DateMySchool Is an Interesting Idea…
If I had to think of a social networking site that was specifically engineered towards college life and maintained its solely collegiate atmosphere by forcing members to use an .edu e-mail address, I totally couldn’t think of one! Could you? Cause I ca- oh wait, maybe I can think of one OH WAIT FACEBOOK.
DateMySchool is a dating site built by Balazs Alexa and Jean Meyer of Columbia law school. They argue, correctly, that many students are so hardwired to excel in school that many of them lose the social skills needed to form and maintain relationships with their peers. So they created DateMySchool.com, which went live for the Columbia University in November and scored over a thousand signups in the first week. They plan on expanding to other universities across the country, and will require all users to sign up using a .edu e-mail address to ensure that all members are university students.
As one Berkeley student noted, “The site is elitist, and all the better for it,” Ms. Finney added. “Date My School is doing exactly what Facebook did in its early years.” Ah yes, Facebook in the early years. When not “just anyone” could join the site, and it was used primarily for keeping up with college friends or old buddies who went away to other schools. As time went on, though, you’ll recall Facebook began allowing new types of “networks.” From workplaces and businesses all the way to WHOLE CITIES, which allowed anyone and everyone to join. And why do we think they changed the rules? I smell dollar signs!
We hope that the student-only dating site succeeds and that the over-stressed students of the world’s most elite colleges are able to have some semblance of a social life despite demanding schedules. And hopefully, the couples who meet on the site will understand each others plights and therefore connect better… but we do wonder how long it will be before community colleges and high schools are allowed into the fray at the prospect of a bit more income.
What do you think? Would you try out a college-only dating site? Do you think it will go the way of Facebook eventually or retain its roots?
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