Steve Odom, Founder Of Gelato

OPW INTERVIEW - Nov 9 - Gelato combines online dating and real-time search. Profiles are created by pulling information from members’ accounts across Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and other commercial sites. I spoke with founder Steve Odom about Gelato’s revenue model, the site’s API usage and how his own dating life has influenced his work. – Jenn Rubin

Why did you decide to start Gelato?
I got divorced a couple of years ago and found myself on dating sites that I felt could be so much better. About the same time, I started using Twitter. I found that if I followed somebody on Twitter for a couple of weeks that I really got to know them. I knew their schedule, what they complained about and what they liked.

I wanted that type of experience on a dating site, so I started building Gelato about a year ago.

What would I do first upon arriving at the site?
We don’t ask for email addresses or passwords. You sign in with either your Facebook or Twitter login. Next, you have an option to import what you want from, say, your Facebook profile, whether it’s your relationship status, your profile picture, the books that you like, etc. This forms the basis of your Gelato profile. You can also sync your Gelato profile with accounts on Twitter, Netflix, Flickr and more.

Are you partnering with Facebook, Twitter and these other sites directly?
All of these sites have application interfaces, or APIs, which allow you to integrate this user information.

Why did you decide to merge Gelato with content from various social networking sites?
The problem that I found on other dating sites was that it took a long time to create a profile. Despite having to write a lot of information, many of the profiles still sounded the same. We all like long walks on the beach and to have a good time. I wanted to make it easy to create a profile on Gelato.

For instance, instead of just writing about my favorite movies, I can also show you what I’ve rented at Netflix. That tells you more, and it gives you a richer view of what kind of movies I like.

Second, I wanted Gelato’s profiles to be more authentic. We’ve all heard of people fibbing on their profile. Gelato pulls information from the stuff you’re doing on Twitter or Flickr, so it’s more authentic. You get a better idea of who I really am.

How do you plan to grow Gelato’s membership base in the months to come?
We launched this fall at the Demo Conference in San Diego. We have less than 5,000 users. We’re not focused on growth right now. I still need to understand the metrics of the site, what users are doing, how long they’re staying and how long until they’re coming back.

How will Gelato make money down the road?
I don’t think that we’re going to have advertisements. The way Gelato will make money is a premium option. So for some amount, say $10 a month, you’ll get additional features like analytics — who has viewed your account, how long they stayed, real-time alerts and more.

Tell me more about the real-time alerts feature.
With a premium account, I can create an online alert to ping me on my phone or email if someone signs on who is, for example, a woman 30 to 40, non-smoker in Austin, Texas who mentions World of Warcraft in her profile.

Who are some of Gelato’s backers?
I’ve been the sole backer. The great thing is you can build a site for less than $100,000 these days. We’re not at the point yet where we’re ready to take on additional capital.

There are hundreds of online dating sites. Why should singles pick Gelato?
Gelato helps you find others who share your specific interests and present yourself in a more authentic manner. If two people are authentic, you have the basis for a good connection.

What is your goal for the site over the next year?
The next big feature we will be releasing is recommendations and compatibility. We have a lot of interesting data about who you are. We plan to leverage that and be able to show you other people that are compatible with you.

See all posts on Gelato 

Comments

[Andrew]

Gelato...sounds pretty interesting. Wondering how it really will compete with the well known sites that are already established. We'll see.

[Fernando Ardenghi]

There are 2 types of daters:
- casual daters
- serious daters
None of them are going to pay for "additional features like analytics — who has viewed your account, how long they stayed, real-time alerts and more."

"... The next big feature we will be releasing is recommendations and compatibility. ..."

Latest research says compatibility means personality similarity.

Matching based on Self-Reported Data / Bidirectional Recommendation Engines (Collaborative Filtering) will always be in the range of 3 or 4 persons "recommended" per 1,000 persons screened, in exactly the same range of searching on one's own.
and
Compatibility Matching Algorithms used by actual online dating sites (with Big-5 Model), are in the range of 3 or 4 persons "highly compatible" per 1,000 persons screened, in exactly the same range of searching on one's own.

Actual Online Dating Sites == searching on one's own == mutual filtering / bidirectional recommendation engines == compatibility matching algorithms, they are all in the same range.

Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

[James Houran, Ph.D.]

