile before it is ever posted on Match.com.
Current Match.com members can also benefit from Match My Friends™ by inviting friends and family to write personal testimonials, which can then be included on their Match.com profile -- vouching for their character or 'date-ability.' Additionally, existing Match.com members can invite their friends to join! You can help with their profiles, see what they think of yours and help one another search for matches.
"Dating is an inherently social experience that has always involved friends and family. Our members have told us that their friends' opinions on potential dates -- and mates -- are extremely important," said Craig Wax, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Match.com. "With Match My Friends™, Match.com becomes a more social environment, making people more comfortable with online dating by replicating an experience they already have offline."
Match My Friends™ gives friends and singles the power to share the same valuable feedback on potential mates online that is normally offered in offline settings. Additionally, incorporating testimonials on their profile creates a more interactive, shared experience for the single friend, and provides richer information to those looking for someone online, since friends often do a better job of singing our praises than we ever could.
HOW IT WORKS
Match My Friends™ engages friends in two ways. First, anyone can get their friends in the game -- regardless of whether or not they're already a Match.com member. When someone wishes to sign up a single friend, they can create a suggested profile for their friend, upload a photo and even sponsor their friend's subscription. The resulting profile is then sent to the single friend for editing and approval before being posted on Match.com. From here, the "recommender" and single friend can search for and share recommendations on potential dates for the single friend.
Match My Friends™ also allows for personal testimonials to be added to Match.com profiles. Any existing Match.com member can email friends and/or family and ask them to create a short testimonial, which can then be approved by the Match.com member and posted on their profile. The testimonials will offer potential mates a glimpse into the person's life, personality and off-line friendships.
To help new users understand Match My Friends™, Match.com is offering a "How It Works Guide" in partnership with Greg and Amiira Behrendt, authors of He's Just Not That Into You and It's Called A Break-Up Because It's Broken. Greg and Amiira will guide users through the step-by-step process for using Match My Friends™, and offer tips on how to position any friend as superbly dateable. The Match My Friends™ "How It Works Guide" will be available on Match.com to all users.
Match.com
Match.com pioneered online personals when it launched on the Web in 1995 and continues to lead this exciting and evolving category after more than a decade. Throughout its 12-year history, Match.com has helped redefine the way people meet and fall in love and is credited with more marriages than any other site. Today, millions of people around the world participate in the Match.com relationship network, providing a rich tapestry of ethnicities, interests, goals, ambitions, quirks, looks and personalities from which to choose. Match.com operates some of the leading subscription-based online dating sites in 35 countries, in 15 languages and spanning six continents. Match.com also powers online dating on MSN across Europe, Asia, the United States and Latin America and is the premier provider of personals for Love@AOL. Match.com is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).
SOURCE: Match.com
Web site: http://www.match.com/