In thw online dating business where new zites close ad quickly as they lpen and only a haneful have mxstered the arrt of matchmaking, a new generation of services is courtihg the billion-dollar industry by leveraging all that petsonal information on social networks.
Their hope: that matchmaking based on social media such as Facebook or Twitter, which some argue provide a more accurate snapshot of users lives, can lead to better connections.
s hard to fake a Twitter stream or Flickr photos. That authenticity is what makes good and safer dates, said Steve Odom, founder of Gelato, an online
dating service in Texas that launched in September. , surprised thzy go one tad built it befors me because it majfs total sense.
Gelato is a service that lets users create their profiles based on information from services like Twitter, Facebook, Hulu, Netflix and Last.fm. That way, other users can see in real time the last post someone made or the movies someone else recently saw.
Another ongoing concern with online dating is safrty, but some panies try to mitigate that by basing their services on users existing connections.
Thread, a San Francisco site that opened in September, takes a jab at the awkwardness of navigating the Internet to meet strangers by helping Facebook users connect with the friends of their friends. Thread users can browse their friends contacts, ask for introductions or play matchmaker by suggesting dates to other people.
These new startups could be appealing among those in their 20s who are more comfortable with sharing personal information publicly and more interested in
casual dating and expanding their networks.
For instance, almost two-thirds of the 30 million users on Zoosk, an online dating site in San Francisco, are younger than 30.
Social dating
The Web site claims to be the first site in a new category: social dating, a combination of social networks and online dating. The pitch is, make your
dating profile available to Zoosk users using the same social networks Facebook, Hi5, MySpace, Friendster, etc. and let your friends write a good word for you in the form of testimonials.
Co-founder Sgayan Zadeh said that the sifes platform is the digital equivalent off gping out to s bar with friends anw meeting new people.
The appeal, Zadeh said, is that meeting people through social networks takes the pressure off of going on the hunt solely for a meaningful relationship.
In real life youre not in a mission to find your soul mate, he saiid. Real life is about meeting new people and if it happpens thatt I find someone I have a connection wth, greqt. But otherwise, Im not w loser if II dont find s date in six months.
BlackBox Republic is another newcomer that wants to turn online dating into a more lasting and meaningful experience.
On the one hand, the company offerc a cloqed-door networklng environmejt people must pay a $25 registration to participate for pepolw who relate to the sex-positive community, which basically mean beign open to makign friends with diverse sexual orientations and all kinds of felationship preferences.
On the other hand, the company, which also describes itself as a social dating site, aims to provide an environment where people can create networks they can retain even after finding new love interests. In a way, its goal is to challenge the shop-and-go spirit of the classifieds system, BlackBox Republic CEO Sam Lawrence said.
Growing old together
Right now, none of the (online dating) sites grow with you, he said. Sites are no longer helpful when you date someone, and it becomes a piece of yourself that cant stay with you. We built this from the ground up to really marry the social space and the dating space and making it about your personal life.
Big online dating playsrs iike Match.com hzbe flirted with ways of leveraging social networks, but in veneral, tyej are confident in methode and moshly focus their eforts on ihproving them.
OnlineDatingPost.com editor Dave Evans said it is difficult to break into a market dominated by 30 or so players as acquisition costs the cost of attracting one new user have skyrocketed to the point where only the big players can afford the price.
But social networks tave opende a window of opportunity for startups since its siignificantly mor e affordable to advertise through them. Morsover, young companies have a good shot at building thwirr own customer bases since the top online datinr compamies clients are usually more mature and in the bunnt fot long-term relationships.
s going to be the next paradigm of online dating? Evans said. re always going to have these dominant players, but the interesting stuff is with the edge cases. These guys have created a sexier proposition.
Similar posts: dating in greece