Tuesday, December 4, 2007
woome.com speed dating web 2.0 style
Posted In:
Dating
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles/San Francisco based WooMe recently went from private test mode to open to the public. The concept is basically speed dating, meets video conferencing, meets social networking. Due to their inclusion in the TechCrunch top 40 they have received a good amount of online press (VentureBeat, Mashable, SomewhatFrank, et all) and this is evident with over 50,000 "speed introductions" in their first two weeks of being live.
The basic premise is that you get to chat with people of the opposite sex for 1 minute and decide on which ones woo'd you. Then for only 1 dollar you can contact them and get your real date on.
The Good:
Testing Woome went very smoothly. There was never a hiccup, the service was fast and responsive during the stream. I also really liked woome's look, it definitely is a nice update to dating 1.0 sites like match.com or eharmony. In genernal, I think, Woome's concept is well executed, and caters perfectly to the new generation who have short attention spans, gravitate toward speed dating, and are used to Myspace/Facebook. Also compared to something like eharmony, you can't beat the price.
The Bad:
I've never really used a dating site to find a date but my general impression is that it must suck. I could elaborate on the guy to girl ratio problem, the question of what kind of people you are me
eting who are using a 60 second webcam slot to figure out who to meetup with, and on and on - but I suppose people already know this. This is probably why video based speed dating hasn't attracted much interest before. Sometimes when something new comes out, its because the idea hasn't really been explored before or because the technology isn't ready, in this case I figure the 10 billion dollar dating industry has basically consider video technology and left it in the ring for pornstars and the like.
Conclusion:
Woome is the first to the concept of speed dating 2.0, so you've got to give them credit. They also have a definate coolness factor that other dating services lack. Finally you really can't beat the price (1 dollar per person you are interested in) and its a refreshingly different business model. But at the end of the day I'm not sure that any of this is enough to bring dating to the masses (but hey what do I know, I'm not single).
Website: http://www.woome.com
Screenshot:
4 Responses to woome.com speed dating web 2.0 style
nice review, but online dating is already a billion dollar business - it is mass so that is not in question. question is whether Woome will disrupt this huge market and force changes to existing $50/month subscriptions with a fresh edgy take on it. I don't know the answer, just wanted to ask the right question.
Agreed online dating industry is well developed, the ending of the review was poorly phrased. Maybe more to the point though is that considerable disruption (particularly with the 18-30 demographic) IS occurring, but not by the dating sites, but by the social networking sites. More and more people use myspace and facebook as a lead in to new relationships. IMHO that is already the trend and while online dating HAS developed into mass appeal, if it doesn't radically adapt soon, it will likely be slowly displaced at least at some level by traditional social networks. In this way, I wonder if WooMe will be able to reach the masses enough to be the bridge between the declining dating 1.0 sites and the gorilla sized social networks.
Woo Me looks interesting, like speeddating.com, but I’m sure they both will have similar problems like, most people do not have webcams yet and the ideal users of this site will probably old souls desperate to find love which is creepy. Both sites need features that allow users to block unwanted ‘dates’ from seeing their profiles. I have used free dating sites such as http://www.cherriedating.com and enjoyed them very much. Speed dating will be something new. About to find out
Woome is pretty cool but there are a few other majors in the whole online speed dating market. Randomate.com - http://www.randomate.com is pretty much a combination of online speed dating and a traditional dating website. I think it's better for those who aren't webcam ready just yet...
Something to say?