Online dating has, since its inception, been primarily about people sitting in front of their computers, endlessly composing and perusing (often highly contrived) profiles, hoping to find the right combination of words and flattering photos to lead them to true love. Location-based technology in mobile phones (both browser-based and apps) means that dating can make its way back to the streets. New... [read more]

Online dating has, since its inception, been primarily about people sitting in front of their computers, endlessly composing and perusing (often highly contrived) profiles, hoping to find the right combination of words and flattering photos to lead them to true love. Location-based technology in mobile phones (both browser-based and apps) means that dating can make its way back to the streets. New services like MeetMoi and others put the dating back in digital dating, facilitating introductions to like-minded singles within a certain proximity. This panel will address: 1) what privacy concerns need to be taken into consideration when people begin meeting IRL through this technology? 2) Is a check-in based model, like Foursquare, or persistent-location, like Google Latitude, the best format for mobile dating? And 3) how do daters change the way they present themselves when their potential paramour may be right around the corner? Location-based dating is the future of online dating… and it’s about more than just hookups with the new technology that increases the “intent-to-date” among users. Now that people read books on their iPhone, keep their entire music library on their BlackBerry, and use their Android to house their entire family photo collection, why wouldn’t a mobile phone become a personal matchmaker extraordinaire?