Today’s guest post is by Matthias Galica, Product Manager @WooMe.com.

What do you call something that’s never existed before? Remember rolling your eyes at the first mention of “social networking”, “social bookmarking”, or “micro-blogging” – only to see them end up in the popular lexicon?

That’s sometimes the difficult flipside to facilitating an entirely new and exciting behavior online: you have to give it a name. Even worse, you may need to stick with it for weeks, months, maybe years – during which time no one has the slightest idea what you’re talking about.

But it’s incredibly validating when that strangely-named baby becomes the popular new kid on the block.

WooMe is currently the slightly awkward adolescent: we’ve just had a couple growth spurts, it’s the summer before high school, and girls are starting to pay attention to us.

Internally, we’ve been using the term “introductions platform” because our community has outgrown the online dating label. The lion’s share of visitors still come looking to meet and interact with potential love interests in real-time, but WooMe has also become a valuable tool for engaging new people in a fun way online.

People are screening new roommates, challenging each other in spirited discussions on news and politics, even vying for the attention of their favorite celebrities. With hundreds of thousands of live sessions, chats, and video chats at any given time, the number of different ways our users interact is increasing exponentially. Calling ourselves purely a dating site would be limiting and might neglect the myriad activities for which our users have appropriated the technology.

Essentially, we’re recreating in the virtual space all the things that relative strangers can do in reality, and it’s an amazing to watch. (See for yourself on WooMe TV).

So does it make sense to publicize the term Introductions Platform? No matter how hard you try and coin a term, sometimes it just doesn’t stick. Even mighty Facebook has had little traction with “social utility” and there’s a veritable graveyard of Web 2.0 buzzwords that now inspire little more than a chuckle (heck, “Web 2.0″ might be one of them). Sometimes you risk completely missing the target with “e-tailing”, “life caching“, or “hypertasking“.

Our current tagline is “Introducing the World”, but we’re planning on trying out a more simple and straightforward “Meet People LIVE” in the coming weeks.

Which do you think does a better job of getting the idea across?

Photo is of Matthias at TechCrunch 50 in 2009.

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WooMeTV went live today. The original Woome made it fun to jump into conversations with random people. But what about the rest of us who can’t make it into these videochats? WooMeTV is the logical progression of WooMe, basically an archive of WooMe sessions.

WooMeTV is for people have grown tired of looking at social network photos. Now we can watch videos of strangers talking to each other. Strangers doing strange and interesting things, cursing like sailors, taking their clothes off and generally acting like horny teenagers. WooMe understands the power of voyeurism and has morphed into a voyeurism network.

With WooMe TV, users can watch countless hours of raw content of real people meeting in live 60-second video clips. WooMe TV extends the mass appeal of reality TV with the interactivity, energy and engagement of user generated content on the internet. WooMe TV represents a new category of user generated content whereby the online experience itself becomes the focus. Users don’t tape, produce and upload content. Rather, the content is created as an organic part of WooMe’s online social experience where people meet for 60 seconds in live video chats. Whether people want to share their live interactions or simply be entertained by the video introductions of others, there is entertainment for every user.

I always seem to miss my WooMe sessions, or the phone rings, or my camera doesn’t connect. Now with WooMeTV, I can peruse archived Woo sessions, watching both participants in side-by-side video windows. No wonder the adult industry is slowing down online, look at all this free content on social networking sites.

The first video is of two people talking about what they are studying in school. Boring. The next one is of a woman in a bikini and her hot girlfriends talking to some guy, every other word is f*&ck and they are asking the guy to take his shirt off. I guess this is what passes for quality content. The amount of adult content and spam is going to be monumental. This is the future of user-generated content people, get used to it. Good luck to WooMe trying to keep the site clean.

How are WooMe videos selected for WooMeTV?

