SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Feb 14 -- "A lot of services said, 'Hey,
put in your $25, pull the handle and get your partner,' " said Joe Cohen, chief operating officer for Match.com,
a leading online personals site. "It's not that simple. "People were
turned off because expectations were raised so high," he added. "Web
sites could only under-deliver." To revitalize the industry, some
dating Web sites are refocusing on users who want serious
relationships. "This market is saturated," said Nate Elliot, an
analyst for Jupiter Research. "You have all the online dating sites you're ever going to need." Lorna Borenstein, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Personals,
said her business hasn't slowed, as some other companies' has. She
attributes the continued growth to Yahoo's giant reach and several new
features in the personals area. FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO

Mark Brooks:
New/startup online personals companies should either shoot for a very
targeted niche, or secure $5 million+ of marketing funding.