Niche dating sites for Geeks + Dating-related panels at SxSW
Sunday, March 6, 2011 at 09:21PM 
Keyboard romance, a new fragrance by...
I just came across an ad for Geek 2 Geek, a dating site for... geeks!
It reminded me of a site back in the days. Can anyone remember which one, wasn't it part of CNET or some equivalent?
Anyway, this definitely picked my curiosity and - while looking for the answer - I decided to research the space and find out which other sites are attempting to cater to the romantic needs of fellow geeks and nerds out there.
Here is a sample:
- Sweet on Geeks and their cool tagline: A Space Where Gray Matters
- Cupidtino - dedicated to the Apple/Mac lovers out there.
- Nerd Passions - run by Passions Network a cousin of Gaming Passions.
- Meet a Geek - made in Europe
- GamerDating - made for gamers by gamers
(Please note these are currently web-based only. So feel free to send me links for mobile and Facebook apps as well as International sites)
South by SouthWest: Where are the experts
Unfortunately, for those will also be in Austin this week for SxSW and were hoping to learn a thing or two about this fascinating industry, it appears there are only a couple of related panels:
-
Online Dating 2.0: All Mobile, All Location-Based (on March 13) featuring MeetMoi and Grindr's respective founders: Andrew Weinreich and Joel Simkhai
- Paying with Data: How Free Services Aren't Free (on March 13) featuring OKCupid's co-founder/CEO Sam Yagan (quick reminder: OKCupid was acquired by Match.com last month for 50 million dollars)
- and for singles, parents & consumer journalists: Naked Dating: Finding Love in 140 Characters or Less (on March 14).
(Again, comments & emails are welcome, should you know of any other panels/events worth mentioning.)
Geek matchmaking, a new eldorado?
Coming back to our main topic, anyone will agree that nerds and geeks are now part of the pop culture. Thanks to the democratization of Internet and mobile devices and of course the portrayal of nerdy heroes stamped by Hollywood, it has never been so cool to be a nerd.
Content publishers attracting a high volume audience of geeks and nerds may soon decide to seize the day and release their own branded dating platform following the footsteps of more traditional players.
Indeed, both The Guardian's soulmates.com and Condé Nast's trulymadlydating.com have jumped on the opportunity by partnering with The Dating Lab, a white-label company which makes it easy for any substantially important online community site to play at the dating table...
This potential "match made in heaven" for a Geek.com or IGN could very well help them also get a piece of the pie.
Indeed, TechCrunch and more recently the New York Times have reported on the growthof niche dating sites... But I will leave it up to Business Insider to show us the actual market potential with a lovely chart that would resemble to this one. By the way, how about a customized idateon.TechCrunch.com? ;-P
Reminiscences
To conclude this piece, let me share with you some retro geeky bonus content:
as well as a Craigslist homage:
Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It...
This post is dedicated to my #NYTM single friends.