Social dating site WooMe has launched a new video service that is so amazingly hard to watch it's bound to be a hit. It's called WooMe.tv, and it takes recordings from the site's speed dates and hosts them for all to see.
Not every video is available. Both users must opt in to have the session shared post-date, and only then does it go into the public directory. What makes it an attractive proposition is that the videos are only 60 seconds long (or less), so you can watch two or three of them in rapid succession. Better yet, each video is linked up to the members' profiles, so if someone catches your eye you can message them, or view some of their other social interactions.
User ratings have been employed to weed out the good from the bad using the same five-star system that's found on YouTube. WooMe's creators are also highlighting especially watch-worthy videos in a special featured section. If you find something you like you can share it with friends either through a direct link or with an embed, which is what I've done below.
I think you'll agree that this has the makings of a really watch-worthy service, however, there are a few things that could make it better. For instance:
• Give me an annotation tool. I spent countless hours watching Blind Date back when it was on TV, and seeing little moving notes on the videos was wonderful. I can imagine that someone, somewhere can do as good a job as that production team, especially if they're limited to just 60 seconds. Better yet, team up with Veeple to do it and make some cash.
• Make inter-network sharing more functional. I just found a video of someone who seems like a good match for my friend. Let me recommend it to him or her with a customized message.
• Let me filter the videos by age group and location. The current system is a good start for exploring, but not as much for meeting other people nearby.
See also WooMe competitor SpeedDate.com, which has made certain member dates public for the sake of promotion.
WooMe is opening up its doors to everyone this morning after being in private beta for the last few months. They were one of the presenters at the TechCrunch 40 conference back in mid-October and opened up to a little more than 100 folks who wanted to be a part of the dating site. Since then they've been ramping up the site, and have made a few updates, including a change in focus from dating to simply finding other people to interact with.
The underlying idea is that you've got a minute to talk to someone one-on-one via Webcam, and after that minute you move on to someone else. If you connect with someone, you can befriend them on the service, and can opt in to get in touch outside the site for further communication via private message.
Chat with someone like you would in a real-life speed-dating session. The clock on the left is ticking, though, so you've only got one shot at glory.
(Credit: WOO Media Inc.)Instead of one massive pool of users to sort out, the site manages everything through themed sessions that are created by users. Each session has a certain number of spots, and to be a part of them you need to sign up and be there when it starts. If you're not, someone else can take your spot, and potentially your next ex-girlfriend. Session topics range from singles looking to mingle by geographical area, all the way to folks trying to find babysitters or carpool partners. You can also scope out who has signed up to be a part of the session before you throw yourself in the mix. Despite the site advertising a minute per person, the session creator can dial up the time up to 3 minutes.
To help schedule the sessions, users can set a time when they want it to start. In order to aid users in remembering they've signed up, WooMe is launching an alerts system that will give users a heads up when it's time to hop back on the site. Currently users can set up a 10-minute e-mail alert, but there are also plans to add SMS and IM reminders (via a bot) to help users get a ping before a session is about to begin.
In addition to video, users can also opt for voice chat that comes in tandem with whatever picture they've associated with their WooMe account. Interestingly enough, the majority of a profile on WooMe isn't populated by information the user puts in; instead, it comes from other users who can use tags to describe them. Users have their own tag cloud, which gives you a quick snapshot of what others think of them. You can see this on their profiles, as well as while chatting with them in one of the sessions. Besides the big "no thanks" button when you're chatting with someone, this is the only real use of user ratings. Users can also reveal their age, location, and real basic traits like body type and social archetypes.
... Read more
Put romance and Webcams in the same sentence and we're often talking about sites that are neither safe for work, nor a proper replacement for face-to-face human interaction. SpeedDate (formerly known as "SpeedEdate") would like you to think otherwise, with their online speed-dating solution that gives you three minutes a pop with a grouping of daters via Webcam. The site has already setup more than 15,000 virtual dates after making its debut in late October.
Similar to WooMe (which is still in private alpha) dates are short, (hopefully) sweet, and one-on-one. SpeedDate will match you up based on some basic personality and geographical preferences. And starting next week, members will get to check out information about the person they're talking to, in order to get some quick conversation topics. There are also big fat "yes" and "no" buttons to note whether or not you enjoyed your time, and would like to setup a real date. Afterwards you can go back and get in touch with said daters to arrange a real-world meetup if both of you clicked the green yes button. Clicking the no button will end the date and move you on to the next.
Like real speed-dating events, sessions on SpeedDate.com are scheduled for a chunk of time on a weekly basis to maximize your potential dating pool. At all other times, simply keeping the browser window open will continue to match you up with new people as they come online.
While speed dating cuts through some of the red tape of glossing over people's profiles, the other end of that is getting matched up with more undesirables than you might be expecting, which is where SpeedDate's matching algorithm becomes important. It's worth noting that this is clearly a far better system than what's been done with the Dating on Demand service that you watch on your cable box, and potentially easier than sniffing out a local speed dating session on your own. It's also a little different from the competition by offering voice, video, and text as a means of conversation, meaning if you're without a Webcam you're not entirely out of the game--although your chances are probably better with one.
For a broader look at the service, the creators of SpeedDate have put together a video, which despite its news story look and feel, is purely promotional. My favorite part is when it turns into black and white to signify the "old" way of Internet dating, which looks a lot like MySpace. Burn.
- prev
- 1
- next
