Matching service
A matching service matches together two friends or acquaintances based on their confidential indications of mutual attraction. In 1999, Gil S. Sudai and David J. Blumberg patented a methodology for a matching service that represented a radically different approach to helping people get together than traditional dating systems and online dating services. It was designed partly to help solve problems associated with love shyness, particularly those related to fears of unrequited love. As the patent's description notes:
- Human relationships are often fraught with difficulties. In addition, human beings are risk-adverse. Often, even when two people want to initiate first steps in a relationship, neither person takes action because of shyness, fear of rejection, or other societal pressures or constraints. . . What is needed is a safe, simple, confidential, and non-judgmental way for people to reveal their true feelings and interests without risk of embarrassment or rejection.
Demand for the system is based on the fact that there are many situations in which asking a person out might have negative consequences if the feelings are not mutual. For instance, many people may be reluctant to ask out a good friend, for fear that if the answer is No, it will ruin the friendship once the other person knows how they feel. Co-workers may face a similar situation; if the co-worker rejects the romantic overtures, the work situation may become awkward.
Methodology
In Sudai and Blumberg's system, users log in and enter a confidential list of friends and acquantances who they are attracted to. The system then finds pairs who have indicated a mutual attraction and notifies them, so that they can get together without fear of rejection. The patent described several variations of the system, including one in which a user can choose to be notified 24 hours later; e.g., to allow time for the man can make the first move. It also provided for different types of attraction, e.g. "like" and "love." The system could be configured to only match users who shared the same type of attraction.
An example of how the system works is as follows. Tom Brown logs in and enters the following list of people who he is interested in:
1) Amy Smith 2) Jennifer Farmer 3) Melissa Wright
Later, Amy Smith logs in and enters the following list of people she is interested in:
1) Tom Brown 2) Joe Fisher 3) John Jones
The system would match up Tom and Amy based on their mutual attraction, and notify them of the match.
History
The two men founded DoYOU2.com, which was acquired for an undisclosed sum by Matchnet.com in September 2000. Matchnet's 2003 annual report noted that rather than implement the idea, the company is sitting on the patent:
- In September 2000, MatchNet acquired DoYouDo, Inc., the owner of both a website based on viral e-mails and a patented business model relating to an automated method for determining mutual interest. In this model, people register on the site to see who has a “crush” on them, by submitting their e-mail addresses. Those people then are e-mailed and referred back to the site to see if there is a match. The acquisition was made primarily for the purpose of acquiring the patent on this business model for future development. At present, MatchNet has kept the DoYou2 site dormant and our DoYouDo, Inc. subsidiary has no operations.