Good news, no-one tried to flush! (I started a rumour that I used to do Kung Fu and it seems to have put people off). This week I've spent most of time in meetings and on video/conference calls trying to get a feel for our business, our customers and our partners. Its all starting to make sense. Its doesn't seem complicated really (and at the risk of spilling the beans) you take single people that understand the power of the web to connect people + great technology + a quality global brand that doesn't take itself too seriously + competitive pricing = success (I wonder if that needs copyrighting?).

Over the course of the week people in the office have heard me preaching about one of my favourite non-fiction books, 'The Cluetrain Manifesto'. I went back and read part of the book again and would strongly encourage anyone even vaguely interested in the future of the web to read it (download it for free at www.cluetrain.com). Its a sort of thesis of the future of the web and 'the end of business of usual' but most importantly it's very well written and funny. Here's some of the thinking;

• Markets are conversations.
• Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
• The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
• In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.
• These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
• As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.
• There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

Much of the philosophy (and I think that's what it is) of the book is already inherent in the business model of Match.com, that's why I took the role. The question is how much more we need to do?

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