FEATURE24 February 2015
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Data analysis has changed the course of marketing, but Christian Rudder uses it to change the course of relationships. By Jane Bainbridge
Here’s a bit of advice: use unusual salutations and avoid references to God if you want to get a response when looking for romance online. While these may sound like arbitrary self-help musings they are, in actual fact, supported by hard data and detailed analysis of more than 500, 000 first contacts on an online dating site. Apologies to those who prefer sentiment to science to unlock the secret of true love.
But who would analyse data in such a way, and for an online dating site of all things? Meet Christian Rudder, co-founder and president, and data cruncher extraordinaire for OKCupid and author of the book Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking).
A Harvard maths graduate, he – along with his co-founders and fellow mathematicians – turned his maths knowledge into algorithms and insight, to add a touch of analytics to the world of match-making.
It’s proven a lucrative venture. In 2011 match.com bought OKCupid for $50 million. ...
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2 Comments
Fernando Ardenghi
9 years ago
I had reviewed over 55 compatibility matching engines intended for serious dating since 2003, when I had discovered "the online dating sound barrier" problem. The Online Dating Industry does not need a 10% improvement, a 50% improvement or a 100% improvement. It does need "a 100 times better improvement" The Online Dating Industry needs a very powerful algorithm like the "Teller Ulam design". In this case 100 times more powerful than actual matching algorithms. With less than USD10 Million you can copycat eHarmony or innovate and revolutionize the Online Dating Industry, killing those old & obsolete sites forever. The key to long-lasting romance is STRICT PERSONALITY SIMILARITY and not "meet other people with similar interests". Breaking "the online dating sound barrier" is to achieve at least: 3 most compatible persons in a 100,000 persons database. 12 most compatible persons in a 1,000,000 persons database. 48 most compatible persons in a 10,000,000 persons database. 100 times better than Compatibility Matching Algorithms used by actual online dating sites! The only way to achieve that is: - using the 16PF5 normative personality test, available in different languages to assess personality of members, or a proprietary test with exactly the same traits of the 16PF5. The ensemble of the 16PF5 is: 10E16, big number as All World Population is nearly 7.0 * 10E9 - expressing compatibility with eight decimals, like The pattern 6.7.6.8.9.6.7.7.8.7.2.5.8.7.3.4 is 92.55033557% +/- 0.00000001% similar to the pattern 7.7.6.8.8.7.6.5.8.7.4.5.7.7.3.4 Using a quantized pattern comparison method (part of pattern recognition by cross-correlation) to calculate similarity between prospective mates.
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chris robinson
9 years ago
Fernando, you are right on all points, except one. The people in this industry are not really concerned with the accuracy matching other than claiming some successes based on people linking up for a period or the occasional marriage. Their objective is to just get the ball rolling as it were, so that basic "likes matching" is all that is needed for at least the first night on a date, which is why so many people keep trying because at least something was appealing. Its like gambling, the small payouts hook people for the longer run. There seems to be a maths opportunity in that last sentence. You had me intrigued with the Teller-Ulam story!
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