Add an eventSessions at SXSW Interactive 2012 about Online Dating in InterContinental Stephen F. Austin
Sunday 11th March 2012
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Consumer Patterns Revealed by Dating Site Insiders
by Brian Schechter, Laurie Davis, Sam Yagan, Shayan Zadeh and Julie Fields
Why is it that out of 40M online daters in the U.S., only 1.3M are on the largest paid site? Even dating sites that don’t brand themselves as catering to a niche tend to attract certain types of daters. And there are no universal rules. Take NY for example: 20something social go-getters favor HowAboutWe while professionals are on Match.com. 30something entrepreneurs crave Okcupid while the traditional-valued join eHarmony. Yet the same group of people in Austin will yield different results. How do users choose the site they’re on, what inspires brand loyalty, and how do companies uncover useful data on consumer decisions? The dating industry is a great case for this phenomenon, but the issue touches nearly every consumer-facing industry. The result? Companies are battling it out for users. What makes one person choose Foursquare over Gowalla, or Groupon over LivingSocial? In a never-before-seen meeting of the dating giants, we’ll delve into the enigmatic consumer mind.
Monday 12th March 2012
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The Algorithm Method: Love in the Social Media Age
by Andrea Miller, Helen Fisher, Elizabeth Bernstein, Michael Lazerow and Thomas Miller
Social media has made finding love easier: reconnecting with your college sweetheart on Facebook, broadcasting emotions on Twitter and maybe even finding your soul mate on a mobile dating app.
Americans will spend near a billion dollars on online dating in 2011. A 2002 article by Rufus Griscom in Wired stated, "Twenty years from now, the idea that someone looking for love without looking for it online will be silly… Serendipity is the hallmark of inefficient markets, and the marketplace of love, like it or not, is becoming more efficient."
A survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that two-thirds of divorce cases have used evidence from Facebook. Dating sites and social media outlets facilitate infidelity and exploitation in a relationship as efficiently as they bring couples together. Plus smart, professional 20-somethings are sexting with abandon. See gaffes by Anthony Weiner, Tiger Woods and et al. Are these technologies a blessing or a burden? Will the personal and professional continue to collide in dramatic ways?