I Love You, Let's Meet

A lot of people I interviewed in 2003 and 2004 said web cams were the next big thing in online dating; these Stanford kids are combining web cams with online dating with speed dating.

As gimmicks go, the sum seems an improvement on the parts, slightly less excruciating than real-life speed-dating where all the others are jostling in your peripheral vision (I bet if I did it, I’d keep losing focus on my own mini-date while trying to eavesdrop) and giving a structure to web cam interactions with strangers.

Also seems a little like an open mic night; I imagine speed daters have more canned performances online than in person.

I’d love to hear from someone who tries this service what it’s like.