3 ms·

I think the idea of bootstrapping a dating site by encouraging matchmakers to come to the site might be on to something.

Alex3917 18y ago
What would happen if you paid matchmakers a percentage of the advertising revenues so they could work full-time like head hunters?
- soundsop 18y ago
  That would be interesting. It hinges on whether matchmakers can work their magic only on people they actually know (which limits the number of people they could match up), or if they could do it simply by looking at profiles of people they don't know personally. Even the most outgoing people I know have less than 1,000 friends on Facebook. How many matches could they possibly mine from that group?
  - Alex3917 18y ago
    Well if you actually had people with skin in the game, they have an incentive to make it work. This could mean calling people on the phone, going to visit them in person, etc. And in general I bet a really talented matchmaker could get someone to be a lot more candid than they'd otherwise be on a publicly visible profile. It's like a cap-and-trade system; by offering up a pot of gold to the winners you spur massive amounts of innovation. For example, if a matchmaker could increase his success rates by offering up dating tips and personal grooming advice then there would be a system in place promising him a pot of gold for doing it.
kleneway 18y ago
You know, originally that was where my train of thought was going. Then I did some quick research to see what else was out there, and found this Facebook app called "Date My Friends" that operated on this principle. They've been around for a while and haven't really picked up much traction, which kind of made me move away from this idea. Of course, the devil is in the details, but I always look at the motivating factors for each user role..and I don't really see one for the "matchmaker" role. The "bounty for a successful match" idea is interesting, though...maybe a payment model where the successfully matched people pay to unlock the mutual contact info, and 90% of that would go to the matchmaker? Hmmmm...
froo 18y ago
It's been done before an there is a UK site that has been running quite successfully for several years called My Single Friend - URL below for reference. http://www.mysinglefriend.com http://www.mysinglefriend.com

Alex3917 18y ago

What would happen if you paid matchmakers a percentage of the advertising revenues so they could work full-time like head hunters?

soundsop 18y ago
That would be interesting. It hinges on whether matchmakers can work their magic only on people they actually know (which limits the number of people they could match up), or if they could do it simply by looking at profiles of people they don't know personally. Even the most outgoing people I know have less than 1,000 friends on Facebook. How many matches could they possibly mine from that group?
- Alex3917 18y ago
  Well if you actually had people with skin in the game, they have an incentive to make it work. This could mean calling people on the phone, going to visit them in person, etc. And in general I bet a really talented matchmaker could get someone to be a lot more candid than they'd otherwise be on a publicly visible profile. It's like a cap-and-trade system; by offering up a pot of gold to the winners you spur massive amounts of innovation. For example, if a matchmaker could increase his success rates by offering up dating tips and personal grooming advice then there would be a system in place promising him a pot of gold for doing it.

kleneway 18y ago

You know, originally that was where my train of thought was going. Then I did some quick research to see what else was out there, and found this Facebook app called "Date My Friends" that operated on this principle. They've been around for a while and haven't really picked up much traction, which kind of made me move away from this idea. Of course, the devil is in the details, but I always look at the motivating factors for each user role..and I don't really see one for the "matchmaker" role. The "bounty for a successful match" idea is interesting, though...maybe a payment model where the successfully matched people pay to unlock the mutual contact info, and 90% of that would go to the matchmaker? Hmmmm...

froo 18y ago

It's been done before an there is a UK site that has been running quite successfully for several years called My Single Friend - URL below for reference. http://www.mysinglefriend.com http://www.mysinglefriend.com