OmniDate Virtual Dating

Recently I had an interesting conversation with someone about why it makes sense to bring certain “virtual world” elements into the online dating space. We talked about how in virtual worlds there is much to do, but little purpose for being there … while in the online dating space, the opposite is true: a clear purpose for being there (i.e., to find a mate), but little to do (other than flipping through profiles and sending emails). So, giving users with a purpose a better virtual experience should keep them engaged longer … and, thus, should result in longer “time on site.”

So, today, I wanted to see if real-world data would lend support to this thinking. I pulled up Alexa (an online analytics tool) and compared “time on site” for several “virtual world” sites and OmniDate, which is a proxy for a “virtual dating” site. (more…)

Here are few photos from the iDate Conference, Miami, Jan 22-23, 2009 (thanks Marc!):

Ravit (OmniDate.com) on the Final Debate panel:

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Ravit Abelman, co-founder of OmniDate, met with Hon. John McCallum, Member of Parliament and Liberal Finance Critic, to discuss growth opportunities for technology companies and women entrepreneurship in Canada.

Here’s a great post by Matthew, a news writer for Geek.com: OmniDate to replace real first date with virtual one.

Matthew correctly describes the objective of virtual dating: “… to try and remove some of the barriers to going on a first date. Their idea is simple. Replace the first real date with a virtual one … [from] the safety of your own home.” (more…)

Just wanted to share this posting by Mr. Online Dating: Virtual Online Dating - Can Online Dating Get Any Easier!

In his recent article on virtual dating, Eric of the Discovery Channel shows that he really gets the connection - and the distinction - between technology and real life relationships!

For starters, Eric recognizes that using virtual dating does not make you an avatar … at least, not any more than using email makes you a server. It may seem obvious, but too often people equate “using virtual dating” with “living in a virtual world.” (more…)

The difference between men and women was clearly evident last week at the annual online dating conference, iDate, in Miami.

The final session of the iDate conference typically involves a debate. This year’s debate was moderated by Mark Brooks. On the panel: Martin (Make Friends Online), Ravit (of our own OmniDate), Sam (Christian Cafe), Markus (Plenty of Fish), Dan (Speeddate.com) and Michael (Online Booty Call).

In the middle of the discussion on conversion rates, CPM, and other numbers, a woman in the audience asked: “Dating is not all about numbers, it’s also about romance. What are dating sites doing to facilitate romance?” (To which Dave Evans, who happened to be sitting just a few seats over, instantly reacted with a joke: “Romance?You must be new here.”) (more…)

We won the Red Herring Top 100 Global Companies Award, recognizing most promising technology companies in the world that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation.  Past winners of this prestigious award included Google, Yahoo!, Skype, Salesforce.com, and YouTube.  This is a terrific validation of our technology and business concept.

We have been selected as a finalist of the Red Herring Top Global Startups Award, which recognizes most promising startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation!

OmniDate has been collecting data on virtual dating and will present its preliminary findings at the Internet Dating Conference in Miami on January 23.

(We will also be posting some of the data on this blog.)