New site set to disrupt online dating category

Today’s Australian launch of partner4real.com.au, the country’s newest dating service, is set to transform the world of online dating with a unique combination of social networking tools and world-first security that takes dating into the digital future. The launch of partner4real.com.au is being supported by a $1 million-plus marketing push that will see it take on established “dinosaur” players in the singles market, estimated to be worth $70m in Australia.

This includes a partnership with DMG’s Nova 96.9 Sydney, based on a three-week, radio promotion and offline stunt at Circular Quay that will see a single male living in a 12m by 3m glass container.

During his time in the container, which will be situated in front of Customs House, the lucky Romeo will date five different women each day, for a week, in his search for a partner. The Nova promotion commences today with the man, to be chosen through the radio competition, moving into the container on August 20.

Partner4real.com.au is the brainchild of Anthony Johnston, former managing director of advertising agency George Patterson Partners, and IT entrepreneur Chris McKay who sold his IT disaster recovery business to IBM.

Australia’s newest online dating site has been created for today’s digital lifestyle. It plugs into the online social networking phenomenon and is best described as the “Facebook of online dating”.

While most other dating sites are often static, patner4real.com.au brings the 24/7, real-time social networking functionality of Facebook, specifically to digital dating.

Partner4real.com.au offers a Lifelog, or daily diary, feature that enables members to update their profiles immediately – in real time, any time and as often as they like, via their mobiles phones or email – free of charge.

If you’re a beach-loving single looking for love, you can take a mobile phone photo or video of yourself in the surf, upload it to partner4real.com.au, and have your profile updated instantly.

Instead of just a static written description of your personality and interests, the Lifelog daily diary allows you to show other members what you’re passions and interests are, with on-the-spot photos, videos and commentary that can be uploaded to your profile immediately, no matter where you are.

And unlike other online dating services, the majority of services on partner4real.com.au are free:

Free to search
Free to create your profile
Free to send roses to other members to let them know you’re interested
Free to reply to messages
Free to use your Lifelog as many times as you like
Free to view all member profiles, including their Lifelogs
Free to view pictures and videos
Free to view partner4real.com.au events

The only time you will need to purchase credits is to send a message to another member (although replying to a message is free). Message credits can cost as little as $1.40 per message.

Partner4real.com.au also has unique search capabilities. It is the only dating service that allows members to search for other singles by their interests first – rather than choosing by age/height/hair colour and then trawling through profiles looking for common interests. Dog lovers can search for other dog lovers, tennis players can search for hitting partners, and if you’re a big moviegoer, it’s easy to find other film buffs.

Another feature is that partner4real.com.au integrates a mapping function into its search capabilities. When members search for matching profiles the results are displayed on a map with your matches narrowed down to postcode accuracy to maintain privacy.

Additionally, partner4real.com.au uses world-first proprietary software that can screen images for indecency with 98 per cent accuracy. For example, it automatically rejects a photo of a topless woman but accepts one where she is wearing a bikini. The site is also self-regulated. If a member has been blocked by three or more other members, the site owners will investigate the matter further.

Sydney-based Chris McKay and Anthony Johnston created partner4real.com.au out of a passion for social networking and the possibilities that could be created by integrating social networking with online dating.

They plan to launch the service in the US at the end of the year and in the UK next year.

“Dating web sites as they exist today are a redundant model when you consider the evolution in the way people use the internet,” says Partner4real director of marketing, Anthony Johnston. “The value proposition of traditional dating sites isn’t enough any more – social networking sites do it all for you, free. With this site we are bringing that functionality to people who have the genuine intention of finding a life partner. Our site also means you can search profiles that are five minutes old, not five months old.”

Commenting on the Nova promotion and stunt, Chris McKay added: “The glass container stunt demonstrates, in the real world, the transparency that partner4real.com.au offers. This site if for people who want to find a real partner and we encourage that through the Lifelog feature, which enables them to show themselves in a truer light than what a static, out-dated description of their personality ever could”.

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About partner4real.com.au
Partner4real.com.au was established in June 2007 by two Australian entrepreneurs who met by chance at a Sydney carwash.
With plans to turn online dating on its head, Chris McKay and Anthony Johnston launched partner4real.com.au to revolutionise the way people search for potential partners. Unlike other static sites, partner4real.com.au uses social networking tools that enable users to constantly upload hundreds of on-the-spot photos and videos via their mobile phones and email wherever they are, free of charge. This allows them to instantly update their profiles and reveal their true personalities and interests. Partner4real.com.au is also the only online dating site that lets members search by interest first. Partner4real.com.au is an independent, Australian-owned and operated website for singles who want to get real about dating. www.partner4real.com.au