Dating should not require hours of form filling.

Dating is not a search for someone who is exactly like you.

Dating should not be about selling yourself with a “profile” and a catchy headline.

Dating is not about complex search queries, personality tests, reverse matching, view counts, virtual winks, photo albums, etc.

So it’s time to turn the tide.

To its credit, online dating sites have had some advantages over real world meetings.  They are places where you know you’ll find singles.  It’s easier to find someone who may be your “type”.  It’s easier to try to meet people on your couch while watching TV in your pajamas than getting dolled up for the hot club downtown brimming with skanks and douchebags and $10 drinks.  And for some it’s easier on the pride to get rejected online than in person.

Does that make online dating better?  I don’t think so.  It still lacks something: excitement!  By pegging you into a “profile” and finding “matches” based on “criteria”, online dating has been totally geekafied.  It’s cold and impersonal.  It’s based on algorithms, logic, science… that’s not what love and emotion are rooted in.  A shared glance may be enough to get someone’s heart pounding.  Meeting someone in person, a spark may ignite.  Hear someone’s voice or smell their perfume and they may run through your mind for the rest of the day.  So how can we expect a bio and a photo on a web page to do the same?  It’s no wonder that so many people sign up for a dating service as a last resort.

Can online dating be better?  Yes, definitely!  We just need to be innovative.  The real world experience will never be exactly reproduced in a virtual environment but we can get close, and we can invent revolutionary new ways of connecting people to make online dating the primary choice of most people, and without the negative connotations that it brings to some minds.

I don’t use the word “revolutionary” lightly.  We really could be on the cusp of not just a sea change in online dating but a radical new way for people to meet and start relationships.  We are in the middle of a social revolution on the internet.  However online dating has yet to enlist in its ranks.  (No, I do not consider simply having a profile and messaging options as a sign of a social network.)  The social web is still young so there is much yet to learn about its best practices and applications.  Where it goes next, I believe, can only benefit online dating.

That’s where the “Hearts” project comes in.  “Hearts” is the code-name for the online dating network that I’m building.  I plan for Hearts to have the features that will overcome the frustrations and pitfalls that other dating networks currently have.  I’m building on top of the standard profile search concept (which despite my cynicism still holds some value) and introduce new ways to connect people who will like each other, not just people who have the same interests or personality.  I’d like to make the online experience more social and exciting.

As this blog grows I’ll detail those thoughts more, but more importantly I’m looking for your feedback.  Comments are open on every post so feel free to chime in, whether you have a great idea or you just want to sound off.  Online dating is going to change so come be a part of the revolution!