Come On, WooMe - You Have 60 Seconds!
Bringing the $1 billion+ speed dating market into the online world comes WooMe. The idea is pretty much the same as it is in the offline world - schedule a time for an online meeting, get into the virtual room armed with a webcam and a microphone, and get a chance to spend a minute each with the other people and try to figure out whether he/ she is the one for you. If you find that you have hit it off with another person, and vide versa, both of you shell out some money to exchange contact details.
Here’s what sets it apart from the other dating websites, and no videoconferencing is not the Big Idea here:
1. No lengthy profiles to fill - given today’s quickie generation, length profiles would certainly be a turn off. According to comScore, the number of people visiting online dating sites dropped 6% in September from those a year earlier. For instance, unique visitors to Yahoo Personals and eHarmony fell 21%, Match.com had a 16% drop, while True.com’s visitors plummeted 46%.
2. Most of a profile on WooMe is not populated by the user, but rather from other users who can use tags to describe them. During a speed session, participants are asked to write one word that describes the person they’re conversing with. These tag words are used on their personal profiles, and sort of build reputations for users on the site.
3. Instead of one massive pool of users to sort out, the site manages everything through themed sessions that are created by users - so for instance, you can pick/ create a session based around your interests.
4. A pricing model which is based on usage, and not on subscription, making it appear a lot more transparent, but which also ensures that they need to do everything and more to ensure stickiness on their website.
No doubt, sponsored sessions can be expected soon, given that advertisers would be able to a target age, interest, gender, location etc. makes it very irresistible.
That speed dating may not be the only way for the site to go, is clear from the usage patterns. It seems people are using this to also screen potential room-mates, employees, etc. So, it is the idea and the platform that deserves the applause.
Filed under: Ideas & Innovations, Statistics, Website Alert