Lycos’ New Search Engine for Internet Dating
I’ve seen lots of articles over the past few days about Lycos’ announcement of “DatingSearch,” a search engine that allows singles to browse profiles from multiple dating sites. I’m always looking for helps to finding your Sweetheart, so I’ve been following up the links. I don’t speak techie, but if you do, here are some articles that you might want to take a look at:
- Lycos Dating Search Engine - Huge Mistake!
- Google PR Troubles and the Lycos Dating Service
- Lycos Goes Looking for Love
What I can speak to is how advantageous (or not) DatingSearch may be to the average online dater. Because I took a look.
The home page has the standard search box on the left, where you specify what you are looking for and where you are located. Hit the search button and up comes profiles that fit your parameters, just like every dating site. Except Dating Search is not a dating site itself—if you click on a profile, you are taken right to the dating site where the profile is actually listed. The dating sites that came up in my search were Tickle, True.com, and iMatchup.com.
Evidently, dating sites have to pay Lycos to have their data base included, and then Lycos also gets paid if you click through one of their profiles and end up on their site. The biggest dating sites like Match.com, YahooPersonals, and eHarmony do not appear to have signed up. Yet.
Internet daters often complain about being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of profiles that they need to sort through to find promising matches. Lycos’ DatingSearch would simply increase that overload. However, if you want to be sure that you are covering every single single in your area, DatingSearch might be just the tool for you. Don’t forget that once you have found candidates through DatingSearch, then you’ll have to join up to all those different dating sites to communicate to your potential Sweetie. That could get expensive. And that’s why I suggest to my Romance Clients that they join one of the big sites like Match.com or YahooPersonals, and maybe one other site based on a special interest, like religion (JDate is a big favorite) or politics (like RepbulicanSingles or SingleDemocrats). Though you won’t see every single single, you’ll be more efficient with your time and your money.
What do you think? Will DatingSearch help you in your search for love, or simply make your job that much harder?
