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LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES
New dating services are advancing the art of digital matchmaking
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Online dating may no longer be cursed with a stigma of desperation - we know a ton of people whose Match/Nerve/eHarmony dates resulted in a walk down the aisle - yet the concept continues to engender underlying pangs of insecurity for many. Posting sexy photos and answering inane questions like what celebrity you most resemble can be as terrifying as making eye contact in a singles bar. While there is no surefire way of knowing if that prospective love connection really is attractive or just really good with Photoshop, a number of new dating services are trying to remove some of the potential for disappointment when you finally do meet in person:
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Truly Madly Dating
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Much to the dismay of foodies everywhere, Condé Nast recently pulled the plug on Gourmet (R.I.P.). Might the publishing powerhouse make amends by replacing consumers' love for food porn with a social life? Their latest venture is this online dating site for the Transatlantic fashion crowd and, presumably, the people who love them. Like most other dating sites, TMD lets the beautiful people post pictures - we expect most profiles to resemble a Vogue editorial more than an OKCupid profile - and self-penned descriptions, but also offers a new voice feature that encourages daters to record themselves speaking for four minutes. Maybe even those singles born without the style gene can find love here - sometimes all it takes is a deep Southern accent to get a heart racing.
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Gelato
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While its virtue lies in facilitating networking rather than hosting a meat market, the world of social media may be the best virtual pick-up spot out there. After all, where else can you see what party your crush is going to next weekend even when you've never spoken to her in your life? Putting theory to practice, this new dating service allows users to build their profiles by pulling content directly from their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, etc. Now, with Gelato, it's all out in the open. You may learn, via his regular tweets of New Yorker articles, that the dude of your dreams who religiously watches 90210 on Hulu also has an intellectual bent. Someone's Netflix queue may be the ultimate litmus test: We love documentaries as much as the next guy, but without some classic Meatballs-esque movie selections lined up, one's profile comes across as a little contrived and, dare we say it, a little boring.
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Singalo
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The latest dating site in Sweden sheds a more objective light on matchmaking: Singles' friends create their profiles, thus eliminating the drama of shameless self-promotion by letting those who know them best do the promoting. The hope is that the friends of the unattached may sell them more authentically than those selling themselves. So far, it seems to be finding fans in Gen Y, which makes sense considering today's twentysomethings are apt to rely more on their peers for recommendations than, say, a software program designed to determine compatibility.
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* trendcentral articles are designed to be trend reports, not endorsements * The Intelligence Group is a trend-forecasting and marketing Consultancy focused on Gen X, Gen Y and Tweens. For more information on our services, or to subscribe to our syndicated studies, The Cassandra Report, Tween Intelligence, Latino Intelligence, and Mom Intelligence, contact Alina Goncalves at 212-277-5299 or via email at agoncalves@intelg.com.
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