Hey unhappily single boys and girls. 2 more days before Valentines. Where do you look for a date? You can choose from your usual friends (with benefits?), officemates, or Friendster connections. Then there’s your YM contacts, Christianster, MySpace, Multiply, or forums like Pinoy Exchange or Manila Tonight 
Ever consider the solely dating websites like Itzamatch and Crushcow?
I still get notified by my Itzamatch account — dormant for at least 2 years — so I know they’re still alive. But what about Crushcow?
Crushcow (a Chikka subsidiary), started in 2001, lets you browse through profiles online or through SMS queries. The young and fabulously single could easily spend their cellphone load texting strangers through Crushcow, hoping to find that elusive 4-letter-L-word.
This chart shows site visits per month from January 2007 to present.
Scratch what I said about Itzamatch. It seems their traffic is steadily declining whereas Crushcow never took off. Looks like they’re hitting rock bottom together with Crushcow. The last update in the Crushcow forums is dated 2006. The featured profile on their homepage - kuroishi, 19, Manila says:
I’ve been the featured personnel for months already and it should have been only for a week… Crushcow seems to have been abandoned already. dead! xD
If I were single and the site had really good prospects, I’d probably use Crushcow. The mobile component is terribly convenient and apt for when I’m on the go. It would be great if I’m out late after work on a Friday night and I want to get an instant date. Ideally I could just SMS Crushcow and find a blind date right? But not if I get cheated out of P2.50 for every query. Crushcow has to come up with another revenue source and maximize their web application. Provide events for their single users like Itzamatch’s speed dating parties and school events or tie up with Close Up’s Loveapalooza. They could also show testimonials of people who have hooked up through their site.
Heard from the grapevine: A handful of Crushcow key people (non-programmers) are saying bye-bye to their now very blue company. Hope they at least get some flowers and chocolates.
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Comments
AhmedF
February 13, 2008 2:45 am
Using Compete #s is a bad idea - both they and Quantcast measure US traffic (not worldwide).
While Alexa may be bad, if you actually view the ranking and scroll down, it tells you a country-by-country ranking. A bit more accurate to get a proper PH perspective.
aj
February 13, 2008 2:46 am
I guess it’s time for a competitor.
JP Dela Torre
February 13, 2008 2:55 am
@Ahmed: thanks for the info, we’ll keep that in mind…
@AJ: you’re not alone on that thought… hehehe…
aj
February 13, 2008 2:58 am
@AhmedF: Can you suggest an free alternative?
@JP: Good! So, when are we going to do it? Design it and I’ll code it.
AhmedF
February 13, 2008 3:56 am
Try Alexa - view the details page, scroll to the bottom, and you will get the Filipino-specific rankings.
aj
February 13, 2008 4:06 am
@AhmedF: aside from Alexa, Quantcast, Compete?
Mea culpa: it should have been -
*Can you suggest a free alternative?* not “an”
AhmedF
February 13, 2008 4:12 am
That will give you PH-specific data? None that I know of.
There is another site … like Rankings.com or something like that.
aj
February 13, 2008 4:22 am
Exactly.
If the site is not inside the top 100, you will have to buy the list. Hence, not free.
Using Quantcast and Compete is not a bad idea after all.
Besides, crushcow and itzamatch offers to other countries too.
I guess it’s also a good idea to create a new startup that deals with traffic analysis just for the Philippines. Thing is, does it solve a collective problem?
Ricecooker
March 31, 2008 6:29 pm
I had the same impression about Alexa before, but I read the fineprint and as it turns out, only users(web browsers) with the Alexa Toolbar will generate a hit on the Alexa server. This is also the reason why Alexa seems to favor tech sites (since mostly tech people install the Alexa Toolbar).
Perhaps it would be very difficult to find an accurate publicly viewable hit counter/analytics engine.
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