TechCrunch Readers Are Shallow

Yesterday I wrote about some of the changes at top dating site Yahoo Personals, designed to make profile matching easier and faster. And I also dug into some of the new business model experiments being conducted by some of the younger startups out there. A good example is YesNoMayB, a South African startup that allows users to quickly scan photographs of potential mates and pick out the ones they like. If the other person picks you as well, there’s a match.

In a poll included with that post I asked whether looks or personality are more important. A huge majority, 71%, of the 698 responses so far indicated that “looks come first,” while a mere 18% put personality first. If TechCrunch readership is any indication of the dating pool in general (I have a feeling it isn’t), startups like YesNoMayB and HotOrNot’s MeetMe, which put an emphasis on looks before personality, have a very bright future. Note to VC’s: Invest immediately. :-)