Television and advertising go well together. Matchmaking and the web are also a good couple. Even the traditional advertising we see on the web is a kind of matchmaking, with your search query as input. But the business model is still very much like television, quite evil! We are not paid, we pay with
attention and they earn all the money.
We need a service that pays us to give information about ourselves and will suggest us possible matches with products we might be interested in. This service is specialised in making it convenient for us to supply them with detailed information while we remain in control over our information. They do not sell our information, they are only paid for effective matches. The matches we think are wrong give valuable data for them on which to base better matches in the future.
Where does the matchmaker get information about us?
Phase 1.
You register anonymously online and you fill out a questionaire about which products and services you already use. You reveal which identities you use on which websites. Their spiders gather data linked to those identities on which a profile is based. Products and services are presented to you, you give feedback and you get paid.
You might want to receive a monthly box with samples also, see my other idea 'personalised freebies website.'
Phase 2.
Other parties with information about you ask you if you want to sell some of that to the matchmaking service: Your bank makes a list with all the purchases you paid with your credit/debitcard and you can tick some off that list. Like the medication for your elderly neighbours you picked up at the pharmacy, clothes you bought for your partner, a present you bought. You tell the bank what your identity is on which of those matching websites and you get paid.
Your phonecompany makes a list of all the phonecalls you made, where you made them, at what time and how long. You can then anonimise the calls to other individuals and you get paid in the same way as your bank did. Your supermarket will approach you with a similar offer for the information on their loyalty card. If they do not pay you for using their card, you get rid of it. eBay lets you sell your history with them to the matchmaker of your choice. Your ISP lets you sell keywords extracted from your e-mail and chat. Monsterboard might join also in this phase.
Phase 3.
Several of those matching sites start competing with each other and offer you more money for your information and better matches. Traditional advertising budgets decrease. TV-stations merge with these services, in order to feed their databases with information about what you watch, in order to better predict which downloads you would like to buy in the future.
Phase 4.
Matching services come with extra features to get more than just information about your behaviour, but also about your dreams and plans. You can hook up to other people you admire for their taste and good judgement, people you get your inspiration from. In return you get better matches and the trendsetters are paid a premium on each item they suggested to you. Trendsetters are motivated to aks their followers to hook up to them. Their job is to test products and services and give top quality feedback to the matchmaker.
Phase 5.
With many registered users on all those matchmaking websites, people want to match with each other. People already in a relationship let this know to the matchmaker and their data is then analysed to predict who else in their system could match with each other. People looking for a date can buy a suggestion from the matchmaker (if they indicated they are interested). Relationships in the broadest meaning of the word, not only romantic, but also professional or recreational (find other trainspotters in Jamaica!).