Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011
Localized Love Connections
Internet dating has been around for a long time. Chatting up an appealing person who happens to be standing nearby has been around even longer. Combine these two with a smart phone and — yay — you get mobile online dating. Users typically check apps like Skout, Blendr, Zoosk and HowAboutWe to see if there are fellow members in their neighborhood who want to hook up. But some use the apps in more traditional ways, to meet somebody for a drink or to find out if anyone wants to see a Wim Wenders movie. As the technology grew in popularity this year, big-league dating sites got on the location-centric bandwagon; in February, Match.com bought OkCupid, which has a Locals app, and eHarmony released its Jazzed mobile dating app in August.