alex chiang: web 6.0

Well, I can’t believe that (a) I actually paid $20 for an internet dating service and (b) that I’m admitting it to the internet at large. I may as well just replace my entire web page with a big blinking LOSER sticker or something. Ugh.

Match.com has a business model that actually seems pretty reasonable and stands a good chance to succeed. First, they have mindshare. Advertising during the Super Bowl last year was pretty smart; certainly that’s why they stuck out in my mind. It’s another example that obeys Metcalfe’s Law: the value of it goes up as the square of the users.

Second, they offer just enough to entice new users in while keeping the ability to make money. Anyone can come in and enter a profile and search through existing profiles for free. Presumably, this is to get people looking for their “matches”. And because so many people are using the site, chances are good that if you don’t find Mr. (or Ms.) Right, you’ll be able to find Mr. (or Ms.) Pretty Damn Close.

Therein lies the hook. With so many potential matches out there, it’s human nature to want to reach out to at least one or two of them. And the catch is, you can’t, unless you pays your money. Match.com acts as the go-between between you and your potential mate and won’t divulge the information until you fork over.

This leads to my complaint about the censorship they employ. Match.com has a staff of people whose job it is to sit there and read profiles all day long to make sure that you’re not being naughty and posting direct contact information so that interested parties can just contact you directly and bypass the middleman.

Now I agree that the control of contact information is their key to success, but their censors aren’t exactly the most creative types. As an experiment, I placed a subtle hint in my profile encouraging anyone who read it to simply google for my name, so that they would come across this site and find my direct contact information. The censor-monkey at Match butchered the last few lines of my profile and made me sound like an idiot. If they’re going to censor over there, they ought to do a better job at it. If you’re a censor-monkey at Match, go read 1984 and learn how to censor from Winston Smith. He may have hated his job, but at least he did a good job at it.

In any case, I’m rambling. We’ll see how this thing goes. I still can’t believe I paid $20 for this dumb thing, but it’s worth a shot.

In other news, the Family Guy may return. This would be the best ever for television programming. Seth MacFarlane is a genius and should be honored with a phat wad of bling and many beautiful women.