I meditated this morning and them promptly smashed my head into a doorframe, which dislodged some thoughts about the future of online dating and discovery services I’ve had filed away somewhere behind the reptilian part of my brain that focuses on breathing, the Red Sox and not getting run over on my bike.
In the future, dating sites will pay singles for the priviledge of displaying their profile. The idea of paying to belong to a specific site will seem quaint. Sites bidding for profiles will be the norm.
The value proposition for singles will evolve from amount and quality of members to better matches distributed and accessible across many entry points. This is where the current crop of white label dating sites has a leg up on the competition.
You will own your profile data. You can change it, display it, add features and communication tools as you see fit.
A high quality validated profile for a successful single who has proven they are serious about finding someone is worth a lot more than 10 free incomplete stale profiles. Dating sites will capitalize on this and aggregate profiles that match their business model.
Similar to what’s happening in certain parts of the white-label dating world, which is growing by leaps and bounds in certain markets, but still has a long way to go when it comes to quality destinations, customer service and current profiles.
Niche dating will evolve in functionality and popularity, but large services still own the market. It’s more difficult to put yourself in a niche than it is to be part of a large date-warehouse. Geographic dating sites will fall out of favor, again it’s easier to segment a large database of people than market to an area code.
At present most dating sites search criteria revolves around age sex location and not much else. In the future, more and more valuable metadata will be attached to profiles resulting in vastly improved search. People will not necessarily know more about themselves, but the systems powering dating services will use this information to more effectively act on a users behalf.
Many singles will choose to conduct first dates via videoconferencing, with real-time voice-stress analysis to complement the usual “gut check.”
Serious daters will have a psychological exam as part of their background check. The test will not resemble todays tests, instead they may be taken on other sites and shared as part of their profile.
Dating will obviously happen on your pc, laptop, palmtop, phone and other devices. In fact, bars and other meeting places will have hookup systems, which use GPS, RFID and Bluetooth to connect compatible singles.
Crowdsourcing, part Engage.com and TrueDater, will be more prevalent. Any information learned about people from those they have dated previously will be a valuable asset.
People will stop using brick and mortar dating agencies, which by then will have been supplanted by introduction services with incredibly rich communication, matching and psychological testing capabilities.
Many more people will use online introduction services, while dating and social networking continue to overlap to the degree that the majority of serious and casual daters will be in the same places online.
Many other changes and innovations will occur that no one has thought of yet, thats part of what makes looking into the crystal ball exciting.
What are your thoughts on the future of dating? Leave a comment and let us know.