Some clarification is desperately needed here. Despite repeated corrections of some myths time and again in this blog, certain things continue to be asserted as "facts." Let's correct the record one more time:

1. THE TALK: Latest research says compatibility means personality similarity.

THE TRUTH: The above statement is an interpretation of data, but the data do not say this. In particular, the conclusion is a gross oversimplification. The degree of similarity observed depends on the particular individual-difference domain studied, with romantic partners showing strong similarity in age, political, and religious attitudes; moderate similarity in education, general intelligence, and values; and little or no similarity in personality characteristics (for reviews, see Klohnen & Mendelson, 1998; Watson et al., 2004).

Some researchers also cling to the idea that "personality" is the Holy Grail of compatibility variables, when research and common experience reveals that people of opposite personalities can have stable and satisfying relationships. Even hardcore proponents of similarity hypotheses (e.g., William Ickes, Glenn Wilson) admit this. Thus, strict similarity is not the bond that holds couples together. Rather, the latest and most sophisticated research suggests that it is a cognitive process that is the bond and that a mixture of similarity and complementarity is what really happens.

2. THE TALK: There are 2 types of daters: casual daters and serious daters

THE TRUTH: As an actual insider to the industry who has worked with several companies and who has conducted real market and academic research in this area, I can say that this conceptualization is not as cut and dried as the above claim makes it. If anything, there are at least three types of daters: casual daters and serious daters who are both in the minority, whereas a third category is in the clear majority, i.e., those that say they a hybrid or opportunists, so to speak. Specifically, people indicate they are interested in both opportunities -- a short-term romance or a lasting relationship.

3. THE TALK: No daters will pay for "additional features like analytics — who has viewed your account, how long they stayed, real-time alerts and more."

THE TRUTH: Features like this are perceived as a value-add to many online daters, who will pay for these services. In fact, the "Who's Viewed my Profile" functionality (or variations thereof) are rather standard because people are definitely interested in what types of people have looked at them. It's basic psychology that deals with the ego. Freud would approve of features like this!

As for other features, sometimes it is trial-and-error to discover what will appeal to people, what will help them be more successful in online dating and what people will pay for, but this is what market research is for. Blanket statements above that are based solely on opinion with no supporting evidence do not help the industry. Let's keep the commentary based in reality, not rampant supposition (just my two cents).

Thanks,

James Houran, Ph.D.
www.OnlineDatingMagazine.com

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

Imagine if we could get both Mr. Ardenghi & Dr. Houran together at iDate2010 to duke it out...That room would be packed :)

[Fernando Ardenghi]

Hi Dr. Houran:

" ..... when research and common experience reveals that people of opposite personalities can have stable and satisfying relationships. "

That is accomodation, but how do you know if people of opposite personalities with stable and satisfying relationships have less satisfaction than people with similar personalities?

Klohnen & Mendelsohn in 1998
"romantic partners showing strong similarity in age, political, and religious attitudes; moderate similarity in education, general intelligence, and values; and little or no similarity in personality characteristics "

Klohnen & Luo in 2005
"People may be attracted to those who have similar attitudes, values, and beliefs and even marry them (at least in part) on the basis of this similarity. However, once individuals are in a committed relationship, IT MAY BE PRIMARILY PERSONALITY SIMILARITY THAT INFLUENCES MARITAL HAPPINESS. This suggests that attitude and value similarity may play a different role in relationship development than personality similarity does. For example, whereas similarity in attitudes and values appears to be important early on in the relationship and may play an important role in relationship progression, personality similarity becomes more important as the relationship reaches greater commitment."

-----------------------------

Posters presented at 2009 biannual mini-Conference of the International Association for Relationships Research (IARR), hosted by the Kansas University Close Relationships Interest Group (CRIG). November 5–7, 2009 University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

"The Role of Personality Similarity on the Dating Relationship Quality of Americans and Taiwanese"

Tsui-Feng Wu and Susan E. Cross, Iowa State University; Yun-He Chou, National Chi Nan University; Arnold Kong and Wen-Hua Hsieh, Iowa State University

"Personality similarity between couples is a very popular topic, which has been shown to positively associate with Americans' dating relationship quality (dating satisfaction and commitment). Personality similarity, however, may play a less important role in the relationship quality of Taiwanese than of Americans, because Taiwanese may motivate to adjust themselves to their partners and have less need to find similar partners (Heine & Renshaw, 2002).To estimate personality, we used both Western and Chinese indigenous scales: Big-Five Scale and Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory. Data were collected from 195 American and 184 Taiwanese college students who were in a romantic relationship. Results of simultaneous multiple regression analyses indicated that personality similarity significantly predicted Americans' dating relationship quality. However, personality similarity did not predict relationship quality of Taiwanese. Those results were confirmed by two moderating analyses in which culture moderated the relation between personality similarity and dating relationship quality."

