“So, where did you two meet?” — It’s always a fun question to answer, regardless of where you actually did meet.

Is a common platform necessary in a relationship?

Maybe you wouldn’t think so at first, but when I saw this comic, it made me think about what our tech personality has to do with who we date and where we might end up finding them…

Could I date a windows OS-only user? I’m not sure. I think it would be a tough transition. Luckily, right now I am also dating a mac user, so that is not a current concern….

[Dislaimer: I'm a Mac.]

Meeting People in Houston via meetup.com

Over the past 5 days, I have attended two meetups.

What is a meetup? It’s an online social networking portal that facilitates offline (gasp!)  group meetings in various localities around the world.

Meetup allows people to join groups based on a comment interest in something (really, there’s a group for everyone on the site!)

So what about Alana? Well, given my life scenario (moving every 6 months, oftentimes forgetting what state I live in, anyway) sometimes I’m looking for other techies/social media geeks in my current location.

I’ve had a few friends say to me – “Alana, would you recommend match.com? what about eharmony? How can I meet other single young professionals in my city?!”

To this I say – try meetup.com first before you go the online dating route. At least you’re making an in-person connection first, and you are meeting other like minded people who can immediately connect on a common interest/hobby.

For this, and many other things, Meetup is a great tool. Basically, you sign up, enter in your zip code and preferences (what you like) and it does the rest – email notifications, calendar layouts of events, profiles (both for you and the group)…PLUS… most of the time it’s free.

In Houston, I’ve signed up for the Houston Tweeps tweetup group as well as the Houston Photowalks club. It’s a great way to find your niche and learn something from people, locally.

Similar to other social networking sites (and successful films),  MeetUp was inspired by a Book. Bowling Alone, which is about the decline of community in America and how people don’t know their neighbors anymore. “We are providing a service that revitalizes the Internet for local communities,” says the founder of MeetUp.

(via Wikipedia).

Don't look so shocked. I like talking to strangers about social media.

For as far as I can remember, my friends have given me a hard time for talking to strangers.

“There’s nothing wrong with making friends,” I would say.

Some things never change.
_____________________________________

While at the Albany airport, I sat down at a table in the air-conditioned area near my gate (#temp control fail) and a man with a bow tie asks me if I will be boarding the flight to DC.

After finding out that I work with computers (and that I’m in my 20′s), he immediately asks me a few things about “my generation,” (which reminds me of the millennials 60 minutes feature) namely, why we (a) don’t read books anymore (b) what is twitter and (c) why we don’t respect the right to privacy.

I took a deep breath and did my best to not only respond to the concerns of this southern attorney over the age of 60, but also to represent “my generation,” well (I saw it as my duty to be an ambassador).

While explaining the history of the interwebs as well as the rise of social media, he seemed to be quite concerned over the “sharing” aspect on the internet.

“Why would anyone do that?” he asked me. I explained the collaborative nature of social media, and he was stunned that anyone would give up their right to “privacy” and post information on the internet (note: oops. I’m sharing now.)

I explained privacy settings and the ability to “hide” information, as well as how he would be able to interact and keep in touch with his kids. Fail.

Not willing to give up, I tried to steer this discussion in a new direction – and somehow, in a completely organic way, we ended up at everyone’s favorite online dating hotspot: match.com.

He proceeded to tell me that he met his girlfriend on Match and now they’re living together, but that it wasn’t easy- he explained that a high percentage of people he met posted very outdated pictures.. and he said (which was funny) “When I meet you in person, I’m going to remember the photo you showed me. What are they thinking, anyway?”

In summary, he made it clear to me that he doesn’t understand the “point” of social media/web 2.0, but yet experienced it in a very real way – by using match.com to meet his current girlfriend.

Best closing line: “You’re too young to know this, but the difference between 45 and 50 can be quite dramatic. A lot can happen in 5 years.”

Online dating words of wisdom from a cautious random attorney.

Photo: Me (miss techyness) worried about all the flirtexters out there...

Cancel your plans. I just got you better ones.

Flirtexting (flûrteksting) v. : The art of cell phone, Blackberry, or Gchat flirting, typically involving a new prospect. Short and sweet, slight innuendo, and rendez-vous invitations characterize the “flirtexter” at his or her best.  (via urbandictionary).

It’s just one example of a newly coined term that’s starting to receive national attention.. and some love on my new podcast, Millennious.

We all know that SMS (text messaging) plays a major role in today’s culture- and is inherently a part of the new digital dating regime… But what about a strategy on how to succeed in this age of “digital dating?”

Properly structured text messages and playing the “flirtext” and “flirtweet” (flirting via twitter) game right can have very positive effects, according to Debra Goldstein and Olivia Baniuszewicz , authors of Flirtexting: How to Text Your Way Into His Heart.

This CNN video featuring the authors gives an overview of flirtexting as well as a few tips.

bloggers note: Debra & Olivia- I’m waiting for Volume II: How to TWEET your way into his heart ;)

Sure, there’s always a reason behind most businesses: making money.

