Tuesday, March 13, 2007
We Are The Sex Media: Making Bank From Dating 2.0
filed under: Dating 2.0 by Lux Nightmare
Remember when online dating was strictly the province of freaks, child molesters, and bleeding edge hipsters? When you had to make up a story to tell your family about how this handsome new stranger came into your life, because “We met online” just sounded too skeezy?
Yeah, I kinda miss those days.
In case you haven’t heard, online dating is now a totally legit way to meet people — and as a result, a whole bunch of related businesses have sprung up, offering services to daters who find themselves confused, lost, or just plain bored with the status quo. And the media is hot on their heels, ready to give you the full report on everything that’s out there.
TIME travels to Miami to meet up with vendors at iDate 2007 (get it? “i” like iPod! That means it has to do with computers!). Some of my favorites: OmniDate (Second Life meets your awkward first date), Mobilove (web2txt love!), and Venice Chronicles (Second Life meets your awkward first date at a masquerade in a Venetian ballroom?).
Over at the New York Times, it’s revealed that (say it ain’t so!) online daters are just as shallow and superficial as IRL daters (no, they won’t overlook your crappy picture or terrible social skills just because you’re hiding behind a computer). But never fear: the market has got your back, with sites like E-Cyrano and SingleShots offering services ranging from profile consultation to retouching (or retaking) your terrible profile photo.
Feeling bummed by the rampant commercialization of the online singles scene? Don’t worry: we all know you’re more of an Unpersonals user anyway… and ConsumatingHelper.com is still years and years away.
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I knew things were shifting when I attended a friend’s wedding where they’d met online, and easily 90% of the people AT the ceremony were from the online game where they’d met (including me). That was back in 2001.
Also back in ‘01, I went wandering, and ended up staying with a number of friends as I went across the country that I’d known exclusively online prior to that. I did get pulled aside at the Canadian border doing that, though, as they thought it was a little… odd. The real test for acceptance I think would be to try the same thing now and see if they let you pass without an additional check, or if they still pull you over for further questioning when you tell them “I’m visiting a friend I met online!” as the reason for visiting Canada.
Honestly, I think there’s more skeeziness still attached to the singles/dating-services scene than the “online” element.