In the online dating business where new sites close as quickly as they open and only a handful have mastered the art of matchmaking, a new generation of services is courting the billion-dollar industry by leveraging all that personal 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.
“It’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. “I’m surprised that no one had built it before me because it makes 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 safety, but some companies 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 Shayan Zadeh said that the site’s platform is the digital equivalent of going out to a bar with friends and 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 you’re not in a mission to find your soul mate,” he said. “Real life is about meeting new people and if it happens that I find someone I have a connection with, great. But otherwise, I’m not a loser if I don’t find a 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 offers a closed-door networking environment — people must pay a $25 registration to participate — for people who relate to the sex-positive community, which basically means being open to making friends with diverse sexual orientations and all kinds of relationship 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 can’t 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 players like Match.com have flirted with ways of leveraging social networks, but in general, they are confident in their methods and mostly focus their efforts on improving 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 have opened a window of opportunity for startups, since it’s significantly more affordable to advertise through them. Moreover, young companies have a good shot at building their own customer bases since the top online dating companies’ clients are usually more mature and in the hunt for long-term relationships.
“What’s going to be the next paradigm of online dating?” Evans said. “You’re always going to have these dominant players, but the interesting stuff is with the edge cases. These guys have created a sexier proposition.“