To participate in WooMe TV, users simply join any WooMe TV indicated session and chose whether to share the video with friends and the WooMe community once the session ends. Both participants have to opt in if they want their introduction to be included on WooMe TV. At the conclusion of each session, users are given the option to include their voice or video introductions on WooMe TV. If one party chooses to publish the introduction to WooMe TV the other participant will receive a notification asking if they agree. Only when both users have opted in is the video added to WooMe TV and available to share with friends. If one user wants to make the introduction video added to WooMe TV and the other does not, the video will never be added.

I can’t wait to see who becomes the most popular characters. You just know it’s going to be a bevy of hot saucy girls and shirtless guys talking good game. I think this game has already been played out on YouTube, the only difference is that on YouTube you have to watch another video to see the response. WooMeTV makes it easier to see both sides of the conversation at once.

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Online video introduction site WooMe sent me the results of a Harris Interactive poll that point to one of the main reasons why online dating sites fail – because there is no live interaction with video.

I disagree that video is a main reason why online dating sites have trouble attracting new members and creating lasting relationships. I wouldn’t call it failing, more like underperforming.

If I recall correctly, in a study a few years back video was listed 13th in terms of what singles would like changed about online dating.

That said, for 20-somethings, WooMe is a natural. I find it interesting that the over-30 crowd tends to use the standalone video applications that have been around for a decade or more.

Flirting Online a Major Struggle for Nearly Three-Quarters of Single Adults

WooMe, the world’s first live introductions platform, today announced the results of a survey* that illustrates the need for singles to set aside their online flirting tactics and retire the use of emotions to express interest in that special someone. According to the survey, nearly 3 out of 4 single online adults (72 percent) find flirting online more difficult than in person, citing the inability to observe body language, gauge chemistry and assess physical appearance as major contributing factors.

Online dating woes don’t stop there. In addition to the pressure to spark initial interest, singles better be looking their best. According to the survey, 61 percent of single adults say looks are most likely to attract them to someone within the first minute of an introduction. Only 17 percent said they thought sense of humor was most important and an even lower nine percent said they value intelligence most. Ironically, less than one in three single adults (31 percent) who have an online profile regularly update the picture on their social network or online dating site profile(s), so it’s almost impossible to predict how an online love interest might look when they show up for that crucial first date.

“Chemistry is an enigma. There are many factors that go into establishing chemistry and being able to interact with someone tells you more in 30 seconds than hours of compatibility tests or emailing,” said Stephen Stokols, CEO and co-founder of WooMe. “With WooMe, people meet face-to-face via webcam in fast and fun live introductions where they can decide if they are ‘wooed’ in one minute and move on if they are not.”

First impressions can make or break a potential relationship. More than a quarter of single adults (26 percent) said they would be more likely to use an online dating site if they could use a webcam to interact live with other members. With WooMe, the power of the first impression goes beyond words on a screen and a static photo that may be seriously out of date. As a result, 77 percent of WooMe users were able to decide whether or not they wanted to get to know someone better in only 30 seconds.

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Check out the WooMe traffic trajectory (monthly visitors). Here are a bunch of YouTube videos made by the founder, Stephen Stokols.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7qBtcrWvzM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJZEZHbpKds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOCecpStCNc

There are several more related videos at youTube. Steven is pretty smooth, knowledgeable about the space, knows how to sell the value proposition to the money guys, press and consumers. He knows how to pump up the service when it counts, but saying it’s ramping up as fast as Facebook, please.

WooMe was Steven’s little sister’s idea, I love that. I see they added Google Calendar links to events to act as reminders, smart and simple, a nice feature. WooMe raised a $2 million seed round (although I wouldn’t call it seed), they are going after more money. They are definitely going to need it, and several key partnerships, otherwise they are buying keyword traffic, which is not going to sustain the growth they need to get large enough to sell out.

Video is going to be a niche feature on all dating sites in a few years. Right now WooMe and SpeedDate are leading the pack at the moment. Lots of other companies about to launch, but in this case I think we only need two or three speed-dating sites for the general public.

Now niche dating site speed dating, that could be huge. I’m talking to a few larger niche sites about integrating speed dating as an option, we’ll see how it works out.

