Over and over again in online dating profiles you will see people describe themselves using the superlatives “spontaneous” and “outgoing.” Well, those superlatives are going to be tested to the extreme with OkCupid’s new GPS activated Locals feature.
The locals feature is describe in more detail in this great article by Brooke Lea Foster of the Boston Globe. The APP allows OkCupid members to see other users who are in their general proximity using the GPS tracking system on your smartphone. Members can also post a broadcast suggesting meeting in a particular location or sending out a more general invite to anyone who is in the area. Other users can then respond to that broadcast and you then have the ability to accept or decline the offer. If you accept someone’s request to meet you, you can then private message them in more detail as to the location you are looking to meet. I also like to mention that this service is FREE! (the locals feature does not give out your exact location or use a map as a visual guide, that would be too invasive)
Now many of you are probably sitting there saying “oh geeze, I don’t know about this. Like, what if the person ends up being a weirdo?” My response would be simple. Look the profile over first, if it interests you then proceed by responding back to them and meet up. Wait, is that too spontaneous for you? Well, didn’t you put that in your profile? Come on! I thought you said you were outgoing and adventurous. Time to put your money where your mouth is.
In all seriousness though, I think this Locals feature is tremendous. For someone such as myself that is outgoing and quick witted, its right up my alley. I don’t need 3 weeks to simmer over whether or not I care about all the cliché’s you posted in your profile. If I’m attracted to your pictures and you seem like you can handle my wittiness I’m game. That’s it.
Can you imagine the power and application like this can have on the dating world in a city like Boston? Say you get out of the Bruins game and you’re having a few drinks at the Harp. You want to stay out late but your 2 buddies have to go home because they had a couple of mistake babies in '08 and wife/girlfriend they need to go home too, but you want to stay out cause you’re Boston's most eligible bachelor. Well, before your bros leave you whip out your cell phone and see what women are in your area. In under 30 seconds you find out there is a great girl who intrigues you and she just posted that she's interested in getting drinks with someone 15 minutes from now. Your respond to her, she accepts and you have a date set up just like that.
It’s a beautiful thing really. That is, if you're “spontaneous” enough to venture out of your comfort zone.
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