Skype to be deployed for speed online dating

One of the things that has changed the way men and women seek each other out in recent years is online dating, which has continued to grow in leaps and bounds as the internet gets ever more interactive.

The online dating scene is abuzz with web resources that seem to increase with rising frequency, as new dedicated websites crop up to cater for this increasingly demanding and insatiable market.

Opinion is still divided on whether online dating has complicated the game or made it better, but one thing that is clear is the fact that one does not need to travel to the end of the world to discover someone new.

Speed dating is one of the tools deployed on the dating scene and while some may find it useful, others, such as yours truly, feel it can be a bit cruel, especially to people who operate like old-time diesel engines that need a bit of warming in the morning before getting up to speed.

A forward-thinking New Zealand firm has now decided the online dating scene is not complicated enough and has revealed plans to introduce a platform for speed dating on the internet.

With the help of Skype, the New Zealand firm, known as Pop Media, alongside an Australian partner, have launched a partnership dubbed Skyecandy, which will make this a reality, according to Television New Zealand (TVNZ).

The new dating platform will use freely-available Skype technology to link users via video phone after they have provided their details and tastes of the kind of person they are looking for.

According to Natasha Misic from Pop Media, the potential that Skyecandy holds is huge given the fact that more than ten million people are normally logged into Skype at any one time, TVNZ reports.

"It is the biggest communication tool, you know, the most widely used in the world, so it's quite big and we saw big potential in it because of that connection to Skype," Ms Misic is quoted as saying by the organisation.

"Speed dating nowadays is a popular thing to begin with, and this is just on an even bigger level, so I think it can go really large," she added of the service, which is yet to be launched because it is still being worked on.

Tom Miller, over at Your Tango, has also weighed in on the development, saying one of the things that makes speed dating effective, especially for women, is the element of being able to smell the person sitting in front of you.

He says that "when Skype comes up with a component for transmitting smell - and 100 per cent reliable representations of just who we're looking at - it will be a perfect tool for speed dating".

Before this however those of us searching for a soulmate online will just have to count on the details entered in the personality profile and give people the benefit of doubt.