Messaging and Single Millenial
by Nancy Broden
Today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required) presents a good synopsis of a handful of mobile dating services that have recently come on the scene. Targeting that most mobile of market segments, the 18 - 24-year-old, these services leverage text messaging’s role as the communication tool of choice among this group.
MeetMoi, for example, lets registered users text a note and their current location in the form of a ZIP Code or street address to MeetMoi. The service then returns the profiles of compatible date candidates in the area. If the user likes what s/he sees, s/he connects with the person via anonymous text. It is up to them to take the next step and exchange phone numbers or set up a face-to-face meeting. Zogo is similar, but the date seekers connect via anonymous voice calls rather than text.
The main concern with any location-based dating service is security. All services offer some level of security by maintaining the participants’ anonymity and not revealing the details of their location. Still, The addition of GPS may turn any of these services into “stalking applications”.
All the same, the target demographic for mobile dating services is, at this stage in their lives, open to giving up some privacy for the novelty, convenience and/or immediate gratification these services may provide.
