In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought I would share my idea for a new dating app called Rate-a-Date that would operate like an eBay for dating, a site built around the reputation economy and the idea that what we do and how we act matters. The premise is simple. After going on a date with someone you’d be ask to check a few boxes, answer a few post date questions and give an analysis of the person you went out with. It wouldn’t take long and will lead to you receiving better matches in the future.
I’m the perfect example of why this approach would work. Every date I’ve had has been a “good date”. I pay for dinner while having a normal getting to know you conversation. For one reason or another it never works out but its never a bad time. Problem is that no one knows this. My profile is a few head shots, a short bio, a few answers to some random questions. There’s not a lot of substance there. No way for girls to know that I’m a nice guy who would treat them well on a date. No way for them to know that I would pay for dinner, hold the door open for them, or act chivalrous in any number of ways.
For all they know I could be just yet another creep. Another typical guy just looking to get laid. Rate-a-date would change all that. Based on all the feedback I receive girls interested in going on a date with me would know what they are getting themselves into. They may not know about my awkward ass out hugs at the end of the night, my penchant for using too many exclamation points in my texts, or my preference to go on a hiking date but they’d know that I’m a good time. Relevant information that you’d never get on Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Coffee Meets Bagel, or any of the other hundred apps out there.
Is this approach a little bit creepy? Reducing spontaneous human connection to a bunch of 1s and 0s? I don’t think so. In today’s hyper-connected, always on, data driven world feedback matters. Reputation matters. The more data we can collect the better. At the end of the day Information is King. And the sooner we realize that and incorporate that fact into our dating apps the better off we’ll be.
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