Related posts:

1. Randommate and Speed Dating Issues
2. SpeedDate.com Licenses Online Speed Dating Patent
3. WooMe – A Dating Site Evolves

WooMe is doing a promotion with bands like Right On Dynamite and Mudvayne. Band members will be in WooMe sessions and people can talk with them live.

Looks like you can only chat with ROD. You can win schwag if a WooMe “secret agent” overhears you talking about Mudavyne.

Secret agents listening in on our conversations? You have got to be kidding me. Are these agents in actual sessions or are they listening to all of our conversations from the mother ship?

Given that I was just invited to a nude WooMe session (I didn’t partake), I’d hate to think that someone could listen in on our conversation.

I can understand having community monitors, but this is a total breach of privacy. Off to read the privacy policy.

The only thing that caught my eye was this:

We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services, WooMe Platform developers and other users of WooMe, to supplement your profile. Where such information is used, we generally allow you to specify in your privacy settings that you do not want this to be done or to take other actions that limit the connection of this information to your profile (e.g., removing photo tag links).

They are collecting information about me from external sources and may add this information to my profile. No thanks!

VentureBeat has this about WooMe’s revenue model.

When we first talked to the founders of WooMe, they were still deciding how to handle monetizing the site, aside from a $1 charge required for users interested in each other to gain the ability to contact each other directly (something users will be able to get around easily enough, by simply opening a new session and telling each other their email addresses).

And this about advertising:

They’ve decided to keep the site clean, not placing any display ads. However, WooMe will selectively slip video advertisements into sessions that have extra room. For example, if a session is set up for five men and five women, and only four women sign up, the extra minute-long slot will be filled by a video ad. (If less than three women sign on, the session will be canceled.)

Session participants will be video ads, interesting. You can woo or reject ads.

WooMe is talking to a top three dating site to offer it’s services as an add-on. It’s also going to offer a white label solution.

WooMe has powered over 60,000 sessions. SpeedDate supposedly does that every day. Are these numbers realistic?

I’ll be keeping close tabs on the WooMe blog.

Related posts:

1. WooMe Still Not Satisfying
2. WooMe Launches WooMeTV
3. Speed Dating Site WooMe Claims Ramping As Fast As FaceBook

Woome now works with my camera setup, so I ventured online to host and participate in a few sessions. All week I’ve been getting emails from 21 year old women wanting to get to know me better.

First I am greeted with this image.

Ok, it’s beta, no big deal.

I set up a session, “post hottub relaxation.” I just got done doing power yoga and went tubbing afterwards, so it’s a realistic title.

Searching for people to invite. Can’t search for people from invite me page. Must click through 15+ pages of people to select who you want to invite.

Why is the specified orientation either girl meets guy or anyone meets anyone? I’m a guy, why can’t it be guy meets girl? Confusing.

Ok, my session is about to begin. This is exciting! The chance to meet three other random people from around the world. I wonder who’s going to show up? The cute brunette from Des Moines, maybe the fetching lass from Manchester (mostly UK people on Woome).

Turns out nobody showed up for my session. How depressing is that? You have to invite a lot more people than you expect to participate. Most people never show up. Spam random 10 people and see what happens. If I was a 21 year old woman I think the experience would be quite different.

Buck up young man, this is the wild frontier of cyberspace. I decide to create another session. Maybe people were turned off by the hot tub reference.

I try again, with a slightly better name for the session: Windy Sunday Hangout. Turns out I had to verify my email address. While I was taking care of that my session started. You can’t join a session while it’s in progress.

I’m zero for two. My fault. Here’s where I would like it to be more like SpeedDate, where the session starts automatically. Woome has to find the medium-ground here.

It’s weird that I can invite people to other sessions that I’m not participating in. With only two guys per session, getting in on one can be difficult.

You can invite people from Facebook.

The only way to guarantee you’ll be in a session is to host one.

It feels weird to invite guys to a session.

