Web Week

Finding new mates

Stickiness is the term used to describe how good a website is at holding visitors. Unsurprisingly, the Nielsen//NetRatings survey of average visit length to New Zealand websites finds sites with a strongly personal element feature prominently in the top 10. In the case of nzdating.com, perhaps clamminess is the better adjective to describe what keeps people there. A glance at who is online reveals the site attracts all types - even someone purporting to be a 99-year-old female from Manawatu - and while many are blandly "keeping options open", others, like the 43-year-old Canterbury man "seeking a discreet affair", are more direct.

Finding old mates

This site, an offshoot of the highly successful TradeMe auction site, is for finding old mates. Membership is free but even without joining, there's a good chance you'll stumble across names of people from your past. Before you know it you'll be browsing through old school photos and responding to queries in the "lost and found" section. Look out - you'll be glued before you know it.

What's going on

This entertainment site is also hard to extract yourself from, although a fair way behind nzdating.com in stickiness. Biggie's appeal is its "personal touch, awesome online community, great network and a great range of media", say judges' comments in the 2004 NetGuide Awards. Biggie's success at keeping visitors informed about what's going on in the local dance scene won it NetGuide's best entertainment site award.