High-Speed Speed Dating
SpeedDate.com attempts to adapt the popular singles icebreaker for the Web, sending its members on three-minute online dates.
VIDEO: See who this 25-year-old editor from Los Angeles meets when she tries SpeedDate.com for the first time.
It's Friday evening, and Lindsey, a Los Angeles native, has already gone on three dates — without ever leaving her kitchen table.
Wrapped in a blue blanket, with an empty carton of Chinese food on the floor, the 25-year-old bubbly blonde recaps the romantic encounters from the past half hour.
“I had a 38-year-old from Florida, who was Jewish, a 37-year-old, who was Asian, and then a guy in the army in Texas was 19,” says Lindsey, who asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons.
Lindsey is one of millions of suitors seeking that special someone on SpeedDate.com, a Web site that sets up members on three-minute chat sessions. Daters can converse via webcam or instant messenger. If both vote “yes” after the introductory conversation, the site allows them to continue communicating.
“I think it’s a good way to start Internet dating, because if you’re nervous about encountering people that might not be who they say they are, it’s cool ‘cause you can see them, and you know that they are there and real,” says Lindsey, who lives in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles and works as an editor.
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Her chief complaint is that not every dater has a webcam.
“It’s a little awkward if they can see and hear you, but you can’t see and hear them,” Lindsey explains. “There’s a little bit of a delay in response, and I think that’s part of the disadvantage.”
SpeedDate was started in 2007 by Stanford Business School graduates Simon Tisminezky and Dan Abelon. More than a year later, with approximately 13 team members, the company claims to have hosted more than 30 million online speed dates and has turned their service into applications for Facebook and iPhone.
Tisminezky believes SpeedDate differs from other profile-based dating sites that mainly rely on members getting to know each other through e-mail exchanges.
“You can get on a SpeedDate right away, chat and get to know someone really quick,” he says. “It’s interactive.”
Mark Brooks of Online Personals Watch, a site that follows the business of Internet dating, calls online and real-world speed dating services “complementary.”
“I think real-world speed dating will tend to grow as a consequence of the online speed dating companies, creating more awareness on the concept of speed dating,” says Brooks, who also does consulting for Internet dating and social networking companies like Friendster.com and Plentyoffish.com.
After creating a SpeedDate profile, singles can begin having the site generate potential matches for free. Members must upgrade to premium status, which costs between $15.99 and $24.99, in order to pick their own speed dates and get access to other special features, like e-mailing.
Thousands of SpeedDate members have begun paying for premium status since it was introduced in September 2008, according to Tisminezky.
“I think people are willing to pay to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, and it’s not something you save money on,” Tisminezky says. “People need that, whether or not the economy is doing good or bad.”
But not everyone agrees. Take SpeedDate user Jesus Contreras, a 24-year-old student at the University of Arizona.
“I don't feel comfortable paying someone to set me up,” Contreras says. “I think SpeedDate is easy to use even if you don't want to spend money.”
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