Back in 2009, OkTrends (the famous blog of dating site OkCupid) wrote a blog post called ”Your looks and your inbox”. The article presented research showing how your profile picture selection affects the number of messages you receive, as well as the number of responses to the messages you send.
The study showed that the most attractive women got up to 28 times as many messages as the least attractive, and the most attractive men got 11 times as many as the low-rated. To find out which users were considered being attractive, they had men and women rate each others pictures on a scale from 0 to 5. The men rated most women as quite average looking, at the middle of the scale (2.5), whereas women rated an unbelievable 80% of the men as looking below average. Ouch!
With these statistics, it’s obvious that looks are important. The better you look, the quicker your inbox will fill up, especially if you’re a woman. Nothing unexpected, but why is this behavior exaggerated online? Could it be because of the way the dating sites are constructed? Well, you’re right, these statistics are the result of a study done five years ago and since then, a lot must have happened on the online dating market… You’d think so, right?
But actually, it’s the opposite! Most of the dating sites and apps, like Tinder, seem to hold on tight to this concept of finding an eligible date by rating looks alone. Then there’s the re-launched Hot or Not-app, which actually started 10 years ago as a desktop site where users could rate each other based on their attractiveness. Yes, 10 years ago. Hasn’t online dating changed at all during the last decade?
What is the Future of Online Dating?
We at Mazily, a new London-based dating site, say it’s time to move forward and let online dating focus on something other than just looks! Our concept is built around an events guide, which help singles find on-going happenings in their city – perfect for bringing a date. There is also a tagging system where users can tag activities that they like, and attributes that describe their personality. By searching for tags they can then find interesting matches themselves. We’d like to see more of a relaxed attitude towards online dating and in the future we hope to build more tools for helping singles go on awesome dates – Because posting a photo and having people decide if you’re “hot or not” can’t be that interesting after a few minutes. What happens after you’ve both liked each other’s photos? Do most people even start talking, or is it just a fun game to play when you’re bored? There’s practically no user info or profile description on these apps, so there’s a big chance you’ll end up realizing you have nothing in common but liking each other’s pictures.
But there is hope! We think the future of online dating will be based on three keystones with the first one being niched dating sites – a concept growing bigger each day. There are now dating sites addressing everything from vegans, to Christians and Apple-fans. We already live our offline lives in clusters – we shop in specific stores, go to bars where we identify ourselves with the crowd and choose clubs based on our taste in music. So wouldn’t it be natural to do the same when online dating?
Secondly, dating sites have to make it easier for users to find like-minded singles. Wouldn’t it be better if the search results showed fewer singles that have more in common with you, than having to look through an ocean of irrelevant profiles to find one that is OK for you? No sorry, Match and eHarmony, we’re not talking about matching algorithms or psychological tests that calculate how well other profiles suit you. Instead, we’re talking about empowering users and letting them find other singles through activities or interests that they might have in common. At Mazily, we’re pretty sure users can figure out by themselves if a person is a good match to what they are looking for, but they need better tools for finding them. Most dating sites do not even have the option to search the user database for a specific term or phrase, leaving them with pointless filters.
Online dating has perfected online matching. But who needs a virtual match? If you’re single, what you’re looking for is a date (IRL). So how do you get from a match to a date? It’s so common to sign up to dating accounts hoping the messages and date invites will start dropping in immediately. Some people are shy, some are too busy, and some are just lazy. In all cases a search result full of matches won’t really help them if they don’t know how to get out and start dating for real. This is where the third keystone comes in – dating sites need to help people take the step from online dating to meeting in real life. The dating site “How about we…” did a good job turning the concept from searching for singles to searching for activities and we want to see more of this kind of ideas in online dating. The sites need to introduce its users to functions where they can easily invite people to meet up for a date, a themed group date or maybe even a blind date. What the users need is simply better support for asking each other out for a meeting in real life. If there is real chemistry it will only show after meeting in person, and once there – looks aren’t everything.
If this article gave you the confidence to find your match, try Singles Warehouse today!
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