"The Relationships Between Love Style Similarity, Conflict Management and Relationship Satisfaction"

Cheng Wei Chuan, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Jeaw Mei Chen National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

"Lee (1976) proposed that couples with similar and identical love styles will have better relationship satisfaction. However, this hypothesis was only partially supported in the previous research. Our aims here are to use new ways to inspect his argument and discover the relationships between conflict management, love style similarity and relationship satisfaction. Preliminary results show that people who tend to adopt dominating or avoiding strategies in conflict management are less satisfied than those who tend to adopt integrating or accommodating ones. In addition, dissimilar couples had worse relationship satisfaction and adopted less compromising or integrating strategies and more avoiding than similar couples. Gender differences, cultural differences, and the theoretical implications of these results are discussed."

Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

[Ross Williams]

Yay Sam - I think they should get a room to slug it out. Have you seen the agenda for iDate though, gonna need more than just them to fill it ;)

[James Houran, Ph.D.]

Hi Fernando,

You selectively cite papers that support your beliefs, but they do not prove your case. Relationship satisfaction is not measured well, which my published and presented work proved way back in 2004-2005. Plus, "satisfaction" ebbs and flows over time, so variances in even the most compatible and globally happy couples will show increases and decreases. Finally, the analytical methods used in all of these studies you cite do not meet professional testing standards. Sorry, not convinced and neither should you if you understand tests and measurements well.

The fact is that for every paper you cite that claims that similarity is the key, there are other papers that contradict it. The fact that there are happy and stable couples who do not have similar personalities proves the theory is wrong. Remember, one black sheep proves all sheep are not white. So instead of pushing the similarity hypothesis, which is incomplete at best, it's better to pursue why exceptions to this so-called rule exist and what explains those exceptions. The exceptions give us true glimpses into what bonds couples over time.

No need to get a room and slug it out -- the issue is pretty much resolved to those who understand the literature and what the data means versus how others interpret it. The cognitive phenomenon of "accommodation" (and related processes) is more critical to stability and satisfaction than personality similarity -- the research is clear on this. So again, it's not personality and it's not similarity. The most sophisticated studies prove revealed this way back in 2004-2005.

Most relationship researchers that you cite do not apply sophisticated methods or test the latest theories. I'm interested in moving the field forward, not keeping it stuck using outdated methods and theories that everyday observation easily discredit.

Thanks,

James Houran, Ph.D.
www.OnlineDatingMagazine.com

[Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com]

Oh, the entertainment value alone would be worth it:-)

So, Fernando, can we all finally get to meet you in person?

[James Houran, Ph.D.]

Hi Sam,

I can put together a lively session, trust me. Of course, I want a cut of the admission fees if I'm the iDate entertainment!

Cheers,

James Houran, Ph.D.
www.OnlineDatingMagazine.com

[Joe]

this site is a good idea, but I don't know how I would feel about disclosing my facebook or twitter password to a third party site. There are so many privacy concerns and hackers out there, that sometimes a walled garden is important. If someone steals my dating account information, I wouldn't care that much, but if it was an e-mail or FB account, that would really compromise my info and friend list.

[Lisa Rogers]

It's all very ambitious - I hope it's successful, although I wonder about the privacy concerns that so many people will have.

[Julie Spira]

It's always nice to see a new entrepreneurial venture. If you would like to ask Steve any questions, he will be a guest on my radio show, "Ask the Cyber-Dating Expert" on Saturday, December 12th at 11am. The call in number is 646-929-0012.
@JulieSpira

[Steve Odom]

Joe, Gelato doesn't know your Facebook or Twitter passwords. We use their authentication engines where only a token is passed back to Gelato.

Lisa, I thought there would be more push back from people about sharing their information too. The surprising thing so far is that this hasn't been the case. They want to share more information! For example, I thought all messaging between users would naturally be private. But the feedback I'm getting from users is that they would like to have some of their messaging public, like commenting on profiles or activity stream items. They see that it is harder to be fake and that people's real personality comes out.

[tiffany and co outlet]

The farmer or the peasant cannot find the goods for sale which he desires to purchase. So the sale of his farm

produce for money which he cannot use seems to him an unprofitable transaction. He, therefore, has withdrawn many

fields from crop cultivation and he's using them for grazing. He feeds more grain to stock and finds for himself and

his family an ample supply of food, however short he may be on clothing and the other ordinary gadgets of

civilization.tiffany and co outlet