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December 20, 2006

TechCrunch Readers Are Shallow

Michael Arrington

38 comments »

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. :-)

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. experimentlist.com » dating sites are for shallow people?

    December 21st, 2006 at 12:43 am

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  1. anon

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:43 pm

    your wording is biased towards selecting the ‘looks’ choice.

    “looks comes first” implies other criteria (such as personality) play a role in selection.

    “personality is all that matters” implies monistic selection criteria, and the internet is mostly incredulous towards such universalisms.

  2. Shii

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:49 pm

    Way to lose your readership, Mr. Arrington. :)

  3. Si

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:52 pm

    anon hit the nail on the head, though that was a fun poll anyhow.

    where’s my choice anyway … the one that says, “looks are all that matters” … i kid, i kid.

  4. Michael Arrington

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:55 pm

    Yeah, this poll was both biased and statistically irrelevant. However, it is a slow news day.

  5. kai

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:55 pm

    First comment is spot on: it’s a meaningless poll. Lies, damned lies and statistics.

    Also the first time the word ‘monistic’ has been used on tc, I’ll warrant.

  6. Rune Wiggers Ecklon

    December 20th, 2006 at 11:56 pm

    Its a fact that humans make choices based on looks first. Its only rare that we get to know a person before looking at them.

  7. kai

    December 21st, 2006 at 12:17 am

    Why not talk some more about the TCUK thing? That was AWESOME.

    I know someone who’d be an awesome replacement, btw.

  8. Werner Egipsy Souza

    December 21st, 2006 at 1:09 am

    With anon, I agree!

    You have totally missed out on the concept of “The complete package”!
    ;-)

    Werner

  9. Matan

    December 21st, 2006 at 1:28 am

    The title of this post is harsh. Slow day or not. Looks are important, it has nothing with being shallow or superficial. If I do not find someone attractive, the beauty of their character is not going to make them look any better in my eyes (unless my eyes start looking at them differently). OK, this is getting too philosophical. Lets just stick to startups. I actually enjoy reading more of your posts Mike. Keep it up.

  10. S.Z.

    December 21st, 2006 at 2:08 am

    The result will be the same no matter when/where the poll gets conducted.

    Tech Tutorials: http://www.hotcoding.com

  11. Michael Arrington

    December 21st, 2006 at 2:30 am

    Matan - it’s just my screwed up sense of humor. Can’t fix it for some reason. Tried.

  12. carl rahn griffith

    December 21st, 2006 at 2:54 am

    i am sure there was a great deal of - intended or not - irony in many of the responses to the poll.

    irony, hmmmmm - now that is an attractive feature!

    ;-)

  13. Nic

    December 21st, 2006 at 2:55 am

    Apart from the skewed wording (good spot anon) the other thing this survey probably tells you is that your readership is predominantly male. Men, and especially young men, do judge more on appearances than on other criteria.

    Of course most dating sites have no problem attracting men so what they really need are features that pull in more women as ultimately that is what builds a profitable dating site.

  14. william

    December 21st, 2006 at 3:05 am

    Mike,

    It will be more interesting to include gender as one of the polling attributes. Any guess for the result?

  15. Michael Arrington

    December 21st, 2006 at 3:17 am

    some poll we did a year ago said our readership is 75% male, but I believe the rest of the women have been driven out by now.

  16. Smaran

    December 21st, 2006 at 3:27 am

    I voted for personality! And I’m a straight guy.

  17. JoshA

    December 21st, 2006 at 3:59 am

    Sounds like they should try joining http://www.cutegirlsonly.com or http://www.vanitydate.com

  18. Rajeev

    December 21st, 2006 at 4:00 am

    Come on Looks do matter, also personality. An average looking mate with a good grooming may do than a bimbo.

    http://www.tekno-world.blogspot.com

  19. Brian Schwartz

    December 21st, 2006 at 6:15 am

    Look,

    In the world of “Online Dating” - looks are very important. This can be understood by merely just looking at the way you can search the criteria - “photos only” or “all” - there is no search criteria for “no photos”.

    Secondly, body language is a great indicator of someone’s personality - and always said… “a picture is worth a thousand words”….

    I want a girl who is in shape. I spend a great deal of time caring about myself, and I want to make sure that my mate does the same. That is something that really can’t be lied about in a picture… now tell me how is that shallow…

  20. Adrian Keys

    December 21st, 2006 at 6:30 am

    Hey…its great been shallow…means I dont have to worry about a lot of things…

    I never get stuck on personalities as I have found that given a certain place, a certain time, a certain situation…you are never sure what the next guy or gal will do…

    So I say….go with you can see

    BTW- Nic is probabely right…the responses may reveal a very important demographic about TCs readers.

