AOL finds Love -- Finally

http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/10/cx_da_1210topnews.html




NEW YORK - The Dow Jones Industrial Average is flirting with 10,000 and America Online is starting an online dating service. Both these stories could be from March 1999, the "last" time the Dow passed the 10K mark. Actually, the Dow passed this magic milestone a few times between March 1999 and now, but we tend to forget since--on those occasions--the rise was as fleeting as summer love. Which brings us back to AOL and its new service, Love.com.

Online dating is a major social phenomenon--and a business phenomenon, too--so it seems amazing that AOL, now a mere unit of Time Warner (nyse: TWX - news - people ), is just getting into it. It has, of course, been into it already in some ways through its own fledgling service and a partnership with industry leader Match.com, a unit of Ticketmaster and part of USA Interactive (nasdaq: USAI - news - people ). But Love.com is new, and will start as early as today in free previews before launching as a pay service in February, according to the Associated Press.


I would interpret that AOL would be humping another server or something just by its title

I read an article yesterday about how membership in on-line singles groups was dropping quickly, as is membership in the "quick-dating" scheme.

Apparently, singles are going back to the old fashioned way of meeting.