May 04 2008
I Can Has Help?
I am in a bit of a bind at work. We’re developing a new matchmaking website for one of our clients, and I’m in charge of coming up with the domain name. According to my boss, the name has to convey the “magic of falling of love.”
I tell you, it is as if the universe is punishing me for all those times I ridiculed people who celebrate monthiversaries. May I remind you that my idea of a romantic Valentine illustration is a rusty robot who fashioned a heart out of an old refrigerator door? Somehow I feel that RefrigeratorHeart.com would be completely lost on my boss.
When I asked a friend for suggestions, the best thing she could come up with was ICanHasMatch.com (inspired, of course, by the ever entertaining ICanHasCheezburger.com) Thanks, FRIEND.
Aside from naming the website, I also have to suggest features and apps that would be appealing to our target audience. For someone who has never even had a Facebook or MySpace profile, that’s a bit of a challenge.
Cue my desperate call for help. I need you to indulge me by describing your ideal matchmaking or online dating website. It doesn’t matter whether you have ever used those kinds of sites before or not. All suggestions and opinions are welcome! You can use the questions below as a guide.
- What features would you like a matchmaking or online dating website to have?
- What would turn you off from joining or continuing to use a particular matchmaking or online dating website?
- What features of your preferred social networking site do you like best or use most often?
- What type of look and feel would you prefer?
Please do share your thoughts. You can’t see the expression on my face right now, but it looks a lot like this:
Thanks so much in advance!
7 Comments
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Amanda 05.04.08 #
Hmmm. Well, about a month or so ago, I joined RSVP, which is an Australian-based dating site. What struck me most was the ratio of men to women - there was about five/six men to every woman on the site, which, while could be flattering for the women who were inundated with contacts, was simply overwhelming in the end. If there were some way to control the ratio of men to women on your site, that would be IDEAL!
I’d also place a word limit (both minimum and maximum) on the amount of information a profile should have. I found that it was either one extreme or the other - either no more than a single sentence (”Just looking for a girl to hang out with!”), or an entire college thesis. A minimum of 250 words, a maximum of 1000 words would be ideal.
As for the site itself, I prefer something a bit Facebooky - a lot of AJAX, inline popups, user-intuitive, etc. etc. Features that work well on dating sites, are blogs by relationship experts, organised real-life events (e.g. a big singles party, river cruise or something), real-time chat on the site (as opposed to slow-time emailing), etc.
And like all other websites - keep advertising to a minimum. It should complement the browsing experience, not pop up in the middle of someone’s profile/page of search results, etc.
P.S. Go a bit of Web 2.0.
Jords 05.04.08 #
1. What features would you like a matchmaking or online dating website to have?
- Mainly some kind of compatibility/tie-up with my friendster/multiply/myspace/facebook/blog accts. I think it would be better if maybe pictures, blogs can be easily uploaded to your dating site.
2. What would turn you off from joining or continuing to use a particular matchmaking or online dating website?
- Being able to acquire your contact details for purposes other than dating e.g. SPAM.
3. What features of your preferred social networking site do you like best or use most often?
- Multimedia upload.
4. What type of look and feel would you prefer?
- Romantic I guess
tiyaw 05.05.08 #
uy another lolcats and loldogs subaybayer XD grabe umabot na ako sa page 100+ non sa opis… ahem… in trying to answer your question… at the best of my abilities…
btw sino ba target audience nyow? ay hulaan ko! mga naghahanap ng matches! :p well seriously, my mas “limit” ba yung target audience nyo? tipong ceratin age group, race, etc? useful info din yun e… pero for now, will do with this…
tungkol sa pangalan, di kaya masita kayo pag ginamit nyo yan? XD pero baka pwede na rin iconsider siguro yung epek ng pangalan sa mga tao… i mean ako for instance though natutuwa ako lol speak sa lolcats site, pag ginamit outside don naiinis ako… things like that… pero sa actual pangalan ala ako maisip :p
1. What features would you like a matchmaking or online dating website to have?
grabe 1st question pa lang stumped na ako XD hirap kasi mag isip kung anong feature gusto mo sa isang bagay na wala ka namang intention na gamitin whatsoever. ^^;
FWIW things na naisip ko… a more refined search system? tipong not limited region, age, etc, other info like mahilig sa aso, or no psycothic tendencies… ganon…
in line na rin sa point above, tipong way parang maglagay ng mga “fun facts” or “not so typical info”? parang boring kasi yung “the usual” infos (favorite show, sports, color, etc) :p
hmm pwede rin ba services beyond online dating? tipong kung magb EB tutulong kayo or something (o hindi na ba covered yun?) :p
2. What would turn you off from joining or continuing to use a particular matchmaking or online dating website?
TBH yung mere idea of matchmaking dating turn-offs me off XD but that’s just me… :p siguro a good security system to track mga lokoloko? i mean pano kung naghahanap ako fafa tas biglang serial rapist pala yun! pano na ako! @_@ umm and yeah, no spam and ads XD
3. What features of your preferred social networking site do you like best or use most often?
umm none… XD
halos kalahating taon na akong di nag log-on sa prengster at multiply ko e… pero nag useful yung sa pag upload ng multimedias… tas yung sa mga games sa facebook (nakikilaro ako ng games sa facebook accnt ng ate ko e) XD
4. What type of look and feel would you prefer?
)
not to “formal” or baka pwede selectable skins?
ayan na po… piniga ko na utak ko para dyan ha! :p at least dahil dito na meet ko na ang aking “make-one-not-senseless-discussion-per-month” :p
Kitkat 05.05.08 #
Dahil ako ay mahilig sa mga ganyan. (Aha!)
