ICTworks

Love is messy and very, very inefficient – just how many frogs to men and women have to kiss to find a Prince or Princess? This inefficiency just calls out for the automation, search, and long-tail power of the Internet, and for the most part that call has been answered in the major Western economies. Online dating and match-making sites are plentiful and profitable. But what about African dating sites?

Cyber connections on Dating.co.ke

If you are a Kenyan who wants to find a soul mate in your country (vs. a foreigner), Moses Kemibaro reports on what may just be your first choice:

Dating.co.ke is a fairly new and completely free Kenyan online dating web site. At this time, the web site is not yet monetizing traffic either through advertising or subscriptions. My friend took me through the web site and to be quite honest its of very high quality and quite easy to use. As of this writing, the site has almost 1,000 signed up members of whom at least 100 sign-in on daily basis. According to my friend the web site has been growing at a rate of 10 new users a day.

Checking out the profiles on the site, I agree – the people registered look high quality, even if their photos are not. Now I’d suggest they take my online dating photo advice: make sure its a close-up photo, you’re looking good, and there isn’t anyone else (or their arm) in the photo. And why does my advice matter? Well, here’s the result of a Match.com date: Mrs. Vota

Cash connection waiting for you

Regardless of your marital status, if you are in ICT, you should be looking at online dating for several reasons. First, if you are a programmer or community builder, think about building a dating site for a target community. In the USA, we have online dating sites for everyone from religious, to ethnic, to regional, and language groups. And many of the sites are profitable too.

Next, online dating can be a driver of ICT itself. Just as too many Africans look to foreigners for love, many rural Africans look to larger cities for just the same reasons. And ICT can be a great way to make connections without the cost and risk of physical travel. In fact, where are the mDating applications? I say we need SMS:Love as much as any other text messaging solution.

Last but not least, online dating is often at the forefront of for-profit ICT innovation. Want to know how to monetize your online activities? Look to online dating, which has been charging for content and access from the start – and yet doesn’t have any no-cost or NGO competition.

So go forth and explore this opportunity. And who knows what your return will be. I know I won the dating lottery with my entry.