    “Apart from the skewed wording (good spot anon) the other thing this survey probably tells you is that your readership is predominantly male. Men, and especially young men, do judge more on appearances than on other criteria.

    Of course most dating sites have no problem attracting men so what they really need are features that pull in more women as ultimately that is what builds a profitable dating site.” - Nic

    http://www.jollyjo.org

  21. Dave Zatz

    December 21st, 2006 at 8:03 am

    I think the poll reveals that the majority of TechCrunch readers are and will remain single. ;)

  22. Sahim

    December 21st, 2006 at 8:27 am

    Digg had a topic yesterday.
    “95% Americans have pre-martial sex.”

    I will leave the co-relation and analysis to the gurus.
    ;)

  23. mathew

    December 21st, 2006 at 9:38 am

    And this is why divorce rates are so high.

  24. David P.

    December 21st, 2006 at 10:42 am

    Matthew: Why because guys discuss online why we are so shallow?

  25. Jonathan

    December 21st, 2006 at 11:14 am

    Dave Z,
    I think the comments reveal more than the poll. And they reveal that people who’ve taken the time to comment on this have taken it WAY too seriously (which perhaps supports your own highly likely conclusion ;). Come on, people! Loosen up!

  26. Robot Dean Martin

    December 21st, 2006 at 11:59 am

    Looks do come first. I don’t care how compatible some broad is with me if she ain’t gots tha goods. Hoo-ah! Your nobody till somebody loves you…unless they are ugly…then you are better off by yourself.

  27. Tina

    December 21st, 2006 at 12:42 pm

    The poll may not reflect the whole population but statistics show that 1 out of 2 marriages in America end up in divorce.

  28. Survival Shows

    December 21st, 2006 at 2:11 pm

    Nothing new move along ;) LOL!

  29. Trygve Throntveit

    December 21st, 2006 at 4:23 pm

    Mmm… men.

  30. Drama 2.0

    December 21st, 2006 at 4:47 pm

    Dave Zatz: Bingo. Unless of course the reader is the founder of some hot Web 2.0 company and he sells his company to Google! In which case there will be plenty of beautiful women willing to amuse him while they relieve him of his money.

  31. Mark Seremet

    December 21st, 2006 at 5:08 pm

    Looks are good at first. The hottest girl (besides my wife) that I dated was really hot - loved that. Problem was, once you got past the sex she had nothing to offer. Sex only lasts for so long and most mature people realize that.

    Michael, if it’s a slow news day could you write about http://www.wallhogs.com ?

    BTW - if you don’t intend to write on a submission is the person notified?

    Thanks,
    mark

  32. Andy Arnott

    December 21st, 2006 at 6:09 pm

    Like I said in the last post photos only go so far. The problem with online dating is that total lack of innovation. Yahoo and match finally made some updates, but too little to late in my opinion.

    Someday, someday we may get noticed. (Sniffle Sniffle). The new site launches in January… stay tuned folks!

  33. Steve

    December 21st, 2006 at 8:43 pm

    Of course looks come first, it is natural; nature. Animals are made to consider genes, survivability and a host of other things when mating is considered. It takes an anoymous poll for people to be as honest as they were in this one, and that is what I love about the net. If you did a poll on TV camera, or via phone or mail in, people are not as honest about certain subjects (as Harris interactive has admitted about thier sex and porn polls).

    If I ever get my adult dating site out of alpha testing thenI will include what I consider to be a future neccessity - any plastic surgery / braces, etc. I think it is unfair to choose a mate based upon good looks only to end up with an ugly baby - prior knowledge of cosmetic surgeries should be a legal requirement before marriage.. or maybe I am just really really shallow, or a realist - put a poll on that :)

  34. BobbyDassler

    December 21st, 2006 at 9:53 pm

    The Rules of Attraction in the Game of Love
    I have to agree with Steve on this one, this is why symmetry is so important. Biologists will tell you that evolutionary reasons are tucked into looks and infatuation. Simply stated, symmetry = sex. Sorry, but its quite true.

    Of course body shape is important too and the odd mutation lucks out by chatting with women on verbdate.com thereby winning them over with there sense of humor, like mindedness and ability to listen, etc.

    PS. My ability to BS allowed me to overcome my lack of symmetry and find a mate :)

  35. David Mackey

    December 23rd, 2006 at 4:15 pm

    Haha. Though, I believe I heard in Marriage and Family Therapy that people generally marry someone on their “beauty level” and that it is unlikely that one will marry someone “above” or “below” that level. Which indicates that to everyone looks is an extremely important factor.

  36. Martin Seebach

    December 24th, 2006 at 9:35 pm

    If ya can’t bear facing them in the AM personality does not matter.

  37. mani

    December 29th, 2006 at 2:23 pm

    funny post!

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