Video phones act as dating tools
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Technologies, from e-mail, to net chatrooms, instant messaging
and mobiles, have proved to be a big pull with those looking
for love.
The lure once was that you could hide behind the technology,
but now video phones are in on the act to add vision.
Hundreds have submitted a mobile video profile to win a place
at the world’s first video mobile dating event.
The top 100 meet their match on 30 November at London’s
Institute of Woman wanting casual sex dating Arts (ICA).
The event, organised by the 3G network, 3, could catch on
as the trend for unusual dating events, like speed dating,
continues.
“It’s the beginning of the end of the blind date
as we know it,” said Graeme Oxby, 3’s marketing
director.
The response has been so promising that 3 says it is planning
to launch a proper commercial dating service soon.
Hundreds of hopefuls submitted their profiles, and special
booths were set up in a major London department store for
two weeks where expert tips were given on how to visually
improve their chances.
The 100 most popular casual nude sex dating voted by the
public will gather at the ICA in separate rooms and “meet”
by phone.
Safe bet?
Dating services and other more adult atlanta casual sex dating
services are proving to be a strong stream of revenue worth
millions for mobile companies.
Whether it does actually provide an interesting match for
video phone technologies remains to be seen.
Flic Everett, journalist and dating expert for Company magazine
and the Daily Express, thinks technology has been liberating
for some nervous soul-mate seekers.
There are currently about 1.3 million video phones in use
in the UK and three times more single people in Britain than
there were 30 years ago,
With more people buying video mobiles, 3G dating could be
the basis for a adult sex dating and safe way to meet people.
If you are trapped in real-life blind date context, you can’t
get away and you feel embarrassed. With a video meeting, you
really have the barrier of the phone so if you don’t
like them you don’t have to suffer the embarrassment
Flic Everett, dating expert: “One of the problems with
video phones is people don’t really know what to video.
It is a weird technology. We have not quite worked out what
it is for. This gives it a focus and a useful one,” she
told BBC News.
“I would never have thought online dating would take
off the way it did,” she said.
“Lots of people find it easier to be honest writing
e-mail or text than face-to-face. Lots people are quite shy
and they feel vulnerable.”
“When you are writing, it comes directly onto the page
so they tend to be more honest.”
But the barrier that comes with SMS chat and online match-making
is that the person behind the profile may not be who they
really are.
Scare stories have put people off as a result, according
to Ms Everett.
Many physical clues, body language, odd twitches, are obviously
missing with SMS and online dating services. Still images
do not necessarily provide all those necessary cues.
“It could really take off because you do get the whole
package. With a static e-mail picture, you don’t know
who the person is behind it is.”
So checking out a potential date by video phone also gives
singletons a different kind of barrier, an extra layer of
protection; a case of WLTS before WLTM.
“If you are trapped in real-life blind date context,
you can’t get away and you feel
embarrassed.
“With a video meeting, you really have the barrier of
the phone so if you don’t like them you don’t have
to suffer the embarrassment.”
Adult concern
There is a more serious side to this new use of technology
though.
With money being made through more adult-themes content and
services which let people meet and chat, the revenue streams
for mobile carriers will grow with 3G, thinks Paolo Pescatore
mobile industry specialist for analysts IDC.
“Wireless is a medium that is being exploited with a
number of features and services. One is chatting and the dating
element is key there,” he said.
“The foundation has been set by SMS and companies are
using media like MMS and video to grow the market further.”
But carriers need to be wary and ensure that if they do launch
such 3G dating services, they ensure mechanism are in place
to monitor and be aware who is registers and accesses these
services on regular basis, he cautioned.
In July, Vodafone adult alternative dating free services
a content control system to protect children from such adult
content.
The move was as a result of a code of practice agreed by
the UK’s six largest mobile phone operators in January.
The system means Vodafone users need to prove they are over
18 before firewalls are lifted on explicit websites or chat
rooms dealing with adult themes.
The impetus was the growing number of people with handsets
that could access the net, and the growth of 3G technologies.
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