Kevin Carmony, recently-resigned CEO for desktop Linux vendor Linspire, today unveiled his new venture, Dating DNA, LLC. Dating DNA provides free and open Web Services which bring 1-click compatibility scoring and other sophisticated dating features to Social Networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Craigslist.
No news that daters have been leaving paid dating sites in droves for social networks or that social networking search and matching is sorely lacking for the most part. Turns out Dating DNA wants to do something about it.
A person’s “dating DNA” is represented by a unique 9-digit number, exclusive to that individual and theirs for life. Users can get their free Dating DNA Number by visiting www.datingdna.com and answering a series of questions about themselves and their dating preferences, a process which takes around 15 to 30 minutes.
Through a patent-pending system devised by Carmony, Dating DNA encapsulates over 300 pieces of information down into a single 9-digit number, including all the particulars about a person and the type of people they prefer to date. For example, encoded in the number is a person’s hair color, height, line of employment, religion, if they have children, political leanings, and hundreds of other pieces of information. Encoded in the number are also the person’s dating preferences, such as do they prefer to date a non-smoker, someone who likes pets, someone who wants children, someone who owns their own home, and so on, as well as the weight a person places upon each of the different criteria.
Once someone has their Dating DNA Number, they can exchange their number with those they meet, either online or off. By visiting the Dating DNA website, users can compare their Dating DNA Number with someone else’s number, and within seconds, generate a one-decimal compatibility score, ranging from 1.0 to 10.0, as well as view a compatibility summary and detailed reports. (See examples at www.datingdna.com/screenshots.)
Unlike traditional dating sites where literally anyone can view a user’s profile and photos, and then contact them, Dating DNA keeps all information and photos private, except from those who meet or exceed a “Compatibility Threshold,” set by each user. Users can also browse other Dating DNA users, but will only be shown those who meet or exceed their Compatibility Threshold.
Central to Dating DNA’s strategy, is providing open APIs to their Web Services which allow developers to bring Dating DNA’s 1-click compatibility scoring engine to other sites and devices. For example, there are Dating DNA-powered applications for Facebook and MySpace. Widgets will soon be released for Craigslist, iGoogle, Apple’s iPhone, and the Chumby web appliance, as well as many other sites and devices. Dating DNA’s Web Services allow developers to quickly and easily incorporate sophisticated dating compatibility tools to hundreds of Social Networking sites and web devices. Developers can learn more.
What does a Linux CEO know about personality profiling? I hope that Dr. James Houran and Fernando Ardenghi will check out the system and leave a comment. Those guys live for tearing apart profiling systems and explaining what works and what doesn’t. DISC, Big-5, it’s all greek to me. Here’s an example of their conversations about matching systems.
