We took a sample of 10,000 virtual dates and compared the duration of dates across various venues.

Surprisingly, some virtual dating venues appear to be consistently associated with longer “Time on Date” - and the difference can be quite substantial, as much as 40% in some cases - suggesting that the virtual dating ambiance can significantly impact the dating experience.

Also interesting to note that people tend to enjoy their “in-door” dating venues (e.g., a coffee shop) longer than the “out-door” venues (e.g., a park).  Hmmm, I wonder why.

So, where do you like to go on your virtual dates?

OmniDate has made it to the final round of the iDate Awards competition in the category of Best New Technology. The iDate competition highlights companies and technologies that represent the best and most innovative aspects of the Internet dating and matchmaking industry.

OmniDate has developed a 3D virtual dating product that can be plugged in quickly and easily into any dating or social networking site.

Please visit our new site and let us know what you think.

Make sure to check out Datebility.com.

We agree: Virtual dating addresses a big gap in the online dating process and can effectively neutralize “cognitive overload.”

There is an enormous availability of profiles, but poor communication tools for getting to know the person behind the profile. There are literally hundreds of dating sites and tens of millions of profiles out there, which creates an illusion of choice. Unfortunately, this illusion of choice – in the absence of dating-appropriate communication tools – impedes the effectiveness of online dating. It changes people’s thinking, as they start treating each other as inventory. Instead of discovering areas of fit between them through conversation, as they would in an offline situation, online daters instead look for reasons to quickly eliminate profiles from their search because there is just too much “inventory” to sift through. As a result, people dating online tend to reject prospective mates too quickly on the basis of factors that have little or nothing to do with a successful relationship – just look at the many various ways you can filter prospective mates on a typical dating site.

On some level, this behavior makes sense, since it can be challenging to get to know the person behind the profile. Most people don’t feel comfortable jumping on the phone with a stranger just because he has a polished profile or displaying themselves on a webcam. In fact, a set of surveys from the UK revealed that two-thirds of women who tried webcams on a dating site said they would never do it again.

What’s needed is a non-intrusive, yet facilitated way to let online daters get to know the person behind the profile. That’s where virtual dating comes in. It’s a great way to get a feeling for the other person without making an emotional investment upfront. By “experiencing” the other person through conversation, online daters are more likely to discover the real person behind the profile … and find a match.

For example, a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience earlier this year illustrates an effect of a virtual experience on people’s choices.  Volunteers who played a simple cycling game learned to favour one team’s jersey and avoid another’s.  Days later, most subjects were subconsciously drawn to one jersey and shunned the other in a real-world test.  Other studies have found that virtual experiences can influence our emotions, help treat post-traumatic stress disorder, and even trigger the same biological pathways as food and cocaine.

Here at OmniDate, we have received numerous emails from users of virtual dating, sharing with us how the virtual dating experience impacted their self-perceptions and helped them with their real life relationships.  Here is an excerpt from one such email: “It provided a much needed confidence booster because I was feeling very self-conscious after many failed real dates.  So this VR option not only served as a confidence booster but also landed me a very beautiful lady.”

]]> http://www.omnidate.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/15/virtual-experiences-help-in-real-life/feed/ http://www.omnidate.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/14/how-real-should-virtual-dating-be/ http://www.omnidate.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/14/how-real-should-virtual-dating-be/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:33:34 +0000 Igor Kotlyar http://www.omnidate.com/blog/?p=47 Virtual dating is proving to be a highly effective tool for improving online user experience and real life success, as well as increasing user activity, time on site, etc.

As this technology continues to evolve, an interesting question arises: How “real” should virtual dating be?

There seem to be two perspectives.

According to the first, “virtual” dating should be as close to “real life” as possible. According to this view, the purpose of virtual dating is to REPLACE elements of the face-to-face dating process, and the ultimate benchmark of effectiveness is how closely “virtual” resembles reality.

According to the second, “virtual” dating should FACILITATE the real life dating process (as opposed to replace it). From this perspective, virtual dating could be any computer-based interaction that helps 2 people get to know each other better. The benchmark of effectiveness in this case is how well virtual dating helps people establish a meaningful connection.

I personally subscribe to the latter perspective.  The ultimate objective of virtual dating is to help create relationships … let’s not get caught up in the technology side of things.

Consider this; we watch our favorite movies not because they closely RESEMBLE real life, but rather because they make us FEEL certain emotions … such movies create short fantasies that are rooted in reality and impact us in very real ways.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Would you like to know about kissing on a virtual date?  Click here to listen to an abridged version of the broadcast: Julie and Ravit discuss virtual dating

A couple of books provide a valuable perspective: The future of online dating belongs to Visionaries, not Historian.

The first book, “Blue Ocean” by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne views the world from the business strategy perspective. It uses the metaphor of red and blue oceans to describe the market universe.

In their language, “online dating” is an example of a red ocean, where products have become commodities and cutthroat competition is turning the ocean bloody red - hence the term red ocean. Those dating companies building strategies around the existing model in this crowded market space will see their prospects for growth (and profits) severely limited.

In contrast, blue oceans denote new innovative approaches to relationship formation, whether in terms of products or positioning.  Here, demand is created rather than fought over and there is tremendous opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. Competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set and the full potential of innovation has not yet been explored.  “Virtual dating” is one example of an innovating approach to relationship formation.

The second book, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing” by Al Ries and Jack Trout looks at the world from the marketing perspective, but interestingly its conclusions are very similar.  Consider the first three “Laws:”

1. It is better to be first than it is to be better.
2. If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
3. It is better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.

The book advocates success through being the first mover, whereas “follow the leader” is a losing proposition, particularly in a very competitive market.  Being the first to recognize - and jump on - a trend is the key to success; while waiting to see if others succeed first before putting your big toe in means missing out.

The bottom line, those who want to compete effectively in the online dating space should look to innovation … not “best practices.”

Hence, the future of online dating belongs to Visionaries, not Historians.