Quantitative futurist Amy Webb was fed up with online dating in 2005. The questionnaires and algorithms on sites like Match and OkCupid that were supposed to connect like-minded people and form lasting relationships yielded nothing but duds and disastrous dates.
Despite advice from family and friends to cast a wider net, Webb did the opposite: She became even more picky. She created a long list of dating criteria and narrowed the pool of singles down using a complex scoring system. Then, she used competitive data sets from other female profiles to optimize her own.
Through this “market research,” she inadvertently became the site’s most popular dating profile. Now, highly desirable and extremely picky, her data zeroed in on a single man from Baltimore.
Spoiler Alert: They are happily married with children to this day.
This week on 2 GIRLS 1 PODCAST, Alli and Jen talk with Webb about how she hacked dating algorithms to find the man of her dreams, the TED Talk and book about her experience that divided the internet, and the adorable (and nerve-wracking!) story of her final first date.
Listen to episode 119 of #2G1P right here:
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2 Girls 1 Podcast is hosted by Allison Goldberg and Jennifer Jamula, and is produced and edited by Matt Silverman in New York City. Production assistance is provided by the Podglomerate.