The user interface, nice at is it, needs work. Menu items expand to hide other menu items.

Woo credits. Unlimited for users while in beta, this is how they will make money. Charge per session. I would guess that hosts will pay, not attendees, but I could be wrong.

All my pictures are cropped badly. My face doesn’t even show up in several. What’s up with that? Auto-cropping is easy, there is plenty of software to do this. Off to iPhoto to select some new photos. Why isn’t this linked to my Flickr account? Make more work for me when they should make it easy to connect to photo sharing sites.

I was able to get into a session called “I’m a freak thats dope!!!” You take what you can get with Woome.

Cue the funky startup music. Oops, “looks like there’s no one for you to WOO in this session.” I guess that means that no women showed up. Depressing. Why do we need to have unisex rooms?

I gave Woome another shot and it didn’t work out so well. I’ll try again when it’s night-time here in the US, perhaps I’ll have better luck.

My woo address is http://woome.com/relaxedguy if you want to check it out together.

Related posts:

1. Woome Promotes Bands, Privacy Issues?
2. WooMe Launches WooMeTV
3. WooMe: TechCrunch40 Finalist, $20 Million In Funding – And One Huge Scam

I’ve been videoconferencing since 1994, in fact, the original Connectix Quick Cam right here, next to my original Apple Newton and a hard drive the size of an end table.

For me, text chat in an instant message window is fine for friends, but for business and meeting new people, I prefer the additional emotive bandwidth that videoconferencing provides.

Since speed dating sites are popping up all over the place, I decided to spend part of last night speed dating at Woome and SpeedDate. My unscientific seat of the pants review follows.

A huge barrier to entry for most people is the fact that not many people have webcams. New Mac laptops have cameras, and some PC’s do as well, but we’re a long way from webcams being ubiquitous.

Several speed dating sites offer the ability to chat without audio or video. That is not speed dating, thats an IM session, which I think is much easier on a dating site with a chat application. No need to create new profile and much larger pool of potential matches.

This begs the question, why don’t people use the chat feature on dating sites more?

Simple, because men tend to lapse into neanderthal-like behavior when proper checks and balances are not put in place to monitor their behavior. I’m willing to bet that dating sites that have well-behaved men get more people in the chat rooms.

Women who join video dating and speed dating sites and put up photos of themselves in their underwear (the majority on some of the sites), have no one but themselves to blame when men stalk them online and send disturbing emails and videos.

The two services I tried out are WooMe and SpeedDate. Previous speed dating articles include First Look: SpeedDate.com , SpeedDate interview notes.

Woome

The amount of semi-naked women’s profiles is enough to make me blush, and that is saying something. If the women are one iota as hot as their photos, this site has Myspace beat hands down for R-rated voyeurism.

There were nine people over 30 in the US on Woome when I stopped by to kick the tires. The majority seem to be 18-27.

The ability to schedule sessions puts WooMe far out in front of the competition in terms of features.

A few years ago I developed a plan for a similar feature for a company than never launched. I spoke with someone at an anonymous calling company this week who are rolling out a similar idea.

Speed dating events should be scheduled based on time (I want to talk from 8-9pm), topic (I want to talk about American muscle cars of the 60′s) and location (I want to talk to people in Brussels.)

WooMe is close to nailing it, what they need is a directory of topics to discuss.

Skype broke the 12 million users online mark last week. Think about a virtual bar in Skype that allows you to meet people based on time, topic and location. That’s what I worked on back in the day. Marketing to 12 million people is a lot easier than building up a database of users from scratch.

There is a lot to do at WooMe. Create profile, upload photos, see who’s online, schedule sessions and most of the usual dating-site features.

Scheduling a session is straightforward. Name it, add some keywords to make it easy to find, general demographic information and interestingly, orientation, as in “anyone meet anyone” or in my case “girl meets guy.”

Set a start time, format: voice and video or voice only. Notice the lack of text-only chat as opposed to SpeedDate.

