I was interviewed yesterday on the development of online dating sites and the early days of Match.com. He asked about the future of online dating and trends and here's what I shared:
- Anonymity is going away and moving toward using the "social graph" - i.e. facebook - too validate and connect people. LikeIt (formerly CompleteMe) and Tinder (an app) both leverage interests and friends to connect people. Pretty easy to break through anonymity with that info. And the privacy implications are????
- Simpler Matching. Sure a few basic questions are necessary but simple user interfaces, big on pics, location optional questions, are all that's really needed. eHarmony and other more "marriage" oriented services will still offer the longer profiles, but the trend is shorter, which leads to . . .
- Algorithms and Analysis. The dating services now collect so much data about your activity and your interests by your behavior (check out this article on okcupid'sCombosorous) that they can find your matches without you doing the work
- Events/Real Dates Match.com is emphasizing events now, other new services increasing emphasize the "real date" - again, simpler and faster
- Mobile Mobile Mobile. Of course. Perfect for the simpler photo approaches, ideal for location-matching and real dates, leverages the social graph. Check out Tinder
So its all speeding up, going mobile, and be damned your privacy. It'll be fun to watch how this plays out.
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