We are living in a time of quiet revolution. The emerging popularity of online socialising from fringe phenomenon to accepted mainstream illustrates a social revolution only previously in the 1960’s.
January 30, 2006 (Press Release) --
We are living in a time of quiet revolution. The emerging popularity of online socialising from fringe phenomenon to accepted mainstream illustrates a social revolution only previously in the 1960’s.
The shift was illustrated this week when one of the UK’s largest dating & friendship websites, www.makefriendsonline.com, announced it’s subscription sales had doubled in the last twelve months.
Launched in 2000, MakeFriendsOnline is the brainchild of school friends Martin Bysh and Marcus Hamilton. Conceived as a way for the pair to find friends worldwide whilst living away from home in Paris, they were quickly inundated. Within a couple of short years site membership was into the thousands and a new but very real community was forming, affectionately known as MFO.
By 2004, the small website started by two friends had naturally accumulated more than 500,000 members and become profitable. This had resulted in thousands of friendships, relationships, engagements, marriages, and even MFO babies. Subsequent growth forecasts the second quarter of 2006 as the time MakeFriendsOnline membership soars above one million.
In addition the site itself has evolved into a fully faceted online portal with increasingly sophisticated software, searches, message boards, instant messaging and chat services recently upgraded to provide state of the art technology. A staff of ten now work 24/7 to ensure the community continues to thrive but most importantly, MakeFriendsOnline has never lost its first basic ethic; to make friends. Stubbornly refusing to be drawn into the ‘wham bam’ approach of dedicated dating sites, the founders of MakeFriendsOnline continue to provide a secure, well-monitored and well-mannered environment where everyone is welcome, all are treated with respect and the emphasis is on friendship (the best basis for all relationships) rather than sexual availability.
As the highly successful UK element of MFO approaches the benchmark million members, the Company is working to introduce it’s unique formula elsewhere, concentrating specifically on niche markets and a wider geographical spectrum: Whilst 2005 saw the introduction of dedicated site areas for individual countries as far apart as Ireland and Australia, 2006 heralds the purchase of JMeet, a specialist dating site for the Jewish community, highlighting it’s growth into niche markets. This continued expansion and increasingly popularity illustrates the unique MakeFriendsOnline formula emerging from the plethora of tacky single-dimensional dating sites as the sophisticated, multi-faceted community of the future.
Managing Director Martin Bysh commented ‘our initial intention was to create a community of friends. We've done this and much more, helping people build lasting relationships and entire families. The community has grown beyond our wildest dreams but that initial intent will always be the cornerstone that sets our business apart’.
----------------------------
Contact details:
Martin Bysh, Managing Director, MakeFriendsOnline.com
email: martin@makefriendsonline.com
Tina Willoughby, PR & Events Manager, MakeFriendsOnline.com
email: tina@makefriendsonline.com
The shift was illustrated this week when one of the UK’s largest dating & friendship websites, www.makefriendsonline.com, announced it’s subscription sales had doubled in the last twelve months.
Launched in 2000, MakeFriendsOnline is the brainchild of school friends Martin Bysh and Marcus Hamilton. Conceived as a way for the pair to find friends worldwide whilst living away from home in Paris, they were quickly inundated. Within a couple of short years site membership was into the thousands and a new but very real community was forming, affectionately known as MFO.
By 2004, the small website started by two friends had naturally accumulated more than 500,000 members and become profitable. This had resulted in thousands of friendships, relationships, engagements, marriages, and even MFO babies. Subsequent growth forecasts the second quarter of 2006 as the time MakeFriendsOnline membership soars above one million.
In addition the site itself has evolved into a fully faceted online portal with increasingly sophisticated software, searches, message boards, instant messaging and chat services recently upgraded to provide state of the art technology. A staff of ten now work 24/7 to ensure the community continues to thrive but most importantly, MakeFriendsOnline has never lost its first basic ethic; to make friends. Stubbornly refusing to be drawn into the ‘wham bam’ approach of dedicated dating sites, the founders of MakeFriendsOnline continue to provide a secure, well-monitored and well-mannered environment where everyone is welcome, all are treated with respect and the emphasis is on friendship (the best basis for all relationships) rather than sexual availability.
As the highly successful UK element of MFO approaches the benchmark million members, the Company is working to introduce it’s unique formula elsewhere, concentrating specifically on niche markets and a wider geographical spectrum: Whilst 2005 saw the introduction of dedicated site areas for individual countries as far apart as Ireland and Australia, 2006 heralds the purchase of JMeet, a specialist dating site for the Jewish community, highlighting it’s growth into niche markets. This continued expansion and increasingly popularity illustrates the unique MakeFriendsOnline formula emerging from the plethora of tacky single-dimensional dating sites as the sophisticated, multi-faceted community of the future.
Managing Director Martin Bysh commented ‘our initial intention was to create a community of friends. We've done this and much more, helping people build lasting relationships and entire families. The community has grown beyond our wildest dreams but that initial intent will always be the cornerstone that sets our business apart’.
----------------------------
Contact details:
Martin Bysh, Managing Director, MakeFriendsOnline.com
email: martin@makefriendsonline.com
Tina Willoughby, PR & Events Manager, MakeFriendsOnline.com
email: tina@makefriendsonline.com
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