Online Dating Gets More Personal
Online dating has its limits. Among the two biggest problems: dates who look nothing like their profile pictures and dates who are happy to email but decline to ever actually go on a non-virtual date. In an effort to combat such tactics, some of the biggest online dating services have decided to get people out from behind their computers to come out and play.
The Stir by Match.com – the company, has been quietly inviting members to gatherings for the past few years. After all, it knows where the singles are, and it knows what they say they like. So encouraged has Match been by the results, it’s just launched an event service known as Stir, which will host 2,000 to 3,000 singles parties a year, hitting 70 in September. Stir will offer two kinds of events: mixers that come along with monthly membership and activity-specific mixers, a class in mixology or cooking or wine-tasting that attendees will pay extra for. It’s also developing a series of online getting-to-know you games that users who can’t get away from home, half of Match.com’s members are single parents, can use to playfully find out about their potential dates.
Howaboutwe.com – In 2010, longtime friends Brian Schechter and Aaron Schildkrout started dating site HowAboutWe.com as a way to “build a new way to date” and to “solve the problem of modern love”. The approach they came up with was to get actual dates started as quickly as possible. It essentially skips the traditional profile, making it so folks “go online long enough to learn enough to go offline” and actually meet in the real world with real people. They even have a HowAboutWe.com iPhone app. By focusing on the actual date, HowAboutWe totally flips the script on traditional online dating. The activity-based approach to online dating is all about making the online part easier so you can get to the dating part faster. The HowAboutWe way is more fun, more natural, and more effective way to meet new people and go on great dates.
Grouper – Grouper calls itself a social club. It is not online dating, nor is it really a matchmaker. The Grouper coordinator, matches a guy to a girl based on availability and their Facebook profiles. The day before your Grouper, you receive an email or text with the location of your grouper. There are several high end bars around associated with Grouper. Grouper makes a reservation for six under both the male and female Groupees’ names. So when you arrive you mention a reservation for six under your host’s name, and you are seated. You know the staff knows you are on a Grouper, but you try to play it cool and act like you are meeting friends. You know absolutely Nothing about the people you are going to meet, until you meet them at your reserved table. No names, ages, etc. In this sense it is totally like a blind date, but you have two friends there for moral support
Speeddating – Men and women are rotated to meet each other over a series of short “dates”, usually lasting from 3 to 8 minutes depending on the organization running the event. At the end of each interval, the organizer rings a bell, clinks a glass, or blows a whistle to signal the participants to move on to the next date. At the end of the event participants submit to the organizers a list of who they would like to provide their contact information to. If there is a match, contact information is forwarded to both parties. Contact information cannot be traded during the initial meeting, in order to reduce pressure to accept or reject a suitor to his or her face. These events typically require advance registration, often an online prepayment by credit card. However, they may accept a few walk-ins when needed to balance the gender ratio. Some services make use of wait lists when signing up to strive for exactly the same number of men and women, while others have a more “party” atmosphere and only aim for an approximately matching number.
Meetup – A recent big social trend is to meet people is through Meetup.com. This is a site where evite meets facebook. After you post your profile, you select what kind of people or groups you would like to be a part of. Each Meetup has an organizer (or team of organizers) where they set up events for people to get together in your local area. There are meetup groups for every kinds of interests or affiliation. A tip for dating is to find a group that either follows a passion or important value for you. Of course you will find that there are many singles Meetup groups in your area especially if you live in a metropolitan area. You can also choose a group by age group, religion, activity or common interest. Many of the singles activities and dating companies are utilizing Meetup as a marketing vehicle for promoting their businesses to a particular group of people. There is a way to connect with people after an event. You see who signed up for an event with their picture on the RSVP area. You can then follow up afterwards if you met some one that you connected with. It’s better to be active in a few groups than spread very thin and going to a dozen groups where you don’t get to see the same people again. A connection may not occur the first time you meet someone, although it may on a subsequent get together.
