Your best friend probably knows you better than just about everyone else. That’s what happens when you go through life with people–they find out things about you that would be embarrassing if anyone but they knew.
Online dating sites are beginning to reach out to this social network of best friends instead of relying on an algorithm that may or may not understand just how obsessed you are with quoting Princess Bride.
Friends Inputs and not Data
Collecting data has historically been one of the biggest ways online dating sites match people to one another, but Coffee Meets Bagel and HowAboutWe are among the sites turning the Christian Mingle approach on its head. Instead of restricting users to seeing profiles of people who exactly match their criteria, these sites reach out to Facebook friends or local singles to bring the masses together.
The CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel, Arum Kang, says,
“We found that having at least one mutual friend amplified the probability of two people connecting by 37%” (Kelly 2013).
So when mutual acquaintances or friends find each other as Bagels, there is a higher probability they’ll try a date or two. It takes a little bit of the mystery out of it, but it also lends a sense of confidence that only can come from dating someone your friends already know.
High Tech Matching
HowAboutWe uses a small algorithm to find patterns in people’s dating practices, which allows them to recommend other users with similar preferences.
“It factors a few key patterns from general user behavior on the site too, such as how the average person is more likely to message someone of a similar or higher education level” (Kelly 2013).
HowAboutWe and Coffee Meets Bagel users care less for things like political choices and more about what their friends think about the potential love candidate.
Match, unlike these young sites, gets pretty high-tech where it comes to putting people together. Christian Mingle also uses algorithms to bring members together. By paying attention to the dates that are agreed upon, the algorithm can suggest even better, more accurate matches.
In order to keep up with the world, these online dating sites have to keep up with smarts befitting a computer-driven society. At first, the algorithm is simply based on the questionnaire answers that members give the site, but as they make choices, the algorithms develop, much like Amazon and Netflix choose entertainment and products for their users.
Don’t Forget Your Instincts
However, whether we are choosing a dating partner based on similar friends or based on algorithm suggestions, we must always listen to our God given instincts about our new potential dating partner.
- Do they make us feel comfortable or uneasy?
- Do we find ourselves opening up with them or closing down?
- Do they respond sensitively to information shared and respond in kind?
Asking these types of questions is imperative in the dating world to enter new relationships cautiously and wisely.
Kelly, S. How Online Dating Sites Use Data to Find ‘The One’. Retrieved on September 24, 2013 from mashable.com/2013/09/14/online-dating-data/
By ChristianCrush team. ChristianCrush.com aims to be the most authentic, innovative, and trustworthy site on the web for believers to connect. To get in touch with ChristianCrush, please find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FBChristianCrush.
