Social Networking Meets Dating

by Pete Cashmore

Social21 is a new social network crossed with a dating site. All users must be 21 or over and it’s limited to the US and Canada for now. The site is the product of AHS Ventures, creators of the singles communities HoustonConnect, DallasConnect and SanAntonioConnect - what’s more, all the sites are interconnected. As a result, a lot of the users are from Texas.

Not only is the design pretty slick, but the combination of social networking and dating works very well. Like any dating site, you can fill in endless forms about your personality, about yourself, and the match you are looking for.

Video uploads supported, but they missed the most obvious solution - allowing users to add videos from YouTube and other external sites. In fact, they could try the same tactic with the photo uploading, allowing users to import images from Photobucket, ImageShack and similar sites. There is photo uploading with slots for 3 primary photos and up to 100 secondary photos.

You can write a blog although there is no option to import an external blog. Other activities include building your network of friends, adding users to your favorites, joining discussions in the forum, finding local events in the events section and sending an eWink, a way to flirt with other members.

The latest stories from Digg also appear at the bottom of each page, which it seems like an odd feature to include on a dating site. Meanwhile, tech-savvy readers should note that Social21 is a certified Web 2.0 service, with the ability to tag yourself and find matches via the tag cloud. Crucially, the whole site is free, with no charges to message other users.

Social21’s standout feature is the search function, which provides three ways to find a match:

1. First, you can conduct an advanced search with fields for gender, height, age, looks, occupation, education, interests, location and many more.
2. Second, you can conduct a reverse search - entering your details and finding a member who wants to meet someone like you.
3. And third, you can hit the “Automatch” button, allowing Social21 to match you up with another user automatically. What’s more, your searches can be saved for later reference.

Social21 is an extremely strong entry into the dating market, and it’s hard to find fault with it (there are neat little features all over the place). The ability to customize your profile would be nice, and the ads are very irritating.

The challenge now is to attract more members, especially from outside Texas - even the most fully-featured sites can’t survive without a critical mass of users.

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