Paticipants can be 2-on-2 or 3-on-3.

Duration: 60 seconds to two minutes.

After seeing this, I realize that WooMe is not going for the longer topical conversations. Unless you are a fast talker, it’s all about the initial chemistry and level of interest.

What do you do after that? WooMe should have a section of the site dedicated to longer-format discussions.

Inviting people is an interesting experience. Do I invite guys or just women?

The selection process is smooth. Now we sit back and wait. Nine minutes to go. Wait, now it says 1 minute to go, what happened? I am confused, it says it starts in 40 seconds in one place and 9 minutes in another. Something is wrong here. Oh well, let’s see what happens.

Screen refreshes, funky background music is playing, makes me smile, the anticipation!

“looks like there’s no one for you to WOO in this session… please try again with another session and be sure to invite some people!”

Denied. That was my first time, I’ll try again and see what happens. Turns out I need to wait for Woome to get their webcam setup working properly, then I can actually participate.

The sortable list of most popular, recently joined, favorites and online now give you several different ways to check out people.

The list of upcoming sessions is nice, mouse over the session name to learn more.

I like the nudge concept, kind of like a Facebook poke or a dating site wink to show someone you are interested in them. Sites need to start limiting the number of winks or woos that can be sent each day. I can imagine women are deluged with them every day.

The video setup process is nicely done, if your system is one of the ones they work with.

WooMe may do well in the college market. If they add an adult area for “webcam girls” they could take a lot of market share away from various adult webcam sites.

SpeedDate

Speed Date licensed an online speed dating patent, U.S. Patent Number 7,203,674 covering key aspects of online speed dating.

This makes me wonder if WooMe and the others could be shut down if they don’t license the intellectual property.

Dan at SpeedDate emailed to let me know that they performed a significant upgrade to the site last week. I’m glad, because the old version of the site left a lot to be desired.

A brand new version of SpeedDate has arrived! We’ve added lots of new features, including:

-Faster dates

-Send messages in between dates

-Delete matches from your chat list

-More profile info about your dates, and lots more…

Please send your feedback on our new design to info@speeddate.com to be entered into a drawing for a free webcam.

Much better. The awkward pop-up windows are gone. You can now Flirt, Wink or Skip people that come up in your searches.

The abrupt joining of speed dates is still there, but overall the interface is much easier to navigate. Profiles remain a weak spot, every single one I’ve browsed says “Meet me to find out.” WooMe clearly is the winner when it comes to profiles.

Every single enounter so far has been with a static photo, with no one on the other end, so I report them all as “not responding.” It feels like the system is setting up these dates with fake people, wheather or not that is true I don’t know yet.

This is a total turnoff. With WooMe, you only meet up with people in a scheduled session, although you can create sessions as a host and not participate, which probably not a great idea.

A while back I had a good conversation with Dan Ableson, one of the SpeedDate founders. He said all the right things during the interview and I was impressed with their pedigree. That was before I tried WooMe. I know nothing about the founders except that they have a super site and SpeedDate has a some catching up to do. The site refresh is a good start, now they just need some live humans on the site.

Conclusion

Both sites cater to the under 30 crowd, featuring few of us older folks.

WooMe is a better experience overall, the clear winner, even though I haven’t been able to use the entire site. It’s well thought out for the most part, looks good, although it loads slowly at times.

This was a brief evaluation of the two speed dating sites. I’ll have more to say when I can actually get into WooMe conversations and spend a few more nights in front of the webcam.

During the review period, I was emailed or winked by five women on Match and set up two dates. That was unexpected, I guess my new photos and profile headline are working.

When it comes to meeting someone online, speed dating services have a long way to go to even begin to compete with dating sites. They need many more people on the sites for them to be a true alternative to traditional dating sites.

Next up, a look at Camlink.

Related posts:

1. Speed Dating Site WooMe Claims Ramping As Fast As FaceBook
2. SpeedDate.com Licenses Online Speed Dating Patent
3. Randommate and Speed Dating Issues