Well mostly multiply ako ngayon, pero kung matchmaking website… sa totoo lang, sa dami ng matchmaking websites, bakit gusto pa nila magdagdag? Parang HUH?
Ayun napa-comment lang, kasi naman, feeling ko super dami na ng matchmaking websites sa internet. And to beat something like Facebook, MySpace or Friendster, dapat meron silang edge over these. First of all, ano ba ang target market nila? Tipong for teenagers? For people na 20-something? 30-something? 40-something? 50-something? Second po, anong market strategy nila? Tipong ads lang ba? There should be something more…
Marami pa sana akong comment pero.. hehe.. baka magalit ka na at sabihin mo “hay kathy… *roll eyes*” hahaha!
Suggestion ng name: loveatfirstsight (omaygulay, this is the cheesiest! hahaha!), mister_right (but wait! pano kung ms pala ang hanap?!), perfect love (ahaaa…. but nothing is perfect), secretlovers (omaygally… bangag na ko, haha! 2am na), click (ayun, basta nag-click sila), the search is over (lolz, haha! bangag to the highest level), lostandfound (ayuuunnn… ewan malay ko kung lost yung love nya), speed love (parang speed dating!), and lovebegins (aha! ewan… good luck sa cheezzzzyyyy-ness).
Answers to questions naman:
1. What features would you like a matchmaking or online dating website to have?
Gusto ko something that would make the search easier. Tipong an algorithm like google (wow!) para sobrang galing maghanap ng keywords and stuff. Maganda rin na one-stop-site siya, tipong pwedeng mag-upload ng pics, gumawa ng webpage, etc. Maganda rin na may forum, para dun magkakilala at makapagdiscuss ng iba’t ibang topics ang mga tao.
2. What would turn you off from joining or continuing to use a particular matchmaking or online dating website?
Turn-off, probably if its too complicated. Kasi mas gusto ko yung wysiwyg. Para madali lang i-update, no other programming knowledge required.
3. What features of your preferred social networking site do you like best or use most often?
PM. Haha.. kasi super gamit talaga yun sa friendster. Sa multiply yung upload ng pics and stuff. Sa hmm.. others ay yung forums dahil masaya mangulit ng mga tao na di mo naman nakakasalamuha sa totoong buhay.
4. What type of look and feel would you prefer?
Sana yung pwedeng gawan ng customized themes. Para personalized yung dating. Hehe…
Huwaw! Ito ata ang pinakamahabang comment ko sa kasaysayan ng blog mo. XD
Good luck sa project ninyo!
Zeri 05.06.08 #
(1) What features would you like a matchmaking or online dating website to have?
I haven’t actually tried any matchmaking or online dating website. If I do want to try one, there should be like a tick list for you to choose from such as location, sex, age group, preference for looks, types of attitude, likes and dislikes etc.
I guess maybe inject some simple quizzes/games. Other than the online dating/matchmaking services, put some quizzes - personality quizzes, romantic-type quizzes yada-yada. It could lead to other potential dates who have similar scores like you or even give you the option to choose opposite scores. Well, they say opposites attract. I actually like taking quizzes similar to the ones you take on magazines I guess.
Maybe you can also have kinda like a networking game. Example: a chess game with a potential date who’s into chess as well. etc.
Is it possible to have it as a rule that real photos should be posted? Haha.
(2) What would turn you off from joining or continuing to use a particular matchmaking or online dating website?
Probably the amount of spam it will generate on my inbox. There should be a filtering system since the internet is very large and people can just bug you with emails. I know online dating should be private but there should be a moderator for such things, similar to friendster and other social networking I guess.
(3) What features of your preferred social networking site do you like best or use most often?
I like mulitiply because you have the option to keep your stuff private or for network only. It also shows you who has been to your site. It kinda gives you security.
(4) What type of look and feel would you prefer?
It should be easy and fun to use. Bottomline is fun. It should not be rocket science. Less ads I guess but that’s not quite possible since most of this kind of sites run on ads.
Suggestions (mostly not applicable but it’s fun to think about it):
loveisnotrocketscience.com, loveisforfoolslikeyouandme.com (the best one!, haha) , interaction.com, affinity.com, straighttalk.com, letschatsomemore.com, youaretheone.com….
tin 05.11.08 #
hi nikki!
hmm.. maybe you can also add a field of “Not looking for:”, aside from the usual “Looking for:”. at least, when users are browsing, they know who are those that are probably not interested in them… also, maybe you can coordinate regular events (weekly, once a month) such as tea parties, acquaintance parties, etc., since singapore is a pretty small place, i’m sure madali lang humanap ng common venue for your users.
izza 05.11.08 #
The only thing I can think of is chat, because PM-ing takes too long. Sure, you can add him/her to your buddy list in YM for example, but personally I wouldn’t want to add someone I’m just getting to know into my buddy list.
Oh, and groups for people who are into orgies.
I’m kidding about the 2nd one. Keep it wholesome if you want that romantic (as opposed to slutty) feel. And yeah, of course you knew that already. I am no help at all, aren’t I? I’ll be going now. *signs off*