Online Dating Site's New Twist:
Offline Partying, for $25 Fee
By Noah Shactman
The idea behind online personals is that you can quickly sift a list of potential mates to find people who might tickle your interest. It is more efficient than random meetings in a bar, and no one is asking, "Come here often?"
So it may seem strange that the leading online personals company, Match.com, has started a new $25-a-month subscription service — to meet random people in bars.
The service, MatchLive, began in July in New York and is now making its debut in San Francisco. Already, date seekers by the hundreds are attending the icebreakers. Some events are ordinary happy hours, where MatchLive members pay $5 for admission to a local pub while outsiders must part with $20. Others involve an activity: sushi-making classes at $45 each, $35 to go bowling, $28 for a scavenger hunt through the Metropolitan Museum of Art in search of nude paintings.
The appeal of the events, said Chris Terrill, a MatchLive spokesman, is that everyone there is looking for liaisons — which may not be the case at the corner bar. Some events are restricted to certain age groups — under 35, say, or over 50 — to maximize potential matches. Most important, MatchLive staff members also try to maintain a balance between men and women.
"The dynamic at these events feels the same as approaching a woman at a bar," said Erik White, a 36-year-old environmental engineer who has attended a half-dozen of the MatchLive mixers. "But at least the demographics are right."