According to IAC (InterActive Corporation), the parent company of Match, the site was launched in 1995 (IAC also manages citysearch, ticketmaster, evite, bloglines and shoebuy to name a few).

Match.com has a revenue of $349 million. When compared to eHarmony.com (the competition!) match still comes out on top, as eHarmony reported $4.1 million in revenue for 2007.

Match.com claims that an average of 75,000 people sign up each day for the service. Add in the monthly subscription charge, and that’s some good money. Immediately, I thought of the advertising opportunities that match has the capability for. It’s like facebook- people are logging in often, and actively reading and navigating through the site. On IAC’s advertising page, the demographics are displayed:

The demos show that it’s almost split evenly between men and women. Shows that both genders are looking for love… corny but I had to say it, haha.

The distribution is nearly normal in regards to the age range. As a 22 year old female, I fall into a small percentage of the overall distribution.

It’s interesting. Signing up isn’t the only way to spend money on the site. You can also pay for additional “options” including…

• Match Mobile: $4.99 a month to send and receive emails on your cell phone. I tried to get around this system, but they block it unless you pay. punks.
• Email Read Receipts: $3.99 a month to see if someone actually read your message.
• Fancy colors: I forget how much it is but you pay extra to have a colored box around your picture. Yes, I am going to click on your name because it is a prettier color. Actually, it makes me feel like I wouldn’t want to click, knowing that you paid extra for a lame box.
• Monthly fee: About $15 to sign up. That’s just as much as netflix!

According to this article in Forbes, Match.com is working on strategic partnerships with Facebook and MySpace, in addition to current partnerships with AOL and Yahoo.

Making Money With A Subscription Based Business Model:

We’re [match.com] about 95% in subscription revenues. Last year, we did $349 million in revenue and $78 million in profit, which is up about 24% over the prior year. When I look at the subscription model, three things matter–How many people register everyday, how much they pay us and how long they’re staying?

Everyday we have about 75,000 people sign up for the service here in the U.S. It’s $35 a month, and people spend on average four, four and a half months.

-Match.com Chief Executive Thomas Enraght-Moony.

In the end, if you can figure out a way to reinvent something that we do in the physical world and make it digital, you’ve got yourself an idea. How’s dating any different?

As described in my most recent post, I’m doing some investigative research in the field of online dating. You may be thinking to yourself- why?

Everyone has an opinion on the subject from positive to negative and everything in between. However, how many of these people who “have an opinion” on it have actually signed up and experienced these kind of sites first hand?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, luckily for you, techyness is here to report back findings.

Findings: Match.com Day 1

1. Choose a normal “screen name” :Nobody wants to talk to “selective_dude” or “justlookin25″ or “sweetnsour_asian” or “playinthafield” Stick to a derivative of your name (initials are always a go) a favorite sport, activity, or team. Occupations work too if it’s something cool.

2. Don’t post really weird pictures of yourself. Honey, this isn’t MySpace. That picture of you taking a picture of yourself half naked in the mirror is not the classiest. I would recommend a full analysis of your target demographic before posting such things.

3. Winking (must be) the highest form of flattery. Think Facebook “poking” but not. The way it works (I guess) is someone winks at you, you respond (if you want to) and then, they might send you a message saying something like “hey whats up how do u like atl.” I guess you go from there?

4. Your every action is tracked. Think google analytics but for facebook. You can (pay extra) to find out if someone reads your emails, etc. But it is free to see who has viewed your profile. Proceed with caution, my friends, as you might not like what you find. In my case, i saw like 45 year old dudes perusing…. c’mon…

5. Some people aren’t as cool as they look. Maybe they hired professional copywriters to create their 2D verbage. Maybe they are a professional graphic designer?

6. Not everyone can spell (or piece together the english language). Yea, it’s a shocker. Proofread, people.

In the end though, my question is– you can lie in person, or you can lie online (about how much money you make, if you’ve been married before, if you have kids, etc.) Is there really a big difference? Will our kids think differently about online dating? If you think about it, it’s really just a way to “meet” people. You’re not just having an online relationship.

More thoughts to come on this one as time progresses.

credit to someecards.com

It was a stormy Sunday evening and I was hanging out at Cafe Intermezzo in Atlanta with a new friend. While discussing the dating scene as newcomers to the greater Atlanta area, she mentioned that she had been using Match.com for a few months.

Immediately, my “techyness.com is looking for new blog content” light bulb brightens immediately, and I ask her to please continue with her story.

We continue to discuss the fact that it’s often a challenge to meet classy, professional men in bars (you could say the same about women) but if you were at this club I visited on Friday, I think you’d probably be interested in analyzing the situation.

She challenged me to create an account and try it out.

So I did.

Consider this my first investigative assignment for Techyness. I have committed to a month with Match.com and will be reporting back to you, my loyal readers (love you!) on my thoughts on it’s UI (user interface), findings, and just about anything funny that happens to me while putting “techyness love” out there in cyberspace.

Let’s call it a test in social interaction over the internet.

I figure, hey, if you’re not willing to try something, you can’t make a decision on it.