A reader suggests, probably correctly, that this story belongs under Four Forces Watch.
The company has come up with a secret algorithm that invites select users to access the app based primarily on LinkedIn résumés and friend networks. Ambition, Bradford says, is the biggest trait The League looks for within its community.
It is a dating application with a very limited, exclusive clientele.
I remember when some discos/nightclubs used a similar sort of business model.
Do you doubt the business model?
Here’s my startup pitch:
“Yinder! It’s Yelp for Tinder!
What’s the problem with date-matching sites? You’ve got to rely on the profile people make for themselves. And, duh, people lie, and even if they didn’t, those profiles are super misleading. That’s like going to a restaurant because they’ve got good web design – ridiculous. But you want to know what the person is really going to be like. There’s got to be a better way. There is!
Yinder will aggregate the social media trail left by your potential match, show you pictures they’re tagged in, display important and informative metrics in an easy to digest graphical format, “average length of relationship, number of relationships in the past two years, etc.” and then also use reputation tools and crowdsource reviews and ratings from all their past verified customers … er … you know what we mean.”
I’m trying to decide whether such a system would be a sign of the apocalypse, or whether losing all relationship privacy and having your complete history exposed for everyone to see would incentivize a quick return to traditional sexual norms. Or maybe both; who knows these days.
They actually already have something like this for women. It’s called LuLu, and apparently it’s very popular.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/11/nice-girls-of-lulu-so-called-yelp-for-men.html
Sign of the apocalypse it is then…