I tried -- and failed -- to produce a online dating startup. I spent a lot of time reading the academic literature on the matter. Here is my summation:<p>compatibility ~ attraction + age + sex + serendipity<p>Serendipity is more appropriately called the error term. In my opinion, real-time news feeds will at best add nothing, if not actually degrading the signal by adding excess noise. You can't date (i.e. appraise compatibility) online. You have to date in "real life".<p>Then again, that was the premise of my startup, and it failed so maybe i should STFU.
im sorry, but this realtime stuff is like web 2.0 overhype on steroids. There's a lot of great products that will come out of it, but there will also be a lot of WTF is going on here products as well.<p>"it's like friendfeed for dating". People usually go on dating sites to get laid and/or find soulmates, I don't think need real time dating search will make that happen more efficiently.
Reading the title, the image of the product I got in my mind seemed to be a great idea, a solution to some of the awkwardness that I personally feel toward OK Cupid. I don't want to send an email pretending to take interest in something particular in someone's profile. Bottom line, who's out there, <i>right now</i>, who seems like they are at least potentially interesting? Who wants to meet? "You seem interesting enough, let's just grab a drink." I envisioned something like Twitter, with a more extensive profile. Maybe a Twitter app could do this.<p>But reading it, this just seems like stalking people before you even know them. Making online dating all the less natural.